Eye on Extremism - July 1, 2016

Eye on Extremism July 1, 2016 Counter Extremism Project MSNBC: CEP President Fran Townsend Discusses The Investigation Process That Comes After A Terrorist Attack CNN: US Hopes Turkey Will Step Up ISIS Fight After Istanbul Airport Attack “American officials have long wanted Turkey to be as committed to the fight against ISIS as is the U.S. With the attack on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport Tuesday, ISIS might have helped make the case for them. While Turkey has been the victim of ISIS attacks in the past -- including one that killed 95 civilians at an Ankara peace rally in October -- the U.S. and Turkey have not always seen eye-to-eye on the counter-ISIS campaign.” The Wall Street Journal: Former Soviet Republics Are Fertile Ground for ISIS Recruiting “The Istanbul airport attack on Tuesday spotlights a major new security threat as the former republics of the Soviet Union have become a recruiting pipeline for Islamic State. Turkish officials have identified the suicide bombers who attacked Istanbul’s main airport as citizens of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. While details are still emerging in that attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said as many as 7,000 recruits from Russia and Central Asia have joined the ranks of Islamic State militants in the Middle East. Observers of regional politics say Russian nationals, particularly from the mostly Muslim North Caucasus region, have been one of the fastest-growing segments of the group’s recruits. They worry that hundreds may have already made their way back to Russia.” The Washington Post: Islamic State Applauds The British: ‘Brexit Threatens The Unity Of Crusader Europe’ “Earlier this year, the Islamic State released a chilling video in which it directly threatened attacks on Britain. But the group is also willing to praise its enemy countries: In its latest edition of the al-Naba magazine, the Islamic State welcomes Britain leaving the European Union because it supposedly ‘threatens the unity of Crusader Europe.’ Calling the referendum results as having been ‘surprising to most people,’ al-Naba described in detail how stock markets and economies had suffered following last week's vote. According to the Islamic State interpretation of events, Brexit could lead to the disintegration of the United Kingdom — and of Europe.” CNN: Taliban Bombings In Afghanistan Kill 30 Officers, 4 Civilians “At least 34 people were killed Thursday when two suicide bombers attacked a convoy of buses carrying newly graduated police officers in Afghanistan, authorities said. The dead include 30 officers and four civilians, said Musa Rahmati, the Paghman District chief. An additional 60 people were wounded in the attack west of Kabul. One attacker was on foot, and the other was in an explosives-packed car, Rahmati said. They attacked five buses carrying 219 police graduates who were traveling to Kabul from a police training center in neighboring Wardak province. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the group's spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said in a statement.” Reuters: Egyptair Black Box Data Downloaded; Evidence Suggests Fire On Board “Investigators have downloaded data from one of the black box flight recorders on EgyptAir Flight MS804 and are preparing to analyze it, bringing them closer discovering what caused the jet to crash, Egypt's investigation committee said on Wednesday. The Airbus A320 plunged into the eastern Mediterranean Sea en route from Paris to Cairo on May 19, killing all 66 people on board. The cause of the crash remains unknown. Search teams have salvaged both of the so-called black box flight recorders. Investigators are now preparing to analyze data from the flight data recorder. ‘Recorded data is showing consistency with ACARS messages of lavatory and avionics smoke,’ the committee said, referring to the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, which routinely downloads maintenance and fault data to the airline operator.” Reuters: Islamic State Kills Christian Priest In Egypt's North Sinai “Islamist militants gunned down a Christian priest in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula as he was fixing his car, the Interior Ministry and the Coptic Orthodox Church said on Thursday. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened more attacks in the future. Father Rafael Moussa of the Mar Girgis church in Arish, capital of the North Sinai province, was getting his car fixed when the gunmen shot him, the ministry said in a statement. He was on his way back from prayer, the church said. Orthodox Copts make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 90 million people and are the Middle East's biggest Christian community. They have long complained of discrimination.” CNN: Israeli-American Girl, 13, Fatally Stabbed In West Bank Home, Authorities Say “A 13-year-old Israeli-American girl was stabbed to death in her bedroom Thursday morning in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said. Hallel Yaffa Ariel was sleeping when a Palestinian teenager entered the house in the settlement near Hebron and killed her, authorities said. ‘Just like any teenager on summer holiday, my daughter was asleep, calm, relaxed. A terrorist murderer came and murdered her in her bed,’ her mother, Rena Ariel, told Israel's Channel 2. Security guards on the settlement entered the home and found the suspect still inside, the IDF said. During a fight, one security guard was stabbed, and the intruder was shot and killed. The Palestinian Ministry of identified the attacker as Mohammed Tarayra, 17, from Bani Naim, a village east of Hebron. In response to the attack, the IDF sealed off access to Bani Naim to everyone except humanitarian and medical workers.” Washington Post: ‘I Am Fed Up With This Evil’: How An American Went From Ivy League Student To Disillusioned ISIS Fighter “In late October 2014, the FBI received an unusual email from a young man named Mohimanul Alam Bhuiya. Bhuiya, then 25, had joined the Islamic State. Now the longtime Brooklyn resident was desperate and looking for a way out. He wanted the FBI to rescue him.” MPR News: 2 Men Convicted On ISIS-Related Charges Ask For Rehabilitation “Attorneys for two men recently convicted of trying to join the terrorist group ISIS in Syria are asking a judge if their clients can be assessed for ‘deradicalization.’ Unlike six friends who pleaded guilty to charges of plotting to enlist with ISIS, Abdirahman Daud and Guled Omar took their chances and went to trial in May. A jury found the two men, along with a third defendant, guilty on several terror-related charges. They face up to life in prison as punishment.” The Hill: Top Democrat Wants Obama To Block Boeing's Deal With Iran “Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) wants the Obama administration to quash Boeing's planned sale of aircraft to Iran and block future sales, saying it is ‘virtually certain’ they would be used for nefarious purposes, such as ferrying arms to the Syrian regime. ‘Iran Air’s aircraft will undoubtedly be used in the future to continue to funnel lethal assistance to [Syrian President Bashar] Assad, to Hezbollah, and to other terrorist entities,’ he wrote in a letter on Wednesday.” United States USA Today: NY Enacts Tougher Anti-Terrorism Rule “Banks and other companies overseen by New York's top financial regulator starting in January will be required to maintain monitoring and filtering systems to spot suspected money laundering and terrorism funding. Toughening efforts to block illegal transactions, the New York Department of Financial Services said Thursday the new regulation requires banks and companies to submit annual certifications documenting their use of ‘reasonably designed’ monitoring systems. The regulator proposed the new rule in December amid concern about operations of The Islamic Group and other terrorist organizations, whose funding in some cases flows through the normal financial system. The regulation is also aimed at identifying suspected money laundering transactions by criminal groups or individuals.” The Washington Post: U.S. Offers To Share Syria Intelligence On Terrorists With Russia “The Obama administration has offered to help Russia improve its targeting of terrorist groups in Syria if Moscow will stop bombing civilians and opposition fighters who have signed on to a cease-fire and use its influence to force Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to do the same. The offer early this week of what one administration official called ‘enhanced information sharing’ does not include joint military planning, targeting or coordination with U.S. airstrikes or other operations in Syria. But it would expand cooperation beyond the ‘deconfliction’ talks the U.S. and Russian militaries began last year to ensure their planes do not run into each other in Syria’s increasingly crowded airspace.” The Washington Post: Obama Proposes New Military Partnership With Russia In Syria “The Obama administration has proposed a new agreement on Syria to the Russian government that would deepen military cooperation between the two countries against some terrorists in exchange for Russia getting the Assad regime to stop bombing U.S.-supported rebels. The United States transmitted the text of the proposed agreement to the Russian government on Monday after weeks of negotiations and internal Obama administration deliberations, an administration official told me. The crux of the deal is a U.S. promise to join forces with the Russian air force to share targeting and coordinate an expanded bombing campaign against Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, which is primarily fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.” Daily Caller: Us Gives Iraq $2.7 Billion Credit To Buy Weapons After Isis Took Them The United States extended 2.7 billion dollars in credit to the Iraqi government to purchase weapons after the Iraqi Security Forces surrendered hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S. military equipment to Islamic State during the terrorist group’s push through Anbar province in 2014. The U.S.-backed government in Baghdad has eight and a half years to eventually pay for the ammunition and maintenance of its American provided F-16 fighter aircraft, The Associated Press reported June 29. The Iraqi government, along with other Middle Eastern countries, is suffering a crippling budget shortfall in the wake of record lows in oil prices.  Associated Press: Homeland Security Head: US Will Meet Syrian Refugees Goal “Homeland Security Secretary Jeh (jay) Johnson says he believes the government will meet its goal of resettling 10,000 Syrian refugees this year. Johnson tells the Senate Judiciary Committee that approximately 5,000 refugees have been approved for settlement, and an additional 5,000 to 6,000 have been conditionally approved, pending security checks. The Obama administration decided last year to sharply increase the number of Syrian refugees taken into the United States. That decision was hotly opposed by congressional Republicans who warned that it could let terrorists into the country. The House passed legislation in the wake of the Paris attacks last fall to increase screening of Syrian refugees, but the Senate didn't follow suit.” Syria Reuters: U.S.-Backed Rebel Group Vows New Attacks Against IS After Border Raid “A U.S.-backed Syrian Arab rebel force vowed on Thursday to continue attacks against Islamic State militants after being forced to retreat from the outskirts of a town near the Iraqi border when the jihadists counter-attacked. The New Syria Army had launched an operation backed by U.S. bombers on Tuesday aimed at capturing the town of Al-Bukamal from Islamic State and cutting supply and communications lines for the group between Syria and Iraq. They were forced to retreat to their base in al-Tanf in southern Syria on Wednesday after their troops were ambushed.” BBC: Syria Conflict: Fears For Refugees Stranded On Jordanian Border “About 60,000 Syrian refugees stuck in the desert on the Jordanian border have received no aid for more than a week, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says. The Jordanian authorities declared the border a closed military zone after a bomb attack near the informal camp at Rukban killed seven security personnel. Since then, no food or medical assistance, and only extremely limited water, have reached the refugees. MSF warned that the situation at Rukban was getting worse by the hour. Conditions were already extremely harsh, with 214 of the 1,300 children under five years old screened by MSF teams malnourished and 24.7% of the children they saw suffering from diarrhoea, it said.” Iraq The Wall Street Journal: Iraq Airstrikes Kill Islamic State Fighters Leaving Fallujah “Iraq’s Defense Ministry has released footage showing airstrikes on dozens of vehicles described as a convoy of Islamic State fighters fleeing the western city of Fallujah after its recapture by the Iraqi military. Scores of militants are thought to have been killed in the airstrikes, which authorities lauded as an operation carried out exclusively by the Iraqi military. ‘More than 20 helicopters took part in the mission and were able to destroy more than 138 vehicles,’ Iraqi army commander Lt. Gen. Hamid al-Maliki said. Gen. al-Maliki, who is speaking in the footage released by the Defense Ministry late Wednesday night, said Iraqi helicopters carried out all the strikes.” Turkey CNN: ISIS Leadership Involved In Istanbul Attack Planning, Turkish Source Says “Turkish officials have strong evidence that the Istanbul airport attackers came to the country from the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa in Syria and that ISIS leadership was involved in the planning of the attack, a senior Turkish government source told CNN on Thursday. Officials believe the men -- identified by another Turkish official and state media as being from Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan -- entered Turkey about a month ago from Raqqa, bringing along with them the suicide vests and bombs used in the attack, the source said. The terrorists rented an apartment in the Fatih district of Istanbul, where one of the attackers left behind his passport, the Turkish government source told CNN. The attack was ‘extremely well planned with ISIS leadership involved,’ the source said.” USA Today: Official: Turkey Bombers From Russia, Uzbekistan And Kyrgyzstan “The three suicide bombers who attacked Istanbul's main airport, killing 44 people, were from Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, a senior Turkish official said Thursday. The statement came as counter-terror teams launched 16 simultaneous raids in Istanbul, Reuters reported, quoting two unidentified officials. Turkish police said they detained 13 people, including three foreign nationals, in connection with the attack, local media reported. Authorities believe the Islamic State is behind the attack, although the terrorist group has not officially claimed responsibility.”          NBC News: Turkey Arrests 13 Over Istanbul Airport Attack “Turkish police have arrested 13 people in connection with the deadly attack on Istanbul's airport, officials said Thursday. More than 40 people died and more than 200 others were injured when assailants with guns and explosives hit the airport Tuesday. Turkish police have arrested 13 people in connection with the deadly attack on Istanbul's airport, officials said Thursday. More than 40 people died and more than 200 others were injured when assailants with guns and explosives hit the airport Tuesday. Officials have said the coordinated assault on Istanbul Ataturk Airport bore the hallmarks of ISIS, but there has been no official claim of responsibility.” The Huffington Post: Explaining The Istanbul Bombing: Turkey’s Six Foreign Policy Sins Turkish foreign policy has experienced tectonic shifts over the last decade. Whereas the AKP’s initial foreign policy playbook was dubbed ‘soft Euro-Asianism,’ emphasizing Turkey’s southern and eastern neighborhood including Russia, it later morphed into ‘zero problems with neighbors’. Under this new approach, Turkey would use its rich historical and cultural capital in the Middle East, the Balkans, and the Caucasus to create a zone of political and economic influence. Championed by its architect Ahmet Davutoglu, the ‘zero problem’ policy was meant to forge new economic and security ties across the region, generating peace and stability. Sadly, things did not go as planned. As Piotr Zalewski explains, the ‘zero problems with neighbors’ policy’ soon turned into ‘zero neighbors without problems.’” The Wall Street Journal: Turkey Begins New Area Of EU Membership Talks “Turkey opened a new area of membership talks with the European Union on Thursday, but bloc officials made clear there was no prospect of further advancement to Ankara’s bid in the coming months. Turkey had pressed for an advancement of its talks on membership as a condition of the deal to take back migrants who cross into Greece and the European Union. The EU fulfilled that pledge by opening what is called a chapter in the accession discussions. With political turmoil within the EU and continued controversy over migration and free movement in Europe, there is little chance currently of Turkey becoming a member of the bloc, at least soon, officials have said.” Afghanistan Reuters: Pakistan Plans Talks With Afghanistan, U.N. Agency Over Refugees' Return “Pakistan plans talks with Afghanistan and the United Nations refugee agency to move longtime Afghan refugees to camps at home, the foreign office said on Thursday, after the numbers of those returning plunged this year. Pakistan has the world's second largest refugee population, with more than 1.5 million registered, and about a million unregistered, refugees from neighboring Afghanistan, most of whom fled the Soviet occupation of their country in the 1980s. The U.N. says the number of Afghans voluntarily returning from Pakistan has fallen to about 6,000, well below last year's 58,211, as violence worsens in Afghanistan, where the government and its U.S. allies are battling a stubborn Taliban insurgency.” Yemen Associated Press: UN's Yemen Envoy Says More Than 700 Prisoners Released “Yemen's warring sides have freed a total of more than 700 prisoners, including more than 50 children, since the start of the peace talks a little more than two months ago, the U.N. special envoy for Yemen said Thursday. The release is an apparent good-will gesture amid peace talks underway in Kuwait. The U.N. envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, did not say where and when the Yemeni captives were released or give a breakdown of prisoners freed by each side. The peace talks are being suspended for the next two weeks, to allow the sides return to Yemen to consult their leadership. The parties will reconvene on July 15 in Kuwait, the envoy said.” The Washington Post: ‘Trapped By All The Sides’ In Yemen’s Largely Ignored War “Among the wars wrought by the Arab Spring revolutions, Yemen’s remains largely invisible to the world. Yet the conflict holds enormous stakes for Washington and its allies. Yemen, the Middle East’s poorest nation, sits along vital oil-shipping lanes in the Red Sea and has long been a key battleground between militant Islamists and the West. In 2000, al-Qaeda was behind the bombing of the USS Cole in Aden, killing 17 American sailors. That fight is intensifying. Al-Qaeda militants seized large swaths of territory in the political and security vacuum after the populist uprising. Its Yemen branch, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, is considered the most dangerous of the affiliates.” Egypt Daily Mail: Italy Blocks Defence Contract With Egypt After It Refuses To Cooperate With An Inquiry Into The Murder Of A Cambridge University Graduate “Italy has voted to block a defence contract with Egypt for what it says is a lack of cooperation in investigating the torture and death of a Cambridge University graduate. Medical student Giulio Regeni was abducted in Cairo on January 25. His body, bearing signs of torture, was found nine days later on the side of a suburban Cairo road. Suspicions have run high in Italy that Egyptian police were behind the death, but Egypt has denied any police role. The Italian parliament has now voted to no longer provide spare parts for Egypt's fleet of F16 war planes, as retaliation for perceived inaction by the authorities in Cairo in the murder investigation.” Middle East The Jerusalem Post: Violent Clashes Erupt In Nablus, Hamas Calls On Parties To Unite Against Israel “Two Palestinian Authority security officers were killed Wednesday night in the West Bank city of Nablus after violent commotions broke out between security forces and armed civilians. The mayhem began after a gunmen wanted by the Palestinian security forces stormed the house of a local security officer and started shooting the people who were there, wounding the officer's wife.Many civilians began gathering outside the officer's house and violent clashes soon broke out. While PA security officers attempted to disperse the riots, a number of gunmen known to the Palestinian police opened fire on them, killing two of them. Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Thursday, Hamas called on the parties to put an end to the bloodshed, adding that ‘weapons must be directed only against the Zionist enemy and the settlers who conquer our land.’” The Jerusalem Post: Palestinian Sources Say Hamas Seeking To Repair Relations With Iran, Report Says “Three Hamas leaders from the military wing are persistently trying to restore relations with Iran, according to Palestinian sources. Marwan Issa, the leader of Hamas’s military wing, the Kassam Brigades, and other leaders like Yehya al-Sinwar and Mahmoud Zahar, have maintained contact with Iran, sources told the London- based Asharq al-Awsat in a report published on Thursday. The three continued to receive financial and military aid from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps uninterruptedly in excess of $45 million annually, even after the dispute with Iran broke out over the Syrian civil war.” The Times Of Israel: Thanks In No Small Part To Russia, Hezbollah Is Now A Full-Fledged Army “Pictures being published from time to time by Hezbollah tell a great deal about its role in the fighting in Syria. In some of the pictures Hezbollah fighters can be seen leaning against Russian tanks, and the truth is that since Russia began its open military activities in Syria, Hezbollah fighters are also learning Russian methods of war, becoming familiar with advanced Russian weaponry, coming to understand the latest Russian technologies, and in some cases, actually fighting alongside Russian special forces. In the 10 years since the Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah has been transformed from a terror group deployed against Israel to a full-scale army in almost every respect.” Libya BBC: Migrants Die As Dinghy Sinks Off Libya “At least 10 people drowned and more than 100 others were rescued when an inflatable boat carrying migrants capsized 32km (20 miles) off Libya. Those who died were all women, Italian reports said. The latest migrant tragedy came as the Italian navy raised to the surface a boat that sank with the loss of more than 700 lives. The April 2015 sinking was the worst loss of human life since the influx of migrants began in 2013.” Nigeria Voice Of America: Suicide Bombers Kill At Least 13 In Far North Cameroon “Cameroon says it is deploying more troops to its far northern border with Nigeria after a suicide attack late Wednesday killed at least 13 people in the border town of Limani. Two teenage suicide bombers crossed the border from Nigeria’s Borno state late Wednesday, according to Cameroon's Far North region governor Midjiyawa Bakary. One detonated his explosives at a popular spot where youth had gathered to watch films while the other went to a local mosque.  The governor said officials believe the bomber may have intended to hide there and attack the faithful who attend morning Ramadan prayers in large numbers. Midjiyawa said 13 people are confirmed dead and many more are wounded.” United Kingdom Daily Mail: Record Number Of British Women 'Terrorists' Arrested As Teenage Girls And Young Families Flock To Join ISIS “A record number of British women were arrested on suspicion of terrorism in the past year, official figures revealed today. A total of 36 female terror suspects were held by the authorities during the 12 months up to the end of March, which is more than ever before. There was also a rising number of children being arrested by counter-terror police, with 14 under-18s detained in the year 2015/16, up from just eight a year before. Overall, there were 255 terrorism-related arrests, a decrease of 15 per cent compared to the previous year when there were a record 301.” BBC: UK To Send 250 More Military Personnel To Iraq “The UK is sending 250 more military personnel to Iraq, almost doubling its presence in the country. Most of them will be going to Al Asad airbase in Anbar province, western Iraq, 100 miles west of Baghdad. They include 50 trainers, 90 soldiers to protect the base and 30 to set up a headquarters. About 80 engineers will work on infrastructure for six months. About 300 British personnel are already in the country helping to train Iraqi and Kurdish forces. British forces will not be there to fight and will be confined to the limits of the base.” Germany The Wall Street Journal: After An Attack, Germans Question Efforts To Dissuade Young Islamists “Germany, unlike France, Belgium, Spain or the U.K., has been spared a major terrorist attack in recent years. It has a lower proportion of nationals and residents in the ranks of Islamic State than France or Belgium. Yet it has seen a sharp rise in followers of the fundamentalist Salafi strain of Islam, which security officials see as a recruiting ground for jihadists. This year, the country is spending at least €10 million on initiatives to prevent the spread of Islamist extremism and another €1.6 million on a hotline for concerned families. Many of its 16 states have also bulked up spending. The state of Hesse this year nearly tripled its budget for a deradicalization effort, to €1.2 million. The programs appear similar to psychotherapy—complete with warring schools of thought.” Technology Fortune: Global Terrorism, Crime, And Sanctions Database World-Check Leaked Online “The dataset contains 2.2 million records on ‘heightened risk individuals and organizations.’ A database used by global banks, governments, law firms, and intelligence agencies to identify suspects related to terrorism, crime, corruption, and other wrongdoings leaked online. Chris Vickery, a security researcher at the software firm MacKeeper, recently discovered an exposed version of the Thomson Reuters’ World-Check database, which contains 2.2 million records on ‘heightened risk individuals and organizations,’ he wrote Tuesday in a post on Reddit. Vickery said the copy he found dated to mid-2014. People have criticized Thomson Reuters for its data collection methods, which can include state-sponsored news sources, as well as its designations, which opponents say can be inaccurate, as BBC’s Radio 4 reported last year.”