Eye on Extremism - May 3, 2016

Eye on Extremism May 3, 2016 Counter Extremism Project Independent: Jihadi Who Killed Hundreds For Isis Killed In Syria “Hostey used several methods in his recruitment attempts, including providing theological justification for Isis, appealing to video gamers and flirting with potential female recruits, according to the Counter Extremism Project. He had previously boasted of smuggling ‘hundreds’ of people into Syria and also posted several tweets inciting and glorifying acts of violence and beheading. Other posts cheered on those responsible for the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices in January 2015, which killed 12 people. Originally from Moss Side, Manchester, Hostey studied graphic design at John Moores University in Liverpool.” CBS News: "Enemy Fire" Kills U.S. Troop In Northern Iraq “U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Tuesday that an American service member was killed in Iraq, as the U.S. military stepped up its role helping Christian and Kurdish militias battling ISIS near the terror group's stronghold in Mosul. ‘It is a combat death, of course. And a very sad loss,’ Carter said in Stuttgart, Germany, where he was meeting NATO allies. The U.S. military's latest casualty in Iraq came "in the neighborhood of Erbil," the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, according to Carter. CBS News senior national security correspondent David Martin says the battle was north of Mosul, an area that saw intense fighting Tuesday as ISIS militants tried to fight their way north from their stronghold.” Fox News: Married American Jihadis Reportedly Killed In Syria Drone Strike “A drone strike in Syria killed a married American couple who'd pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terror group and worked to recruit new jihadis overseas and online, ISIS-linked social media accounts revealed on Saturday. The husband and wife were identified as Abu Issa Al-Amriki and Umm Issa Al-Amrikiah. They did not reveal their birth names. The terror group frequently uses the name ‘Al-Amriki’ to refer to Americans. The drone strike took place in late-April, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor. Analysts say the wife was especially eager to make the terror group seem appealing to women. One post appeared to show her holding a suicide belt, claiming she hoped she could use it herself to kill ‘infidels.’” International Business Times: ISIS Struck Deal With Assad To Withdraw Islamic State Group’s Weapons From Palmyra, Leaked Documents Reveal “The Islamic State group had struck a deal with the Syrian regime to withdraw its fighters from the ancient city of Palmyra, leaked documents cited by Sky News revealed Monday. In March, Syrian forces retook Palmyra, which was held by the extremist group, also known as ISIS, for nearly a year. The documents leaked by ISIS defectors revealed that Syrian President Bashar Assad and ISIS had colluded with each other. There were arrangements made for ISIS fighters to evacuate some areas before the Syrian army attacked. Also, the alleged collusion included a deal to trade oil for fertilizer.” Reuters: Islamic State Boosts Attacks In Response To Territorial Losses: HIS “Islamic State attacks have increased this year, particularly in Iraq and Syria as the group responds to substantial territorial losses, a U.S.-based analysis firm IHS said on Sunday. There were 891 attacks during the first quarter of 2016 in neighbours Iraq and Syria, more than in any three-month period since the militants' sweeping advance in mid-2014, IHS said in a new report. Those attacks killed 2,150 people, a 44 percent rise over the previous three months and the highest quarterly toll in nearly a year. ‘The group is resorting more and more to mass-casualty violence as it comes under heavy pressure from multiple angles,’ said Matthew Henman, head of IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre. The U.S. military estimates Islamic State's territory in Iraq has shrunk by about 40 percent from its 2014 peak and 20 percent in Syria.” New York Times: Talks On Syria Seek To Extend Fragile Truce To Aleppo “Negotiations are underway to extend a fragile cease-fire agreement in Syria to the embattled northern city of Aleppo, which a surge of violence has nearly torn apart in recent weeks, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday. ‘In the last weeks, the cessation of hostilities has been put to the test, and it has frayed in certain areas, and it has fallen completely in a few areas,’ Mr. Kerry said in Geneva after meeting with the United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura. Mr. Kerry said he was particularly disturbed about air raids on a hospital and three health clinics in Aleppo, for which he blamed President Bashar al-Assad’s government.” Independent: Al-Qaeda Returns To Afghanistan Amid Fears Of New Jihadist Alliance With Isis And Taliban “Al-Qaeda is back in Afghanistan, joining Isis and the Taliban in waging jihad. The three most prominent Islamist terrorist groups in the world are now in one violent arena and drawing the West back into a bloody conflict it had sought to leave behind. But, 15 years after George W Bush declared the War on Terror following the September 11 attacks, with the specific pledge of destroying al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, Bin Laden’s legacy, the organisation he founded, is once again spreading its tentacles across the country which it used as base to plot attacks abroad.” ARA News: US-Led Coalition Bombs ISIS Financial Center As Clashes Intensify Near Mosul “Militant fighters of the Islamic State (ISIS) launched two separate attacks on Monday evening on positions for the Iraqi army forces in the villages of Mahana and Khar Bardan south of the city of Mosul in Nineveh province, northern Iraq, military sources reported.  However, the Iraqi army said in a statement on Monday evening that its units were able to deter the attack by targeting the bombers. ‘The army 15th Division and the Commando Regiment were able to deter the ISIS-led attacks and killed 12 ISIS insurgents, including six suicide bombers, beside destroying a car bomb before reaching its target,’ the Nineveh operations command in the Iraqi army said in an official statement, without revealing the death toll in its ranks.” CNBC: Will Terror Attacks End Bitcoin Free-For-All In Europe? “A crackdown on terrorism financing in the wake of the attacks on Paris and Brussels will see European regulators tighten up the rules governing digital-only currencies like bitcoin and prepaid payment cards. In June, the European Commission (the legislative arm of the European Union) is set to update its anti-money laundering rules to force virtual currency exchange platforms to check their clients are who they claim. Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are characterized by their anonymity, with neither payers nor payees required to identify themselves and the system open for anybody to use. Regulators believe this makes them attractive to criminals.” United States Washington Post: Kerry Says Talks With Russia Seek To Separate Rival Forces In Syria “The United States and Russia are studying possible ways to separate rival forces in Syria, delineating potential ‘safe zones’ for opposition fighters amid renewed violence that has threatened to fully collapse a two-month-old cease-fire attempt. Secretary of State John F. Kerry — in Geneva on Monday for emergency meetings on the crisis — said that the next 24 to 48 hours will be crucial in determining whether the plan will work. ‘I don’t want to make any promises that can’t be kept,’ he said. Kerry emphasized that the truce initially succeeded and continues in some parts of the country. But violence escalated recently, particularly in Aleppo, where at least 250 civilians have been killed over the past week, including staff and patients at a main hospital, largely by Syrian government airstrikes.” Syria Fox News: Report: ISIS Struck Deals With Assad On The Battleground In Syria “Islamic State and the Assad regime in Syria have been colluding with each other in deals on the battleground, Sky News can reveal. Our exclusive investigation into leaked secret IS files suggests one piece of co-operation was over the ancient city of Palmyra. The files also show that the militant group has been training foreign fighters to attack Western targets for much longer than security services had suspected. The revelations underscore fears in the United States that a network of sleeper cells is spread across Europe, avoiding detection, and is planning further Paris- and Brussels-style assaults. IS defectors, meanwhile, have told Sky News that Palmyra was handed back to government forces by Islamic State as part of a series of cooperation agreements going back years.” Iraq UN News Centre: Iraq: With Hundreds Killed In April, UN Expresses Deep Concern At ‘Incessant Violence’ “A total of 741 Iraqis were killed and another 1,374 were injured in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in Iraq last month, according to casualty figures recorded by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). ‘It pains us to see the continuing bloodletting and loss of life, particularly among civilians who are paying a high price as a result of bombings and the armed clashes’, said the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq, Mr. Ján Kubiš, stressing his deep concern at the incessant violence.” Turkey Associated Press: Turkey And US-Led Coalition Pound IS Group In Syria “The Turkish military said Monday that artillery shelling and drone attacks by the U.S.-led coalition have struck Islamic State positions in Syria and killed a total of 63 militants. The state-owned Anadolu Agency said the strikes took out multiple rocket launchers and gun positions. Four drones deployed from the Incirlik air base, a launching point for U.S.-led coalition forces in southern Turkey, took part in the operation and killed 29 militants. The airstrikes were informed by intelligence gathered by the Turkish army, the private Dogan news agency reported.” Associated Press: Turkey: Islamic State Behind Attack That Killed 2 Policemen “Turkey's interior minister says a car bombing that killed two police officers and wounded 22 other people in the southern city of Gaziantep, near Syria, was carried out by militants linked to the Islamic State group. Minister Efkan Ala told reporters on Monday that up to 50 people were detained for questioning in Gaziantep over Sunday's attack. The minister also confirmed the identity of the suicide bomber who blew herself up and wounded 13 people in the city of Bursa last week as 23-year-old Eser Cali. He described Cali as a member of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party, or PKK. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, an off-shoot of the PKK, claimed the Bursa attack in a statement Sunday and said Cali blew herself up before reaching her intended target.” Afghanistan New York Times: Afghan Forces Begin Mission To Break Taliban’s Grip On Highway “The Afghan security forces began a push to break the Taliban’s hold on a crucial southern highway through Oruzgan Province, officials said on Monday, hoping to ease the insurgents’ intensifying siege of an important provincial capital. While the most public and urgent security concerns in the south have been focused on the fighting in Helmand Province in recent months, the insurgency has also been slowly choking the city of Tirin Kot, the provincial capital of Oruzgan. The province next door, where many of Taliban’s founding leaders hail from, became a softer target for the insurgency last year. Since the mysterious assassination in March 2015 of Gen. Matiullah Khan, the former police chief and strongman who largely kept the insurgents at bay, the province’s security leadership has fallen into chaos.” PBS: How Al-Qaida Has Changed Since Bin Laden’s Death “As one longtime al-Qaida puts it, al-Qaida has kind of like become Microsoft. It’s still got a decent share of the market, but it’s not preeminent. It’s not really seen as cutting edge. And it doesn’t really appeal to the younger generation. And that is because, of course what we call core al-Qaida, the al-Qaida leadership as it was defined in 9/11 and the years after, has been decimated. And that started before bin Laden was killed, about two or three years before, probably 2009. The CIA moved a lot of assets and intelligence and technology into the region, and drones started picking off these leaders.” Yemen Vice News: Al-Qaeda May Have Retreated From Its Yemeni Capital, But Will Likely Return To Fight Another Day “The al-Qaeda franchise that tried three times to stage attacks on US soil admitted that it has retreated from a key port city in southern Yemen after it was taken by the Saudi-led Gulf military coalition. But the development does not mark its disappearance from the city. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAP, said in a two-page statement that it retreated from the port city of Mukalla in southern Yemen last week, arguing that it did so to protect civilians, and accusing coalition members of doing the bidding of the United States.” Middle East The Jerusalem Post: Israeli Man, 60, Wounded In Stabbing Attack In Jerusalem's Old City “The terrorist who stabbed a 60-year-old ultra-orthodox man near the Lion's Gate in the Old City late Monday was arrested after fleeing the scene.  Extensive searches were conducted after the attack to find the stabber. Police arrested a young man, 18, from the West Bank, who admitted to carrying out the attack. ‘The man was treated on site by Magen David Adom paramedics and rushed to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in light-to-moderate condition,’ said Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld shortly after the attack. The knife was found at the scene and police units are searching for the suspect.’ The attack comes following a relative lull of stabbings in the Old City over the past several weeks.” Times of Israel: Suspected Accomplice In Deadly Jaffa Stabbing Spree Arrested “A resident of East Jerusalem was reportedly arrested on suspicion of aiding the terrorist who killed an American tourist in Jaffa in March. Muhammad Awieda, who is in his 30s, is suspected of driving the stabber Bashar Massalha from the West Bank city of Qalqilya to Tel Aviv, the Ynet news website reported on Monday. He was suspected of manslaughter, conspiring to commit an attack, and illegally transporting a Palestinian into Israel. The report said Awieda was remanded into custody by an Israeli court on Monday for seven days. Massalha, a 22-year-old from the Qalqilya area in the West Bank, killed US citizen Taylor Force and injured 10 others in a rampage along the Jaffa boardwalk on March 8. He was killed by security forces during his attack.” Fox News: Unlikely Alliance: Israel, Egypt, Hamas Team Up To Battle ISIS “Israel, Egypt, and Hamas agree on at least one thing: their mission to prevent the Islamic State terrorist group from expanding its grasp. They chose to form an unlikely alliance against a ruthless ISIS affiliate that wreaked havoc on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula – and claimed responsibility for downing a Russian plane in the region last year, The Washington Post reported Saturday. Hamas two weeks ago sent several hundred fighters to Gaza’s border as part of a deal with Egypt to keep the extremists from entering the coastal territory. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also praised his country’s decision to erect a new barrier between Israel and Egypt, warning that ‘we would have been overflowed by thousands of ISIS fighters from Sinai,’ The Washington Post reports.” CNBC: ISIS Getting More Violent As It Loses Territory? “The terrorist group that calls itself Islamic State (ISIS) has increased the ‘tempo and intensity’ of operations in Iraq and Syria over the past three months in response to losing vital territory, according to IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre (IHS JTIC). The global analysis firm noted that in the first three months of 2016 it had recorded 891 attacks and 2,150 non-militant fatalities in Syria and Iraq – an increase of 16.7 percent and 43.9 percent respectively, in comparison to the fourth quarter of 2015. It added that the attack figures for the first quarter of 2016 were the highest since ISIS took the city of Mosul in 2014.” Libya Bloomberg: NATO May Extend Role in Libya, Stoltenberg Tells Le Figaro “NATO is ready to extend its role and Libya and the Mediterranean in conjunction with the European Union, North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told French daily Le Figaro in an interview. Stoltenberg told the newspaper that NATO has a mandate to support the Libyan government if it asks for such backing, adding that a strengthening of NATO’s capacities in the country is a possibility.” The New York Times: Libya’s Best Hope “In Libya in 2011, an American-led coalition helped to topple Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s 42-year dictatorship. Unfortunately, the coalition’s lack of engagement with the country’s transition allowed a political void to form that a number of groups have since then fought to fill. The ensuing mess has made parts of Libya a hotbed for militants inspired by the Islamic State. This in turn has worsened the country’s security crisis, as opposing groups have claimed the right to govern under a banner of secularism. The truth is that Libya’s struggle is not between Islamists and secularists. This tedious framework for interpreting Arab politics hides the complexity of Libya’s situation. Almost all of the major competing factions in Libya include some number of Islamists, liberals and militia supporters.” Newsweek: ISIS Selling Chickens And Eggs In Libya's Sirte Amid Financial Troubles “The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) has taken to selling chickens and eggs in the streets of its de-facto North African capital as its cash reserves continue to be damaged by instability in Libya and the U.S.-led coalition campaign against the group in Iraq and Syria. ‘When ISIS took over Sirte, they seized many properties, including farms, and some of these are very large chicken farms,’ a resident of Sirte who fled the city, named only as Ali, told Middle East Eye. ‘Relatives tell me ISIS people can now be seen standing in the streets in their black outfits with their faces covered, selling both the eggs and the chickens,’ a resident of Sirte who fled the city told Middle East Eye. ‘And they are selling the chickens for a very cheap price of just one or two dinars.’” United Kingdom Daily Mail: British Anti-Extremism Agencies Are Working At An 'Industrial Scale And Pace' And Using Cold War Tactics To Combat ISIS Propaganda “A covert unit set up to tackle extremism is working 'at an industrial scale and pace' as it attempts to counter the barrage of ISIS propaganda online. The Research, Information and Communications Unit (RICU), a little-known group set up by the UK government, is using Cold War tactics to stop the spread of radical jihadism. Some of the methods used by the unit emerged today as David Cameron prepares to announce tough new laws to crack down on extremism. RICU was set up in response to the July 7 terror attacks in 2005, but the importance of its role has increased with the rise of ISIS, who now put out an estimated 18 messages a day to their followers.” Germany Associated Press: German Intel Chief Says Terrorism Threat "Highly Complex" “The head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency says the deadly attacks in Paris and Brussels show the ‘highly complex’ nature of the terrorism threat facing Europe. Hans-Georg Maassen told a conference Monday that extremists returning from combat zones, home-grown extremists and extremists who have come in with Europe's recent wave of migrants were all involved in the recent attacks for which the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility. Maassen says intelligence agencies now ‘need to take into account multiple attack scenarios by multiple cells against different targets and possibly over many days.’ To help, he called for better cross-border information exchange. The German spy chief says ‘to counter criminal groups operating across borders, we need the enhanced international cooperation of security agencies.’” France The New York Times: Empty Tables After Paris And Brussels Terror Attacks “Paris has been on edge for more than a year. First there were attacks against the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and a kosher supermarket in January 2015 that left 17 victims and three jihadist gunmen dead. Then came much more deadly and extensive attacks in November that targeted a stadium, a concert hall and neighborhood bistros and bars. It claimed the lives of 130 victims. President François Hollande declared that France was at war and imposed a nationwide state of emergency that is still in effect. Brussels was attacked in March; reports that those responsible had links to the November Paris attacks and had first wanted to attack Paris have left the impression that the city is not safe. All of that, on top of broader economic trends that have depressed business in many luxury-oriented industries, has resulted in empty tables at some of the city’s finest and best-known restaurants.” Caribbean The Jerusalem Post: Terrorism In The Tropics: ISIS Turning To Recruitment In The Caribbean “There may be trouble in paradise. The extremist group known as Islamic State has apparently begun looking beyond the Middle East and Europe to recruit new members. As European and online security efforts against the group have been bolstered, the radical terrorist group has now apparently turned to the tropical white sands and crystal blue waters of the Caribbean to enlist new operatives. Nearly 100 recruits from the dual-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago have traveled to Syria to join the group known as ISIS, according to the British tabloid paper The Daily Star.  According to the report, ISIS sees the residents of the island region as being vulnerable to radical inclinations.” Arabic Language Clips Terrorism Financing Al-Jazirah Online: Formation Of Forum Of Experts On Combating The Financing Of Terrorism In The Middle East And North Africa The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for the Middle East and North Africa approved the formation of a forum of experts to combat the financing of terrorism. Its goal is to underscore the role of law enforcement, security agencies and financial information units. This was announced in a press statement yesterday at the conclusion of the 23rd assembly of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF), held in Doha. The assembly, attended by representatives from the region's countries and leading international experts, was dedicated to discussion on the efforts being directed towards combating money laundering and terrorist financing. The statement, released by Qatar Central Bank, noted that the assembly culminated in several important recommendations for bolstering efforts in combating the financing of terrorism through better utilization of the capabilities and experience of Member States and the exchange of information concerning this phenomenon. Syria New Arab: Merchants: Assad's Shabiha Smuggling Sheep And Importing Expired Meat Damascus-based merchants said local markets have seen a rise in the prices of red meat, which are substantially higher than the Syrians' purchasing power. They attributed this trend to the ongoing smuggling of live and slaughtered sheep to Lebanon in vehicles belonging to the Shabiha (pro-Assad gangs). Syrian sheep dealer, Hassan Mohammed, explained how the smuggling operations are carried out, saying, "There are two routes for smuggling the sheep. The first is across the liberated areas, or areas controlled by ISIS, to Iraq or Turkey, via Deir ez-Zor or Manbij in northern Syria. This route is expensive because it is long and passes through many checkpoints. The other route, according to the trader, leads to Lebanon, via Assad regime's checkpoints, in the border zone of (Jdeidat) Yabous. This is less expensive and more popular due to the use of bribes which facilitate the smuggling operations through the regime's checkpoints." Muslim Brotherhood Erem News: Postponement Of Trial Of Members Of The Brotherhood In The UAE To May 9th A UAE court ruled on Monday to postpone the trial of 15 Yemeni and four Emirati defendants accused of establishing a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. The next hearing will be held on May 9th. The defendants face several counts, including collecting donations and funds without prior authorization from the competent authorities, and joining a secret and illegal organization in the UAE. This organization calls to undermine the fundamental principles upon which the regime is based, in order to take over the state. The defendants are accused of being well-versed in the ultimate goals of the Muslim Brotherhood in the UAE. Elnada News: Financial Expert: Brotherhood Controls The Parallel Dollar Market (In Egypt) Mohammed Fathi, Chairman of Masters for Securities Brokerage Company, said that the arrival of the UAE's financial aid will augment the foreign exchange reserves at the Central Bank of Egypt and contribute to the fight against speculative trade of the dollar in the Egyptian market. He stressed this is especially true, since it coincides with the "tough and decisive" actions pursued by the Central Bank against currency exchange companies. These measures led, over the past two weeks, to the closure of roughly 15 currency exchange companies due to their manipulation of dollar rates. Fathi cautioned that despite the closure of all of these companies, there are additional Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated companies that control the parallel dollar market in Egypt. This requires additional stringent measures to put an end to the recent phenomenon, which has led to the rise of the dollar rate from 9 pounds to more than 11 pounds. Houthi Alkhbr: The Houthis Monopolize Ads In Yemen, Heavy Losses For Companies Ansar Allah (Houthi) militias control the billboard advertising market in Yemen. They started using it politically by promoting their ideology and their projects, causing huge losses for investors and almost completely bringing the operations of the Yemeni advertising companies to a standstill. This is the reason why these Yemeni companies recently laid off hundreds of employees. In this context, Jamil Albaadani, an official at Yemen's Association of Advertising Agencies, declared that the war, which has escalated over the past year, has led to the collapse of the sector, through the looting and closure of hundreds of advertising companies and agencies. Albaadani claimed that as a result, companies' laid off employees and directors have emigrated to Dubai and elsewhere.