Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Eye on Extremism - April 6, 2016

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Eye on Extremism

April 6, 2016

CNN: Top Military Official Warns Of ISIS Attacks
“The commander of U.S. Cyber Command warned Tuesday that it ‘would not be difficult’ for ISIS to conduct cyberattacks on the U.S. Adm. Michael Rogers, who oversees the military's cyberspace operations, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that ISIS had ‘harnessed the power of the information arena’ to propagate its ideology, recruit, move money and coordinate activity.But he added that what concerns him the most is what happens when ISIS ‘starts to view cyber as a weapon system’ to attack critical infrastructure in the U.S. While Rogers acknowledged that ISIS had yet to demonstrate the skills needed to conduct such attacks, he said that ‘it would not be difficult’ to achieve that capability. ‘It's not beyond their ability if they made that decision,’ he said. Rogers referenced the December cyberattack on the Ukrainian power grid, which left hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians without electricity, as an example of the type of damage a cyberattack on critical infrastructure can cause.”
Reuters: Rebels Shoot Down Second Syrian Jet In A Month
“Rebels shot down a second Syrian warplane in less than a month on Tuesday and a monitoring group said they captured its pilot in an area near Aleppo where heavy fighting has erupted in recent days despite a cessation of hostilities agreement. The Syrian army said the jet was shot down with an anti-aircraft missile, which have been long demanded by foreign-backed rebels against devastating aerial raids by Syrian and, since September, Russian forces. Rebels said the plane was downed with anti-aircraft guns. Their backers, which include Western and Sunni Muslim regional states, have been wary of delivering weapons such as anti-aircraft missiles that could fall into the hands of hardline groups. Any confirmation the rebels now have the missile equipment would be a major escalation in their weaponry. Syria says an anti-aircraft missile was also used by rebels to shoot down a warplane in western Syria in March.”
CBS News: Iraqi Forces Face Heavy Resistance In ISIS-Held Town Of Hit
“Heavy resistance has slowed Iraqi forces Tuesday as they pushed toward the center of a town held by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants in western Anbar province, commanders at the scene said. Hundreds of roadside bombs, car bombs and heavy mortar fire slowed advancing Iraqi troops to a near halt Tuesday after entering the small town of Hit the previous day. Hit -- which lies along the Euphrates River in a valley in Anbar's sprawling desert -- is strategically important as it sits along an ISIS supply line that links territory controlled by the extremist Sunni group in Iraq and in Syria. Through the line, ISIS ferries fighters and supplies from Syria into Iraq.”
CNN: First On CNN: U.S. Mulls Pulling Troops From Sinai Due To ISIS Threat
“The Obama administration is considering pulling troops out of a base in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula in part due to the growing threat from ISIS and other militants, CNN has learned. The U.S. is mulling moving some U.S. and international troops into southern portions of Sinai. They are discussing the possibility with Egypt and Israel, which signed a peace treaty in 1979 that the Multinational Force and Observers mission monitors compliance with. Some 700 U.S. troops are currently part of the mission. So far, neither Egypt nor Israel has commented publicly on the talks, and any significant changes would have to be approved by all signatories to the peace accord.”
Algemeiner: Study: Terror Deaths Have Increased 8-Fold Since 2010
“The deadly toll of terrorism around the globe has jumped nearly 800 percent in the past five years, according to an exhaustive new report that blames the alarming expansion of Islamist groups across the Middle East and Africa. The nonprofit Investigative Project on Terrorism found that an average of nearly 30,000 people per year have been killed by terrorists since 2010, when terrorism’s death toll was 3,284. The authors of the study, which tabulated the numbers through the end of 2015, say that the exponential increase shows two troubling trends: More attacks are happening, and they tend to be deadlier than ever.”
Associated Press: As Afghan War Escalates, Schools Forced To Close
“One of Afghanistan's proudest achievements has been getting millions of children, especially girls, back into school since the toppling of the Taliban. But that success is crumbling across the south and in other battleground areas of the country, where hundreds of schools have been forced to shut down. Sometimes the cause is fighting, sometimes it's intimidation from the Taliban. Sometimes it's both, as in the case of the Loy Manda high school in southern Helmand province, part of the Taliban heartland. When the Taliban waged an offensive last winter, the school in the Nad Ali district was caught in the fighting between the militants and Afghan government forces.”
BBC: Libya: One Of Two Rival Governments To Step Down
“One of two rival governments in Libya has announced that it is stepping down, a justice ministry statement has said. The announcement comes less than a week after the arrival in Tripoli of a UN-backed national unity government. The Tripoli-based Islamist administration said it was standing down to prevent further bloodshed. Since 2014 Libya has had two competing administrations, the one in Tripoli backed by powerful militias and the other in the port city of Tobruk. The Tobruk-based administration still opposes the UN-backed body.”
Associated Press: Cameroon Says Multinational Forces Arrest 300 Boko Haram Fighters, Free At Least 2,000 People
“Cameroon says multinational forces fighting Boko Haram have arrested over 300 Islamic extremists and freed at least 2,000 people from their strongholds along Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad borders. Cameroon's commander of the joint forces, Bouba Dobekreo, said Tuesday that during the three-day operation, forces also destroyed a Boko Haram training and logistic base about 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of the Nigerian town of Kumshe. The governor of Cameroon's Far North province, Midjiyawa Bakari, has asked that all displaced people be directed by the military to the Minawao refugee camp in northern Cameroon to be better tracked. Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Benin have contributed about 9,000 troops to fight the six-year insurgency launched by the Nigeria-based militants. More than 1,000 humanitarian workers have also been deployed.”
Daily Mail: Whatsapp Joins Terrorism Row By Switching Encryption On For Its Billion Users
“WhatsApp has announced a major plan to keep your conversations protected. The global messaging service is now equipped with ‘end-to-end’ encryption for every user with the latest version of the app. The update arrives amid a heightened international debate over how much access law enforcement should have to digital communications and follows a high-profile showdown between Apple and the FBI over an encrypted iPhone linked to one of the San Bernardino shooters. It means all phone calls, texts, and even media files are visible only to people included in the thread. According to a recent WhatsApp Blog post, end-to-end encryption will lock out cybercriminals, hackers, ‘oppressive regimes,’ and even WhatsApp officials to keep your data private.”
The Wall Street Journal: FBI Analyzing Data From San Bernardino iPhone for Leads
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation is still analyzing data on the iPhone used by a San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist and won’t decide whether to talk about what it has found until after that examination is complete, a senior FBI official said Tuesday. James Baker, the FBI’s general counsel, was peppered with questions about the contentious iPhone case at a conference of the International Association of Privacy Professionals. The discussion came a week after the FBI announced it had cracked the iPhone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, cutting short a high-stakes legal battle over whether Apple Inc. could be forced by a judge to help agents recover data from the phone. The end of that case doesn’t mean the end of the fight between Washington and Silicon Valley over privacy and security of digital data. Legal experts on both sides expect future conflicts on the same issue, particularly as more companies encrypt data.”

United States

U.S. News & World Report: Lawmakers: U.S. Should Take The Lead In Fighting Terrorism In Europe
“It's in the interest of the United States to take a leadership role in combating terrorism in Europe so that the violence doesn't spread to America or jeopardize Americans abroad, senators and experts said at a Homeland Security Committee hearing Tuesday. ‘The most dangerous result, really, of this situation is that every success that the Islamic State has in Europe breeds more success here at home,’ said Clinton Watts, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. ‘A successful attack in Paris, Istanbul, Brussels, inspires [a radicalized American] here in the states who maybe has no connection to the Islamic State or al-Qaida to start to move forward.’ He pointed to the San Bernardino, California, killings and the shooting of a Philadelphia police officer by a man who said he was acting in the name of the Islamic State group. Terrorist operatives have been able to take advantage of the weaknesses in communication and coordination between European Union nations, according to Juan Zarate, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and have managed to infiltrate refugee flows into Europe.”
Reuters: Pentagon Chief Wants Streamlined, More Nimble U.S. Military Structure
“U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Tuesday called for changes in the U.S. military that would cut inefficiencies, streamline the acquisition process and improve the ability to respond quickly to threats such as Islamic State. The proposals by Carter, speaking to an audience at Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, cut across all branches of the Defense Department because they affect its top leadership and service chiefs. He said some of the measures could be put in place ‘over the coming weeks’ under existing authority while others will require legislative action. Some of the proposals aim to overcome organizational inefficiencies within the vast U.S. military that Carter believes do not allow it to best address transregional threats like the one from the Islamic State militant group, which stretches from Afghanistan to Africa. Carter's proposals, which did not go into specifics, follow a review of the Goldwater-Nichols law of 1986, which made sweeping changes to the structure of the U.S. military and has been criticized for being outdated.”
CNN: Obama Looks To Scale Up ISIS Fight
“President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he was looking for ways to scale up the battle against militants in Iraq and Syria ahead of a White House meeting with top U.S. military brass. The planning session on combating the terror group was not expected to yield major shifts of strategy.’We continue to take on their leadership, their financial networks, their infrastructure,’ Obama said before conferring with combatant commanders and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The President cited coalition efforts to block the highway between two cities where ISIS has gained strongholds, Raqqa, Syria, and Mosul, Iraq: ‘We are going to squeeze them and we will defeat them.’ Before of the meeting, U.S. officials told CNN that one idea for ramping up the ISIS fight would be to send additional U.S. Special Operations forces into Syria, though the notion had not yet morphed into a full-blown option for consideration at the White House. The U.S. has so far authorized up to 50 special operators to work in Syria training moderate rebel forces battling ISIS.”

Syria

BBC: Syria War: IS 'Used Mustard Gas' On Assad Troops
“State media in Syria have accused militants from so-called Islamic State (IS) of using mustard gas against government forces in the north-east. Troops came under fire at an air base which IS has been trying to capture in Deir al-Zour, they say. Meanwhile, rebels have shot down a Syrian fighter plane over the province of Aleppo. Unconfirmed reports say militants from Nusra Front have captured one of the crew alive. Reuters news agency cites monitoring and rebel sources as saying the pilot was taken by the al-Qaeda-linked group after the plane crashed in countryside.”

Iraq

CNN: Advance On ISIS: The Road To Mosul
“Captain T's sniper rifle hangs out of the truck window as he hums along to "The Warrior Song" blaring forth from his iPhone. It's a tune that reminds him of one of his American trainers, back when the U.S. military was first rebuilding Iraq's security forces, after the fall of Saddam Hussein. It's been almost two years since Captain T saw his family, when ISIS took over their village in Nineveh province. ‘Sometimes I am just a ten minute drive away from them, but I can't see them,’ he says. ‘With the help of God, I will get them free soon, very soon.’”

Turkey

BBC: Turkish PM Wants To Strip 'Terror Supporters' Of Citizenship
“Turkey should consider stripping terrorism supporters of their citizenship, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. The government had ‘nothing to discuss with terrorists’, he added, speaking to a group of lawyers in Ankara. On Monday Mr Erdogan ruled out reviving peace talks with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). A ceasefire between the Turkish government and the PKK collapsed in July. ‘These people don't deserve to be our citizens. We are not obliged to carry anyone engaged in the betrayal of their state and their people,’ Mr Erdogan said. The Turkish president also vowed to stamp out the conflict in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast once and for all. The region has suffered its worst violence in more than two decades after a truce agreed in 2013 collapsed last summer. Mr Erdogan said last week that 355 members of the security forces and more than 5,000 PKK members had been killed in fighting.”
Reuters: Turkey To Readmit More Migrants From Greece As EU Deal Faces Protests
“Turkey is ready to take in another 200 migrants deported from the Greek islands this week, a senior government official said, as it presses ahead with a disputed EU deal aimed at shutting down the main route for illegal migration into Europe. A first group of 202 migrants, mostly Pakistani and Afghan, were shipped back to Turkey on Monday under an agreement which will see Ankara take back all migrants and refugees who cross the Aegean to enter Greece illegally. In return, the European Union will take in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and reward it with money, visa-free travel and progress in its EU membership negotiations. ‘This arrangement will prevent the Aegean Sea being turned into a cemetery for migrants,’ Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in parliament of a deal meant to dissuade migrants from attempting perilous illegal sea crossings. Turkey was initially expecting a second group of 200 migrants to be sent back on Wednesday, but the government official said Greek authorities had informed their Turkish counterparts that the move would be delayed until Friday.”
Reuters: Turkey Bombs Militants In Iraq, Declares Curfew In Southeast As Clashes Erupt
“Turkey bombed Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq on Tuesday and declared a curfew in a southeastern town after a rocket attack, as Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed Ankara would not step back in its crackdown on the rebels. Gunfire rang out through the night in Silopi, near the Iraqi border, where the curfew was imposed after one police officer was killed and four were wounded when a rocket hit their armoured vehicle, security sources said. In Iraq, Turkish F-16 and F-4 warplanes destroyed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) ammunition stores and shelters overnight in the mountainous Qandil area, where the group is based, the army said. It also said 15 PKK militants had been killed in southeast Turkey on Monday.”

Afghanistan

Voice Of America: Suicide Bomber Kills 6 In Afghanistan
“Officials in Afghanistan say that a suicide blast in the central Parwan province Tuesday killed at least six people and wounded at least 22 others. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Seddiqi confirmed the attack in the Siah Gerd district, saying almost all the victims were civilians, including women. He told a news conference in the capital Kabul that police identified the attacker and tried to stop him at a security checkpoint when he detonated the bomb. There were no immediate claims of responsibility, but Afghan officials blame the Taliban-led insurgents for being behind such attacks.”

Yemen

Reuters: Uprooted By Civil War In Yemen, Families Struggle In Barren Camp
“They live in scruffy tents or mud huts on dry, stony ground. Children play with what they have - a rubber tire will do. Medical treatment is hard to come by for young and old alike. In northwest Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, families uprooted by the war have been stuck in camps for the past year. Around 400 of them now reside in the Shawqaba camp in Hajjah province, which borders Saudi Arabia. When fighting between Saudi forces and Houthi rebels began in March 2015, these refugees were forced to leave their villages in al-Dhahir and Shada districts in neighboring Saada province as Saudi-led warplanes targeted Houthi positions. Residents and human rights groups say some of the strikes destroyed homes and damaged farmlands. The coalition has acknowledged mistakes in air operations in Yemen but denies Houthi allegations that its forces strike civilian targets.”

Middle East

The Times Of Israel: Palestinian Donations Buy A Villa For Terrorist’s Family
“The family of Muhannad Shafeq Halabi, a terrorist who killed two Israelis in a stabbing attack that marked the start of the latest wave of violence, on Tuesday acquired a new villa with the help of funds raised from the Palestinian public. The new house was purchased with public donations via a campaign called ‘Building Houses for Free Men,’ which seeks to rebuild the homes of Palestinian attackers that were demolished by Israel. The campaign places glass collection boxes along the main streets of Palestinian villages, and cities and the public fills them with banknotes over a week or two. Over several weeks, the campaign collected millions of shekels’ worth of donations, funding, among other things, the purchase of the house. Halabi, 19, a student at Jerusalem’s Al Quds University and a member of Islamic Jihad, killed Nehemia Lavi and Aharon Banita in Jerusalem’s Old City in October. They were the first Israelis killed in a knife attack in an ongoing, six-month wave of Palestinian stabbing, car-ramming, and shooting attacks. Since then, Halabi has enjoyed the status of a hero in Palestinian society, mainly in Ramallah.”

Libya

Voice Of America: Analysts: Libya’s New UN-Brokered Government Faces Daunting Task
“Libya’s U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) is off to a better than expected start in the few days since its six-strong Presidency Council arrived in Tripoli on board a boat from neighboring Tunisia ‘promising to turn the page’ and restore order to the country. The leader of one of Libya’s two other rival governments has withdrawn obligingly from the Libyan capital, but says he still disputes the GNA’s legitimacy. And the leaders of the other rival government, the House of Representatives (HoR) in Tobruk, are now making conciliatory statements. GNA is meant to be sharing power with the two rivals under a political deal brokered by the U.N. and Western powers.”

United Kingdom

Daily Mail: British Brothers Are Killed 'Fighting Jihad For ISIS In Syria After Fleeing The UK Two Years Ago'
“Two British brothers are believed to have been killed fighting for ISIS in Syria. Khalif Shariff, 21, and 18-year-old Abdulrahman are understood to have left their home in Manchester and travelled to the war-torn country in November 2014. Their parents Abdullahi, 50, and Fatuma, 48, were informed of the news by ISIS militants. Mohammed Shafiq, chairman of the Greater Manchester-based Ramadhan Foundation, said the terror group had confirmed Abdulrahman had been killed and that his elder brother is missing 'presumed dead'.”
Financial Times: UK Hits At European Anti-Terror Red Tape And ‘Turf Wars’
“In an interview with the Financial Times, Philip Hammond said the UK was unquestionably better off staying inside the EU to protect its security interests. Nonetheless, the fact that European security resources were weaker than British agencies meant the UK was having to alter its entire outlook to try to better project its influence abroad. The terrorist organisation Isis and its acolytes posed a greater and more diffuse threat to Britons, particularly those travelling, than any had ever done, he added.”

France

The Washington Post: France’s Charlie Hebdo Blames Ordinary Muslims For Terrorism
“Charlie Hebdo is back in the headlines — this time for a headline of its own. Last week, the satirical publication — whose offices were attacked by two jihadist gunmen in January 2015 — published an editorial, in English and in French, titled ‘How Did We End Up Here?’ In the aftermath of more attacks in Paris in November and in Brussels on March 22, the editorial continues the magazine’s provocative criticism of Islam as an affront to the vaunted French ideal of secularism. France today is home to Europe’s largest Muslim population, and the Charlie Hebdo editorial is perhaps the most recent expression of a collective paranoia that has gained significant traction in recent years.”

Europe

Newsweek: ISIS Identifies London, Berlin And Rome As Next Targets In New Video
“The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) has named London, Berlin and Rome as the European cities that could possibly be targeted in its next attack on the continent’s soil, in a propaganda video released on Monday. An English-speaking militant talks of the deadly suicide bomb attacks in both Paris and Brussels, which left a total of 161 people dead, before moving on to other targets for the extremist group. He calls them a ‘cautionary message’ to Europe that sought to wipe out ‘kuffars,’ or non-Muslims, and warned of more attacks.”
Deutsche Welle: Terror Sparks Integration Debate In France, Belgium
“‘It's not a question of Muslims being integrated, it's that society isn't integrating Muslims,’ says Alexandre Piettre, a sociologist at the Societies, Religions and Secularism Group, a Paris-based think-tank. To what extent such integration problems are linked to terrorism is a matter of debate. Experts note that only a tiny percentage of Belgian and French Muslims have tipped to radical Islam. Still others are converts who grew up in Christian or secular families with home-grown roots stretching back generations. And while both countries face similar problems, they have different colonial legacies and systems of resettling their large immigrant worker populations that began arriving in the 1950s and ‘60s.”

Arabic Language Clips

Terrorist Financing

Al Wafd: (Egyptian) Interior Minister Recommends The Establishment Of Units To Combat Money Laundering And Terrorist Financing
Major-General Magdy Abdel Ghaffar, Egyptian Interior Minister, underscored the need for coordination with the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorist Financing Unit to galvanize its pivotal role in training employees, at the local and international levels, involved in the fight against money laundering and prevent the money from falling into the hands of terrorists. He suggested convening a monthly meeting of officers in charge of fighting money-laundering crimes in all Ministry agencies, where they can share views, develop effective mechanisms and explore the problems in order to confront them. These recommendations came at the culmination of a conference dealing with fighting money laundering crimes within the larger anti-drug context. It was attended by Major-General Khaled Tharwat, Director of the National Security Department, Ahmed El Kholy, Director of the Anti-Narcotics General Administration (ANGA) and several judicial officials.

ISIS

Gulf Eyes: ISIS Interpreter Of Dreams Jailed For Seven Years And Fined 1000 (Kuwaiti) Dinars
A Kuwaiti court yesterday sentenced an interpreter of dreams who joined ISIS to seven years in jail and a fine of 1000 dinars ($3,300). He was convicted of joining and enlisting others in the banned "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)" organization, whose extremist ideology opposes the government and promotes insurgence against state authority, aimed at destroying the systems of the state by illegal means. A home search found no weapons or ammunition. However, security forces found posters bearing the ISIS logo. In addition, the convicted man was managing a Twitter account through which he posted tweets supporting the jihadist organization, and threatening those who oppose it with death by beheading.

Muslim Brotherhood

Veto: (Egyptian State) Commissioners (Authority) Recommends Invalidating The Seizure Of Funds Owned By Muslim Brotherhood Schools
The Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court's State Commissioners Authority, headed by Judge Hassan Salama, recommended backing the ruling of the Administrative Court to invalidate the seizure of funds owned by "Elkholafaa Elrashedeen Private School." It also endorsed an overturn of the seizure of funds owned by the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated private schools. The Authority claimed that the linkage between the schools and the Brotherhood was not proven. The report, drafted by Counselor Moataz Elsheshtawy, explained that the seizure decision is not sufficiently well-founded because it restricts and obstructs the right of ownership as a constitutional right. The decision rests upon investigations not backed by evidence, which makes this decision based only on unproven allegations.
Veto: Brotherhood Leader Reveals The Truth About The Financing Of The Brotherhood TV Channels, Al-Hiwar And Watan
Muslim Brotherhood leader, Ezz Eldeen Dwedar, an associate of Mohammed Kamal, the main rival of acting General Guide Mahmoud Ezzat, unveiled information on the capital being used to finance the Brotherhood TV channels "Al-Hiwar" and "Watan." Dwedar claimed that "Al-Hiwar" belongs to Ezzat's faction, comprised of its owner Ibrahim Munir, Deputy-Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Muslim Brotherhood activist Dr. Azzam al-Tamimi. On the other hand, "Watan" is owned exclusively by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Administrative Office Abroad and is supervised by the organization's former Secretary-General, Mahmoud Hussein. Dwedar stressed that the employees of these channels are well familiar with the parties standing behind them.
Shorouk News: Lawsuit To Invalidate The Seizure Of Abu Treika Funds Postponed To May 17th
The Administrative Court, headed by Judge Abdul Majid Al-Mokten, Vice President of Egypt's State Council, decided to postpone the lawsuit filed by former soccer player Mohammed Abu Treika. In his lawsuit, the ex Al Ahly star demanded the invalidation of the ruling by the Brotherhood Asset Freeze Committee to seize his assets. The next hearing will be held on May 17th. The State Commissioners Authority drafted a report recommending the cancellation of the decision to seize Abu Treika's funds. It claimed the decision was in violation of the Constitution, was an assault on the private property principle and undermined Abu Treika's constitutional rights, as there was no a special court ruling against him. It added that the decision was not based on a specific court sentences against Abu Treika, but rather on a ruling by the Court of Urgent Matters which did not specify which individuals' properties would be seized.

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