Eye on Extremism - April 20, 2016

Eye on Extremism April 20, 2016 Daily Mail: More Horror At The Hands Of ISIS Uncovered: Iraqi Police Find Two Mass Graves After Jihadists Massacred Women And Children In The City Of Ramadi  “Iraqi police have unearthed two mass graves in the western city of Ramadi, with bodies of about 40 people killed by ISIS during the militant Sunni group's reign of terror in the city. The officials said ISIS militants who were captured and arrested after Iraqi forces routed the extremists led authorities to the site of the mass graves, inside the city's soccer stadium. Bodies of women and children were among those found in the two graves, along with bodies of men in civilian clothes, said the officials. There have been many instances of mass graves being uncovered in territory wrested from IS militants in Iraq and Syria - thousands of people have been killed in summary and extrajudicial killings by the Sunni militants and the graves have been a dark testimony to the group's brutality.” The New York Times: Syria Cease-Fire Crumbles As Bombings Kill Dozens “For 38 straight days, the streets of the northwestern Syrian town of Maarat al-Noaman had been the scene of protests against the government and the Islamic extremists of the Nusra Front. On Tuesday, they became a scene of carnage, as government warplanes attacked the town’s marketplace, killing dozens of people, according to residents and rescue workers. The attack confirmed the apparent unraveling of a fragile cease-fire agreement between Syrian government forces and some armed opposition groups. The attack in Maarat al-Noaman, and a similar one in the nearby town of Kafr Nabl, came several days after the start of a new insurgent offensive in a neighboring province, and a day after the main Syrian opposition group said it would no longer participate in diplomatic discussions in Geneva.” International Business Times: UK Terror Threat: NATO And EU Say 'Justified Concerns' Isis Planning Chemical And Nuclear Attacks “Military defence bloc Nato and the EU both agree that there are 'justified concerns' that Islamic State (Isis) is attempting to obtain chemical, biological and nuclear weapons to attack Western nations. The warnings come as reports suggest intelligence agencies in Italy and Germany believe that the extremists are planning a Tunisia-style attack on European beach resorts this summer. In March this year, it emerged that two of the Brussels suicide bombers had secretly monitored a senior nuclear scientist working at one of Belgium three nuclear plants. Security officials said that the el-Bakraoui brothers filmed the man going to and from work in what seemed like an attempt to obtain radioactive material. For security officials in Europe the new information suggesting that Daesh (Isis) was actively searching for ways to get hold of nuclear material raised fears that militants would detonate a so-called 'dirty bomb' on a European city.” Newsweek: ISIS Operatives To Disguise As Beach Vendors To Launch Europe Attacks: Reports “Operatives from the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) are planning attacks on Mediterranean tourist hotspots, possibly disguised as beach vendors or with explosives hidden under sunloungers, according to German and African officials. Speaking to German daily newspaper Bild, a member of the German intelligence services said that French, Spanish and Italian resorts were most vulnerable. ‘We could be about to see a new dimension of terror from ISIS,’ a member of the German secret services told Bild. ‘Holiday beaches are hard to protect.’” Associated Press: Deadly Attacks In Afghan Capital Show Taliban's Strength “A week after proclaiming their spring offensive, Taliban militants stormed an Afghan government security agency with a suicide car bomb and gunfire Tuesday, killing 28 people and wounding hundreds in a sign of the insurgency's continued strength - even in the capital. The coordinated attack in central Kabul appeared to have targeted an agency that provides an elite security force for high-ranking government officials, similar to the U.S. Secret Service. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack. The Taliban has remained resilient as the government struggles to confront the violence amid a bitter feud between President Ashraf Ghani and the country's chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah.” Reuters: Yemen Delegations Pledge To Leave For Peace Talks In Kuwait “Members of warring Yemeni factions who had stayed in the capital Sanaa two days past the start date of United Nations-backed peace talks announced they would travel to the negotiations in Kuwait on Wednesday, saving the process from impending collapse. Envoys from Yemen's Houthi movement and Saleh's party had refused to talk peace amid ongoing ground combat and air strikes by a Saudi-led military coalition which they say violated a truce agreed a week before. But concerted pressure from regional and international diplomats has succeeded in bringing the factions to the table with their enemies from Yemen's government which they ousted from the capital in March of last year.” Haaretz: Palestinian Teens Held For Stabbing Israeli Soldiers Last Month “Israeli security forces have arrested four Palestinians, three of them minors, on suspicion of planning and perpetrating attacks at the Har Bracha settlement near Nablus. Two of the suspects, aged 15, are suspected of stabbing soldiers at the military position near the settlement a month ago. Both are from the village of Arak Burin, and were arrested by the Shin Bet and police last month. The Shin Bet says both teens admitted under questioning that they stabbed the troops with the aim of dying ‘as martyrs.’ They revealed the involvement of another minor, aged 14, who also is said to have admitted to having a role in the attack. None of the suspects has as yet been indicted. The attack occurred at the start of last month. Two soldiers were lightly to moderately wounded.” Associated Press: Boko Haram Still A Force In Africa Despite Leader's Claim Of 'Technical' Victory Over Extremists “Here on the front line against Boko Haram, no one boasts of having ‘technically’ won the war. More than four months after Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari made such a claim, the extremists still crisscross international borders, avoiding direct confrontations with U.S.-backed African forces while refocusing on soft targets like marketplaces and mosques with little to no protection. The group may be gone from major cities, but in the countryside it poses a constant threat. And for the hundreds of thousands of refugees and impoverished villagers surrounded by fighting in the isolated northern reaches of Cameroon, terror and hunger form daily challenges to their survival.” The New York Times: F.B.I. Says It Needs Hackers To Keep Up With Tech Companies “The F.B.I. defended its hiring of a third party to break into an iPhone used by a gunman in last year’s San Bernardino, Calif., mass shooting, telling some skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that it needed to join with partners in the rarefied world of for-profit hackers as technology companies increasingly resist their demands for consumer information. In Tuesday’s hearing, Ms. Hess did not provide details on how the F.B.I. ultimately gained access to the San Bernardino iPhone but said the agency had come to rely on private sector partners to keep up with changes in technology. She said that there was no one-stop solution and that the agency generally should not use third parties to hack into systems but lacks the expertise to break past encryption.” United States The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Sanctions To Target Opponents Of U.N.-Backed Government In Libya “The Obama administration on Tuesday expanded its powers to impose punitive sanctions against people or groups that the U.S. believes are undermining Libya’s newly formed government and the United Nations-backed peace process. As part of the expanded authority in an executive order, the U.S. sanctioned Khalifa Ghweil, described by the Treasury Department as acting as a prime minister and defense minister of Libya’s National Salvation Government, a body not recognized by the U.S. and a rival to the internationally backed Libyan Government of National Accord.” The Washington Post: Biden Says Israeli Government Causes ‘Overwhelming Frustration’ In White House “Biden criticized Palestinian leaders for failing to condemn terrorist acts but also singled out the ‘steady, systematic expansion’ of Israeli settlements on land Palestinians desire for a state as a step in the wrong direction. ‘They are moving toward a one-state reality, and that reality is dangerous,’ Biden said. Obama has had a famously testy relationship with Netanyahu, even while the administration has provided more military aid to Israel than at any time in U.S. history. White House positions on Israel and the Middle East align more closely with those of J Street than AIPAC, a point Biden stressed when he said the group proves there is no contradiction between being progressive and pro-Israel.” Reuters: U.S. Leads 18 Strikes Against Islamic State In Iraq, Syria – Statement “The United States and its allies staged 17 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and one in Syria on Monday in the coalition's latest operation against the militant group, the U.S military said in a statement. The strikes in Iraq near eight cities were concentrated near Mosul, where seven strikes hit an Islamic State improvised explosive devices factory, three tactical units and three supply caches, among other targets, the Combined Joint Task Force said in the statement released on Tuesday. Other strikes hit targets near Al Huwayjah, Al Baghdadi, Ar Rutbah, Kisik, Qayyarah, Sinjar and Tal Afar, it said.” Turkey Reuters: Turkey Kills 32 Suspected Islamic State Militants After Attack In Iraq: CNN Turk “Turkish armed forces on Tuesday killed 32 suspected Islamic State militants in the Bashiqa area of northern Iraq in response to an attack on a Turkish tank at a military camp there, broadcaster CNN Turk reported. CNN Turk said Turkish soldiers had killed 10 Islamic State militants during an operation that destroyed a building, and had killed another 22 militants as they fled. The report could not immediately be verified. NATO member Turkey has soldiers stationed at the Bashiqa camp near the city of Mosul, which it says are training local forces to fight Islamic State.” Associated Press: Turkey Wants EU Visa Changes By June Or Migrant Deal Is Off  “Turkey could easily call off the migrant deal struck with the European Union if visa rules for Turks aren't relaxed within the next two months, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday, sounding a warning over a controversial deal which has stemmed much of the human tide across the Aegean Sea. The March 18 deal stipulates that anyone arriving on Greek islands from Turkey will be sent back unless they successfully apply for asylum in Greece. For every Syrian sent back, the EU will take another Syrian directly from Turkey. In return, Ankara was granted billions of euros to deal with the more than 2.7 million Syrian refugees already living in Turkey and promised a loosening of the visa regime governing Turkish citizens. Comments carried by the Anadolu Agency quoted the prime minister as saying that if Brussels did not hold up its end of the bargain by June then ‘no one would expect Turkey to adhere its commitments.’” Afghanistan The Guardian: Dozens Killed And 300 Injured As Kabul Hit By Taliban Suicide Attack “Dozens were killed and more than 300 injured on Tuesday in a Taliban suicide attack on the headquarters of an elite military unit in central Kabul, one of the group’s bloodiest ever attacks in the Afghan capital. The violence marked the start of the Taliban’s annual ‘spring offensive’, named this year for former leader Mullah Omar. The scale of the attack, after months of Taliban advances around the country, has heightened fears that Afghanistan faces one of the most violent years since Omar and his government were toppled from power in 2001.” Yemen AFP: Yemen Clashes Kill 13 As UN Urges Start Of Delayed Talks “Clashes between Yemeni loyalist forces and rebels have killed 13 fighters, military sources said Tuesday, as the UN chief urged warring parties to begin delayed peace talks. UN-brokered peace talks, which were set to open in Kuwait on Monday, were delayed after the insurgents failed to show up over alleged Saudi violations of a ceasefire that took effect on April 11. Fighting erupted late Monday in Marib province, east of the rebel-held Yemeni capital Sanaa, with warring parties trading blame for the ceasefire breaches. Five soldiers loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and eight rebel fighters were killed in the clashes which continued intermittently through Tuesday, the pro-government military sources said. They said the fighting erupted when the Iran-backed Huthi rebels and their allies tried to capture positions held by loyalist troops.” Saudi Arabia Reuters: Yemen’s Guerrilla War Tests Military Ambitions Of Big-Spending Saudis “Six years ago, Saudi and American officials agreed on a record $60 billion arms deal. The United States would sell scores of F-15 fighters, Apache attack helicopters and other advanced weaponry to the oil-rich kingdom. The arms, both sides hoped, would fortify the Saudis against their aggressive arch-rival in the region, Iran. But as President Barack Obama makes his final visit to Riyadh this week, Saudi Arabia’s military capabilities remain a work in progress – and the gap in perceptions between Washington and Riyadh has widened dramatically. The biggest stumble has come in Yemen. Frustrated by Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran and the U.S. pullback from the region, Riyadh launched an Arab military intervention last year to confront perceived Iranian expansionism in its southern neighbour.” Egypt Forbes: Egypt's Military Regime Grows More Brutal Every Day: Copts Likely To Find Persecution, Not Protection, Ahead “The Middle East has turned hostile to Christians and other religious minorities. The Iraqi Christian community has been devastated. Syria’s civil war loosed the murderous Islamic State on Christians and others. Libya’s disintegration opened the nation to IS fighters bent on killing anyone of the wrong faith. Also at risk are Egypt’s Copts, who make up about ten percent of that country’s population. Coptic Christians predate Islam and played an important role in Egypt’s development. But they long suffered from discrimination and persecution.” Middle East The Jerusalem Post: Analysis: Does The Jerusalem Bus Explosion Endanger The Recent Decline In Terror? “Despite a bus explosion that injured 21 people in Jerusalem on Monday, the defense establishment believes that the current terror wave plaguing Israel is approaching its end. A downturn in attacks has been noted on the ground, in part due to the Palestinian security forces' efforts to thwart terror.  The estimate is that an organized terrorist infrastructure does not stand behind the blast, but rather it is believed to be the work of a lone wolf attacker that constructed the explosive device from materials that can be purchased at a hardware store. The main reason for the great amount of damage that the bomb caused is that it exploded next to the massive gas tanks of two buses.”  Libya Newsweek: The Rise Of Isis In Libya “In the months following the creation of the Islamic State militant group’s so-called caliphate in June 2014, affiliates began to spring up around the world in countries such as Algeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sudan. These were groups who sought to bandwagon on the radical Islamist group’s brand of jihad, but ISIS leadership actively sought to build a presence in a third country outside of Iraq and Syria: Libya. The North African state now represents ISIS’s largest power center outside of the caliphate’s borders, with one city under its brutal brand of Islamic law and thousands of fighters across the country.” United Kingdom BBC: One Million UK Workers To Get Terror Response Training “One million people who work in crowded places in the UK are to be trained over the next 12 months in how to deal with a possible terrorist attack. The plan, to be announced by the National Police Chiefs Council, will see staff pass on police terror training and advice to colleagues. The initiative will extend an existing scheme, which currently sees police train around 100,000 workers a year. Police said they need ‘everyone to play a part in keeping the public alert’. Det Ch Supt Scott Wilson, the national counter-terrorism co-ordinator, will announce an extension to Project Griffin to allow existing trainers at companies to pass on police training and advice to colleagues.” Reuters: Britain Says Has No Plans To Send Combat Troops To Libya “Britain has no plans to send combat troops to Libya, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Tuesday, responding to media reports that British special forces were already operating in the country. ‘I am clear that there is no appetite in Libya for foreign combat troops on the ground,’ Hammond told parliament on his return from a visit to the new UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli. During his visit this week, Hammond offered the GNA 10 million pounds ($14.4 million) in support and said Britain was ready to offer further technical assistance. On Monday, Libya's new prime minister Fayez Seraj called for European help to combat people-smugglers but stopped short of making the formal invitation the EU says it needs to move its Mediterranean naval mission into Libyan waters to stem a new tide of migrants.” Germany Deutsche Welle: German Court: Anti-Terror Laws Partially Unconstitutional “The German Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe said on Wednesday that although secret surveillance powers given to the Federal Criminal Police (BKA) are in principle in line with the country's constitution, the current legal framework granting these powers does not satisfy the principle of proportionality. In 2009, a law was passed granting the BKA the power to act preventatively against crimes relating to international terrorism. Previously, the BKA was responsible for law enforcement, with preventative measures assigned to state police forces. This included the ability to secretly conduct surveillance through recorded conversations or photographs, carry out wiretaps, or to remotely search computers.” Bloomberg: German Raids Target Right-Wing Group Accused Of Refugee Attacks “German police arrested five suspects on terrorism charges in raids on a right-wing group charged with attacking asylum shelters in the east of the country in the midst of Europe’s refugee crisis. Special federal police forces helped raid apartments centered in the town of Freital near Dresden early on Tuesday, swooping on an organization identified as the Freital Group that targeted at least two shelters with explosives between September and November of last year, the Federal Prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Members of Germany’s GSG-9 anti-terror security forces took part in the raids, N24 television reported.” France The Guardian: France Pledges Faster Response To Possible Terror Attacks After Paris Delays “France will guarantee a 20-minute response of police and military anti-terrorism units to any future militant attacks, drawing on lessons learned from November’sterror attacks in Paris, its interior minister has said. Besides more security personnel, specialist units will get new clearances to bypass the traditional carve-up of responsibilities between police and military forces that can hinder a timely armed response, Bernard Cazeneuve said. The measures will ensure a minimum 20-minute response to attacks on population centres anywhere in France, he said. In the wake of the 13 November attack on the Bataclan concert hall, which killed 90 people, questions were asked about why a police assault was ordered a full two hours and 40 minutes after militants began shooting people inside.” Europe CNBC: Testing Europe: How Terrorism Could Make Or Break The Union “The rapid click of camera shutters filled an otherwise silent room in the heart of Paris, 10 days after one of Europe's most tragic terror attacks. French President Francois Hollande and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron addressed the media side-by-side, with the U.K.'s Union Jack, the French Tricolor and the European Union (EU) flag hanging steps behind. As expected, Cameron pledged to ramp up cross-border cooperation to tackle terrorism and urged for stronger external borders, collection of passenger records, intelligence sharing on the return of foreign fighters and a crackdown on the illegal arms trade. The continent is facing its most significant terror threat in over 10 years, according to Europol, the EU's law-enforcement agency. But some countries in Europe are at odds when it came to terror prevention.” New York Post: ISIS Reportedly Planning Attacks On European Beaches “ISIS jihadists are planning to attack Italian, French and Spanish beach resorts this summer by posing as refugees selling ice cream and T-shirts. German and Italian authorities learned that the extremists plan to detonate suicide vests and bury bombs under lounge chairs on beaches, German newspaper Bild reported Tuesday. The intelligence comes from a “credible source” in Africa who said the terrorists hatched ‘concrete plans’ for the attacks on crowded beaches, the Mirror of the UK reported.” Technology US News & World Report: Apple, FBI Argue Over Need For Encryption-Breaking Tools “Apple and the FBI brought their privacy versus national security battle to Capitol Hill Tuesday with law enforcement officials insisting on ‘backdoor’ access to the encrypted technology. Apple argued anew that encryption protects people from cybercrime. ‘The best way we – and the technology industry – know how to protect your information is through the use of strong encryption,’ Apple's top lawyer and general counsel, Bruce Sewell, told a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee. Federal officials were able to successfully crack into the iPhone used by one of the gunmen during the December terror attack in San Bernardino, California, without help from Apple technicians. But lawmakers said the debate is just beginning over balancing the needs of national security and criminal investigations against protection of privacy rights.” Arabic Language Clips ISIS Alhurra: Monthly ... ISIS Loses 30 Percent Of Its Financial Revenues A new report by the American IHS company, which specializes in economic analysis, revealed that the Islamic State (IS) organization is facing a severe financial crunch after losing roughly one third of its revenues. This has forced the jihadist group to adopt new ways to get its hands on the funds owned by residents in areas under its control. The report explained that the militant group has lost 30 percent of its monthly revenues, which fell from $80 million in March 2015 to a mere $56 million in the same month this year. Today, ISIS is acquiring huge sums of money from looting and imposing taxes, but the funds derived by the militant group from these two sources have fallen by 23 percent since the summer of 2015, according to the assessment of the American company. Hespress: Spain Hands Over ISIS Man Wanted By The Moroccan Justice System On Charges Of Terrorism Spanish authorities handed over to their Moroccan counterparts a Moroccan immigrant named Mohammed el Bali, who is wanted by the Moroccan justice system for his involvement in terror-related cases. The Moroccan was detained in Melilla on September 3rd, 2013, on charges of "forming and presiding over a Takfiri network which worked to recruit women in Morocco's northern regions, for the purpose of sending them to support the Mujahideen in hotbeds of conflict." Mohammed was the leader of two terrorist cells, which worked in coordination with a female Moroccan ISIS activist called Wafila, to recruit women from Morocco and Spain to join the ranks of terrorist organizations in both Syria and Iraq. The recruiting was carried out mainly by means of the WhatsApp application. Muslim Brotherhood Aljarida: Al-Nouri Who Was Close To The Muslim Brotherhood And To Marzouki Reveals: The Money Of Brotherhood Lured Marzouki Tunisian human rights activist Murad Al-Nouri spoke about the Muslim Brotherhood's money that had tempted former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki. Al-Nouri asserted that Marzouki had promised the Brotherhood to return all the money they had showered upon him before the revolution, via the "black money" of the president's office. The activist called, through a post in the social media, to launch an investigation into the large amounts of money that were at Marzouki's disposal when he was in Carthage. In his media post, Al-Nouri wrote that he is a political refugee previously close to the Brotherhood group, which had backed Marzouki before turning against him. He added, "It will be my honor to be questioned by the Prosecution if it seeks to verify the financial corruption of the Brotherhood and Marzouki." Al Wafd: Brotherhood Leaders Seized State Lands In Alexandria A state of confusion exists within the corridors of the local administration of Alexandria Province. This comes on the heels of a complaint submitted to the Attorney-General of Alexandria, accusing prominent Muslim scholar, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Mufti of the Muslim Brotherhood, his family and leaders of the organization of seizing state lands in Alexandria, worth millions of Egyptian pounds. Lawyer Tarek Mahmoud submitted the complaint to the First Attorney-General in Alexandria. It is supported by documents and a memorandum by the State Property Protection Agency, confirming the takeover of state lands by the suspects and their families with the complicity of senior officials of Alexandria Province. Mahmoud demanded the forwarding of his complaint to the Public Funds Investigation Department. He also called for summoning the former governor and officials of the State Property Protection Agency in Alexandria, who served during the Brotherhood rule, to an investigation into the matter. Houthi Akhbr Yemen: The Houthis Rob Funds Of Private Companies In Shabwa And Dhale Houthi gunmen, at the Al Naqub Checkpoint in Asilan, in Shabwa Province, stopped a car transporting 250,000 Saudi riyals ($66,600) and another $50,000 owned by "Al-Hudna for Exchange." The vehicle was also carrying 2,737 grams of 21-carat gold divided into four bags and 204 grams of 18-carat gold divided into two bags, as well as an ATM machine belonging to the International Bank of Yemen. The car was on its way to Al Yemen Al Saeed Jewellers. The driver, Samir Mohammed Hashem al-Radhi, was arrested and transferred to Dhamar Province, according to a memo sent by the company to the Yemen Foreign Exchange Association. Meanwhile, the Dhale Governorate-based "Abdullah Hassan Company for Money Exchange and Transfer" sent a memo to the Yemen Foreign Exchange Association, complaining that an amount of 70 million riyals ($325,500) had been seized at a military checkpoint in Dmt district on March 17th. The money was forcibly taken from a company car and the fate of the stolen money is still unknown despite the efforts to locate it since that day.