Eye on Extremism - April 27, 2016

Eye on Extremism April 27, 2016 Counter Extremism Project Huffington Post: ISIS’s Dangerous Arsenal: Exposed “ISIS’s suicide bombings, beheadings, and systematic executions are documented daily. However disturbing these reports, a tally of ISIS’s battlefield capabilities may be even more sobering: multiple authoritative reports describe an ISIS arsenal replete with anti-aircraft missiles, chemical weapons, and programmable driverless car bombs. Even in the heart of Europe, ISIS operatives have stockpiled sophisticated, high-powered weapons and explosives. The weapons cache uncovered by Belgian investigators during the months-long manhunt for Salah Abdeslam should be a wake-up call for anyone doubting ISIS’s willingness and ability to bring its arsenal and killing sprees to the West.” The Hill: Pro-ISIS Hacking Group Leaks 'Kill List' Of US Government Officials “A newly formed hacking group supporting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claims to have infiltrated the State Department and released a ‘kill list’ of U.S. government officials. On Sunday, the so-called United Cyber Caliphate (UCC) — formed roughly two weeks ago — posted its hacking claims and data dump to its account on the messaging platform Telegram. ‘USA You are our primary goal,’ the post said, according to a screenshot provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). ‘Your system failed to Tackling [sic] our attacks. Now we will Crush you again.’” Newsweek: Is ISIS Targeting Americans In Turkey? “The United States warned U.S. citizens in Turkey on Tuesday about ‘credible’ terrorist threats to tourist areas in the country. Turkey has been hit by four suicide bombings already this year, most recently in Istanbul last month. Two of the bombings have been blamed on Islamic State, while Kurdish militants have claimed responsibility for the other two. ‘The U.S. government continues to receive credible indications that terrorist groups are seeking opportunities to attack popular tourist destinations throughout Turkey,’ the embassy in Ankara said in a statement emailed to U.S. citizens.” Fox News: Russia Restarts Bombings Targeting Syrian Opposition, US Officer Says “Russia has resumed bombing moderate opposition fighters in Syria, a U.S. military officer from Baghdad told reporters at the Pentagon Tuesday. ‘We have seen them begin operations again in that region,’ Air Force Maj. Gen. Peter Gersten, the U.S.-led coalition's deputy commander for operations and intelligence, told Fox News. President Obama called Russian President Vladimir Putin last week asking him to help ‘press’ Syria to end its airstrikes, according to a White House statement. The strikes appeared to violate the ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia in February.” Washington Post: Number Of Foreign Fighters Entering Iraq And Syria Drops By 90 Percent, Pentagon Says “The flow of foreign fighters into Iraq and Syria has dropped from roughly 2,000 a month down to 200 within the past year, according to the Pentagon, which says the waning numbers are further proof of the Islamic State’s declining stature. The declining number of fighters is a direct result of strikes that have targeted the terror group’s infrastructure, Air Force Maj. Gen. Peter E. Gersten, the deputy commander for operations and intelligence for the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State, said Tuesday. The Pentagon’s assertion lines up with other information that has emerged recently.” Reuters: U.S. Drone Strike Kills Local Qaeda Leader In South Yemen: Residents “A suspected U.S. drone strike killed a local leader in Al Qaeda and five of his aides in southern Yemen on Tuesday, residents said, as Yemeni and Emirati troops pressed their offensive against the militant group. Abu Sameh al-Zinjibari and other men died when a missile struck their moving car in Amoudiya, a village near the Qaeda-controlled towns of Jaar and Zinjibar. Government and Emirati forces based in the port city of Aden, about 40km (25 miles) away, have been mounting a ground push against towns held by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) along a vast stretch of Yemen's coast. AQAP, which has planned several foiled bombing attempts on Western-bound airliners and claimed credit for the 2015 attack at the Charlie Hebdo magazine's offices in Paris, is considered the most dangerous branch of the global militant group.” The Washington Post: Here’s Why So Many People Join Boko Haram, Despite Its Notorious Violence “Just over two years ago, the extremist Islamist group Boko Haram became infamous worldwide for kidnapping nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls, most of whom are still missing today. However, within the Lake Chad Basin region, a region straddling Nigeria, Chad, Niger, and Cameroon in West Africa, Boko Haram already was widely known for the brutality it had visited on its neighbors. So why would anyone join? That’s the question recently investigated by the Nigeria Social Violence Research project at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, the Center for Complex Operations, and Mercy Corps. Many observers have worried about the group’s ideological pull, and by extension, that of other extremist groups. But a careful reading of these reports reveals something simpler and far more specifically local.” Times Of Israel: Israel Fears IS Affiliate On Syrian Border Holds Chemical Weapons “Defense officials are concerned that an Islamic State affiliate operating near the Syrian border with Israel has acquired chemicals weapons and may be planning to test them, Channel 10 news reported Tuesday. The report said officials believed the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, a terrorist group affiliated with the Islamic State and based on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, may have recently gotten its hands on chemical weapons which once belonged to the Assad regime. Israel is closely monitoring the organization, and believes it may be planning tests of the weapons’ capabilities.” Reuters: Suspect In Paris Attacks Extradited To France From Belgium “Salah Abdeslam, suspected of playing a major part in November's attacks in Paris by Islamist militants in which 130 people were killed, has been extradited to France from Belgium, prosecutors in both countries said on Wednesday. Abdeslam, 26, was Europe's most wanted fugitive until his capture in Brussels on March 18 after a four-month manhunt. He was due to appear before French judges later on Wednesday. ‘Salah Abdeslam has been handed over to the French authorities this morning,’ Belgium's federal prosecutors said in a statement. His capture in March came four days before separate suicide bomb attacks by Islamist militants at Brussels international airport and on a metro train which killed 32 people.” The Wall Street Journal: FBI Plans To Keep Apple iPhone-Hacking Method Secret “The Federal Bureau of Investigation doesn’t plan to tell Apple Inc. how it cracked a San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist’s phone, said people familiar with the matter, leaving the company in the dark on a security vulnerability on some iPhone models. The FBI knows how to use the phone-hacking tool it bought to open the iPhone 5c but doesn’t specifically knows how it works, allowing the tool to avoid a White House review, the people said, The FBI plans to notify the White House of this conclusion in the coming days, they added. Any decision to not share details of the vulnerability with Apple is likely to anger privacy advocates who contend the FBI’s approach to encryption weakens data security for many smartphone and computer owners in order to preserve options for federal investigators to open locked devices.” United States Voice of America: US Backs NATO Force Off Libya As Migrant Numbers Soar “A NATO-led mission aimed at stemming the flow of migrants from Libya to Europe could be up and running by July, according to the Italian government.  There are fears the numbers of migrants could soar as the route through Greece and the Balkans remains blocked. Libyan security forces detained more than 200 migrants from across Africa, and an alleged smuggler, following a raid on a safe house last week in Tripoli. This type of enforcement is Europe’s long-term hope for stemming the flow of migrants.  More than 16,000 people made the crossing from North Africa to Italy in the first three months of 2016, almost double the rate last year. The United States has offered its backing for a proposed NATO naval operation off Libya.” Times Of Israel: US Ready To Offer Israel Largest Aid Package In History “A White House official indicated on Monday that the Obama administration was ready to offer Israel the largest military aid package offered to any country over the course of US history. Amid a push by a large majority of senators to increase foreign aid to Israel, a White House official told Reuters: ‘We are prepared to sign an MOU [memorandum of understanding] with Israel that would constitute the largest single pledge of military assistance to any country in US history.’ The official said discussions with Israel were ongoing on a memorandum of understanding that would increase US military aid to Israel for the next 10 years, due to be renewed before 2018.” CNN: Pentagon Adopts Israeli Tactic In Bombing ISIS “The U.S. has adopted a unique Israeli battlefield tactic in its fight against ISIS: exploding a missile above a building to warn civilians inside that it's about to be bombed. Israeli forces have widely used the so-called knock-on-the-roof operations in Gaza attacks in recent years to try to get civilians out before they are hit. The first public revelation of the U.S. using a ‘knock operation’ came Tuesday at a press briefing by Air Force Maj. Gen. Peter E. Gersten, deputy commander for operations and intelligence for the anti-ISIS Operation Inherent Resolve.” Syria Deutsche Welle: Syria's Peace Talks Fade As Violence Escalates “Bashar al-Jaafari accused ‘terrorism-sponsoring countries and the terrorist groups that belong to them’ of undermining efforts to establish a political solution. They ‘seek to undermine the political solution efforts through breaching the cessation of hostilities agreement and carrying out terrorist acts that claimed dozens of innocent lives,’ al-Jaafari told reporters in Geneva. Last week, the Saudi-backed mainstream opposition alliance High Negotiations Committee (HNC) suspended its participation in the talks, citing continued attacks on civilians by government forces and stalled aid deliveries.” New York Times: Syria: 5 Rescue Workers Are Killed In Northern Syria “Five rescue workers with a civil defense group were killed in aerial attacks on their headquarters in northern Syria on Tuesday as violence escalated in the critical battlegrounds of Aleppo Province, where government and insurgent attacks have killed dozens in recent days. The rescuers died after four airstrikes and a surface-to-surface missile hit the headquarters in quick succession in Atareb, in western Aleppo Province, according to the group, the White Helmets, a civilian organization that responds to attacks in insurgent-held territory and says it has helped save as many as 50,000 people. Airstrikes in the area are being carried out by the government and its Russian allies.” Iraq Newsweek: Why Have The Kurds Supplied ISIS With Weapons? “Iraqi Kurdistan has spent millions of dollars on lobbying to depict itself as a democracy, as an ideological ally of the United States in the region and as committed to the fight against the Islamic State militant group, also known as ISIS. The reality is far more complex. In the weeks before ISIS seized Mosul, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) apparently supplied some weaponry, like Kornet anti-tank missiles, to ISIS in order to weaken the central government with whom [President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region] Masoud Barzani was locked in a political dispute.” Turkey The Wall Street Journal: U.S., Turkey Step Up Border Campaign Against Islamic State “The U.S. and Turkey are stepping up their campaign to choke off Islamic State’s main route out of Syria by deploying advanced rockets and more Turkish forces to the Syrian border, U.S. and Turkish officials said Tuesday. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the U.S. plans to send the rockets to the Turkey-Syria border. The rocket system will be operated by U.S. forces and it is expected to be incorporated into the Turkish military’s border operations, officials said. Islamic State and other extremists have used the 60-mile stretch of the Turkey-Syria border to transport weapons, supplies and fighters between Turkey and Syrian strongholds, as well as to send militants to carry out attacks in Europe, according to officials.” Reuters: U.S. Embassy Warns Citizens In Turkey About 'Credible' Terrorist Threats “The United States warned U.S. citizens in Turkey on Tuesday about ‘credible’ terrorist threats to tourist areas in the country. Turkey has been hit by four suicide bombings already this year, most recently in Istanbul last month. Two of the bombings have been blamed on Islamic State, while Kurdish militants have claimed responsibility for the other two. ‘The U.S. government continues to receive credible indications that terrorist groups are seeking opportunities to attack popular tourist destinations throughout Turkey,’ the embassy in Ankara said in a statement emailed to U.S. citizens.” Afghanistan Voice Of America: US Forces Warn Of More Militant Attacks In Afghanistan “U.S. forces in Afghanistan Tuesday warned of fresh militant attacks in several provinces, including Kabul. A public announcement issued in the capital named eight would-be attackers and released an Afghan cell phone number ((0702210396)), encouraging anyone with information on the individuals to call. ‘Insurgents from the Haqqani and Taliban networks are known to be planning attacks on the Afghan people’ in the northeast provinces of Parwan, Khost, Kabul and Logar, the statement said, without giving more details. The eastern Khost province borders Pakistan and traditionally has been a stronghold of the Haqqani network.” Yemen Reuters: Yemen Peace Talks Back On Track Following World Pressure “Yemen's warring factions agreed on an agenda on Tuesday for U.N.-backed peace negotiations, delegates said, following heavy pressure from world powers. The talks to end fighting between the Iran-allied Houthis and supporters of Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi were launched last week but were suspended on Sunday amid bickering about flights over Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition. The Houthis argue that the flights constitute a violation of the truce that began on April 10 to facilitate the talks. The Hadi government insists the flights are intended to prevent the Houthis and their ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, from moving heavy weapons around. The stability of Yemen, where al Qaeda and Islamic State are vying for influence, is of international concern as the country neighbors Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, and is also near key shipping lanes.” Middle East The Jerusalem Post: Israel Arrests 3 Palestinians Suspected Of Planning Jerusalem Terror Attack “Israeli security forces on Tuesday arrested three Palestinians from the West Bank town of Nablus who are suspected of planning a terrorist attack in Jerusalem. The three detainees have been transferred to the custody of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) for further questioning. The arrests, which were carried out by a joint force comprising the Israel Police and the Shin Bet, were made in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber. Two of the suspects are minors – age 15 and 16 – and the other is a 23-year-old man. The three Palestinians were detained after the security forces obtained a tip indicating that an attack was imminent. The authorities say that the Palestinians planned on committing a combined assault against civilians involving an explosive device as well as gunfire.” Times Of Israel: Gaza Kids Put On Play About Stabbing, Killing Israelis “Young Palestinian children participating in a festival in the Gaza Strip this week wore military fatigues, and brandished toy knives and machine guns as they performed a play simulating violence against Israelis. The event was broadcast on a Hamas television channel dedicated to culture, available in Gaza and the West Bank, according to Channel 2 news. The play was performed in the Strip’s southern city of Khan Younis as part of the ongoing Palestine Festival for Children and Education. Ofir Gendelman, the Arab media spokesperson at the Prime Minister’s Office compared the play to the propaganda of the Islamic State.” Newsweek: Israel Charges Jewish Settlers In Extremist Cell 'Inspired By Duma Arson Attack' “An Israeli court indicted seven Israelis on Monday on suspicion of conducting attacks against Palestinians near the West Bank city of Ramallah, with further alleged plots in the works. The suspects, all men, were charged at Lod District Court on suspicion of throwing tear gas grenades and firebombs at Palestinian civilians. The cell included an Israeli soldier, two brothers from the West Bank settlement of Nahliel, a settler from the settlement of Ma’ale Efraim, a man from Jerusalem and two minors. The Shin Bet security service and Israeli police believe that the cell was inspired by the Duma arson attack, in which settlers killed 18-month-old Palestinian child Ali Dawabsha and his parents in a firebombing in the West Bank village of Duma in July 2015.” United Kingdom The Guardian: Britain And Canada To Urge Other Nations Halt Ransom Payments To Terrorists “Canada and Britain will work together to urge other nations to halt the flow of ransom payments to terrorists, prime minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday, as he fielded questions about the recent death of a Canadian hostage in the Philippines. ‘Canada does not and will not pay ransom to terrorists, directly or indirectly,’ Trudeau told reporters in Alberta. The statement came one day after Trudeau announced that Canadian hostage John Ridsdel, a former mining executive, was killed by Abu Sayyaf militants, hours after a ransom demand from the group went unanswered. Ridsdel’s death has reignited debate over whether nations should engage with ransom demands from terrorists.” France The Jerusalem Post: Report: Israel Bias Suspected Behind Axed Tech Deal That Could Have Flagged Paris Attackers “Terrorist-tracking technology offered by an Israeli company to French security officials could have helped detect the Islamic State terror cells that carried out attacks in Paris last year and more recently in Brussels, Fox News on Monday cited an anonymous Israeli security expert as saying.  But the Israeli proposal was rejected. ‘French authorities liked it, but the official came back and said there was a higher-level instruction not to buy Israeli technology,” a high-ranking Israeli counter-terrorism expert told Fox News.” Europe International Business Times:  Security Chief James Clapper Warns Open EU Borders Allow Isis Terror Cells To Thrive “The US intelligence chief has issued a stark warning that the free movement of citizens around the European Union is allowing Islamist militants to prosper and plot attacks on countries including the UK. James Clapper, US director of National Intelligence, said such open borders have allowed Isis to establish sleeper cells and there is evidence that groups in the UK, Germany and Italy are planning Paris and Brussels-style attacks. Clapper, the most senior Western official to publicly acknowledge Isis's reach into Europe, said the UK and Germany were prone to attack, adding: ‘We've learned that they are fanatic, very OPSEC conscious — meaning operational security conscious — they're very mindful of that.” Reuters: Sweden On Alert For Possible IS Attack In Capital: Local Media “Sweden has received intelligence about a possible attack on the capital by Islamic State militants, local media reported on Tuesday, and security services said they were investigating undisclosed information. Newspapers Aftonbladet and Expressen as well as public broadcaster Swedish Radio, citing unnamed sources, said the information related to the threat of an attack, possibly in the capital Stockholm. Expressen reported Swedish security police (SAPO) had received intelligence from Iraq that seven or eight Islamic State fighters had entered Sweden with the intention of attacking civilian targets. A security police spokeswoman said she would not comment on any specific details of a threat, but said it was working with regular police as well as national and international partners.” Arabic Language Clips ISIS Tunisien.Tn: (Tunisian President) Essebsi To La Stampa: ISIS Attracts Our Youth In Exchange For $1000 Per Month," Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, in an interview conducted with an Italian newspaper published on Saturday, April 23rd 2016, claimed that the ISIS terrorist organization tempts Tunisian youth with a monthly salary of an estimated $1000. Essebsi stressed that with over 40% of the country's university graduates unemployed, these young Tunisians, who at best earn no more than 200 dinars (~$100) per month, are easy prey. Muslim Brotherhood Elwehda: Formal Decision To Close All (Brotherhood-Affiliated) Islamic Culture And Quran Memorization Centers Belonging To The (Egyptian) Ministry Of Solidarity In what observers described as a "decision meant to limit the dissemination of radical thought and incitement against the Egyptian regime", the government decided to close all the Quran education centers for reading and memorization, private preaching qualification institutes and Islamic cultural centers run by NGOs. Egyptian sources asserted that "most of these centers are located in mosques operated by associations and organizations which are officially associated with the Ministry of Social Solidarity and not the Ministry of Awqaf. These centers provide clandestine educational and religious services, far from the eyes of the State." The sources noted that "the number of these institutes, according to official data, comes to 80, most of them belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood and militant groups which incite against State institutions."         Vetogate: Former Jihadist: Brotherhood In Europe Using All Mechanisms And Means To Discredit The Egyptian Regime Sheikh Amal Abdel-Wahab, a former jihadist leader, stated that the Brotherhood in Europe is seeking a greater presence in the media, both electronic and printed. It is doing so by offering money to publish fallacious information, thus tarnishing the image of the Egyptian regime, meant to validate its claims that the power was taken from them [the Brotherhood] by force. Abdel-Wahab added that the participation of the European arm of the Brotherhood in sit-ins demanding divulgence of the circumstances which led to the death of the Italian student in Egypt is not surprising. After all, the Muslim Brotherhood is trying through its members in European countries to put pressure on the Egyptian regime by inflating any event as a disaster or as an indicator for the erosion of human rights in Egypt. Vetogate: (Egyptian Minister) Saafan: Dollar Crunch Is Brotherhood Manipulation Which Will End Soon," Mohammed Saafan, Egypt's Minister of Manpower, stated that the dollar crisis, which was provoked by Muslim Brotherhood's manipulation, will soon come to an end. He claimed that their plot was aimed at choking the Egyptian economy and creating a dollar crisis. Saafan added, during an interview on the LTC TV Channel, that the end of the dollar crisis is anticipated soon, and the rate of the US currency will gradually decline against the Egyptian pound. He said, "The dollar crisis will not stay long and the dollar (rate) will return to previous (levels)." Hezbollah Lebanon24: Glaser In Beirut Soon: (Hezbollah) Sanctions To Affect 'Important' Accounts In All Currencies Daniel Glaser, Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing at the US Treasury Department, spoke to members of a delegation representing Lebanese banks who visited Washington and New York last week. He informed them that the US administration’s sanctions on Hezbollah-affiliated financial institutions and individuals, according to Resolution No. 2297 entitled the "Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015", will make no distinction between accounts in dollars and in Lebanese pounds. He emphasized that the sanctions will apply to "important" accounts in dollars, euros, Lebanese pounds and other currencies. It was learned that Glaser will visit Beirut late next week, or early the following week, to introduce to Lebanon's officials the articles of Resolution 2297, including 95 names of officials, politicians and businessmen, companies and institutions regarded by Washington as being associated with Hezbollah. At the forefront of these names are Hezbollah's Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and the organization’s military leader Mustafa Badr Al-Din.