Eye on Extremism September 1, 2016

Eye on Extremism September 1, 2016 Counter Extremism Project BBC News: CEP Spokesperson Tara Maller Discusses The Reported Death Of ISIS Senior Strategist And Spokesperson Abu Mohammed Al-Adnani And Its Possible Ramifications Voice Of America: IS Fighters Fleeing Iraq Leave Carnage Behind “As Islamic State fighters are being routed from cities and towns across Syria and Iraq, they increasingly leave behind carnage, causing major damage to local economies and devastating people they already have traumatized. A VOA reporter this week visited a town that was held by IS until last week, when Iraqi forces pushed the fighters out. The oil-rich town of Qayyarah, 60 kilometers south of Mosul, was under IS rule for more than two years. IS militants made certain that Qayyarah's infrastructure was damaged before they were defeated. Houses were partially or fully destroyed. Oil wells were set ablaze, causing major damage to the economy and the environment. At least 10 oil fields were burned down, local sources said.” New York Times: Spokesman's Death Will Have Islamic State Turning to Its 'Deep Bench' “The reported death of the Islamic State’s senior propagandist and strategist, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, in an American drone strike in northern Syria on Tuesday casts in sharp relief the immediate challenge the terrorist group faces in replacing one of its pivotal founding members. The attack, carried out by a military Reaper drone, also underscores the progress the military’s most elite Special Operations commandos and the Central Intelligence Agency have made in the conflict’s two years by using information from spies on the ground and sensors in the sky to target a growing number of Islamic State leaders.” Reuters: Analysis - Death Of Islamic State's Tactician Comes At Critical Moment “The U.S. air strike believed to have killed Abu Mohammad al-Adnani has deprived Islamic State of the architect of its attacks on the West, as it faces the loss of swathes of its heartlands. One of the last survivors of the al Qaeda militants who originally formed Islamic State last decade in Iraq, including its self-appointed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Adnani had risen to become one of its most influential leaders. ‘It's a major morale and propaganda blow to the group because it shows that their top leadership is being targeted by an effective and organised chain,’ Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, spokesman for the joint operations command of Iraq's army, told Reuters in Baghdad. Not only did Adnani orchestrate Islamic State's propaganda effort, an undertaking at the heart of its quest to lay waste modern nation states, but he also served as one of its principle military planners.” The Washington Post: U.S. Is Trapped Between Its Allies’ Ambitions In Syria “The Pentagon’s decision to arm a mostly Syrian Kurdish force has paid big dividends in northern Syria, where the Islamic State has been on the run in recent months. Backed by U.S. air power, Kurdish-led offensives have captured important pieces of the radical group’s ‘caliphate,’ including the town of Manbij this month. Then Turkish tanks and warplanes entered Syria last week and began targeting the Kurds, their long-standing enemy. But what happened next blindsided Kurdish leaders: Their American allies sided with the Turks — and ordered the Kurdish forces to hand over hard-won territory. Across Syrian Kurdish regions, a sense of betrayal by Washington is setting in, threatening to weaken the campaign against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL.” US Commander: Afghan Forces Lost 900 Men in July “More than 900 Afghan security personnel died in July while battling Taliban insurgents, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan said Wednesday. General John Nicholson of NATO’s Resolute Support mission made the revelation during a year in which Taliban fighters have made territorial advances, fighting Afghan forces in more than half of the country's 34 provinces. In July, ‘there were over 900 martyrs in the Afghan army and police. This is almost a brigade of soldiers and police, and we should not forget for one minute the sacrifice that they are making even as we meet here today,’ Nicholson said at a Kabul conference attended by Afghan leaders and foreign diplomats. According to U.S. military estimates, Afghan forces suffered around 20,000 casualties, including nearly 5,000 dead, during last year’s fighting.” Associated Press: UN Envoy: Military Escalation In Yemen Is Fueling Extremists “The dangerous military escalation following a breakdown in the cease-fire between government supporters and Shiite rebels is fueling the spread of al-Qaida and the Islamic State extremist groups, the U.N. special envoy to Yemen warned the Security Council on Wednesday. Ismael Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who has been trying to halt the fighting and negotiate a political solution, said a new cessation of hostilities is key to restarting talks to end the civil war in the Arab world's poorest country. Houthi rebels and forces allied with ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh seized the capital Sanaa in September 2014, forcing the internationally recognized government to flee the country.” The Jerusalem Post: German Lawmaker Investigates Aid For Palestinian Terrorism The head of the German–Israel Parliamentary Group in the Bundestag, Volker Beck, launched an inquiry into the misuse of German aid for Palestinian terrorism.  The inquiry appears to be the first legislative investigation in Germany into the possible misappropriation of Palestinian humanitarian aid. According to letters obtained by The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, Beck, a Green Party deputy, wrote in July to German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier that ‘the Middle East Media Research Institute’ (MEMRI) in Washington, DC, recently presented to Congress and subsequently published the interesting report ‘Palestinian Authority Support For Imprisoned, Released, And Wounded Terrorists And Families Of Martyrs.’ Beck asked, ‘What information is available to the Federal government about payments by the PA, possibly through intermediaries, to Palestinian prisoners involved in terrorist activities against Israel or its citizens?’” Associated Press: Danish Team Removes 500 Tons Of Chemical Weapons From Libya “A Danish-led international operation to rid Libya of its chemical weapons has removed 500 tons of chemicals from the North African country, Denmark said Wednesday. The government said the chemicals were picked up Saturday at the Libyan port of Misrata and are now on their way out of the Mediterranean Sea toward Germany. ‘We have now removed the chemical remnants from Libya and have ensured that they will not fall into the wrong hands,’ Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen said. Britain and Finland assisted with the maritime operation. Denmark said Libya's U.N.-brokered National Unity government in July handed over a formal request for international assistance to have the chemical weapons removed.” Reuters: Iraq's Sunni Militias Recruit Mid-Teens To Fight Islamic State “Iraqi tribal militias are recruiting youths in their mid-teens from a camp for displaced people to fight in the battle to push Islamic State out of Mosul, the camp's manager and a rights group said. At least seven under the age of 18 have been enlisted this month by two units of a force backed by Baghdad and Washington which is made up largely of fighters from Sunni Muslim areas in Iraq's north and west, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report. An HRW representative the recruits were in their ‘mid-teens’. A 2002 protocol of a UN convention says under-18s should not be sent into battle. Some national armies do recruit young people at 16, but not for combat duties. The manager of Debaga camp, 40 km (25 miles) south of the Kurdish capital of Erbil, told Reuters on Tuesday the reports of recruitment of the young in the camp by older fighters were accurate.” Deutsche Welle: Who Is The New Taliban Military Chief? “The Taliban have appointed Mullah Ibrahim Sadar as the group's new military chief. Sadar's appointment comes at a time when the militant outfit is seeking to expand its control over key Afghan provinces. The group also faces a challenge from the self-proclaimed ‘Islamic State,’ which is active in some parts of the war-torn country. Can Sadar achieve the military objectives set by his group? And can he overcome the challenges posed by IS? In an interview with DW, Wahid Muzhdah, a Kabul-based expert, explains why the Taliban chose Sadar as their military commander. Sadar has been one of the top Taliban commanders since the group was ousted from power in 2001. He was not only close to Taliban founder Mullah Omar, but was also an aide to Omar's successor Mullah Mansoor. After Mansoor was killed in a drone attack in Pakistan, Sadar pledged loyalty to the new leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada.” The Washington Post: Half A Million Young Italians Are About To Receive Free Money To Stay Away From Terrorism “As Europe struggles to counter the threat posed by the Islamic State and other militant groups, the Italian government is set to launch a scheme that will take the fight to a different level. Starting mid-September, more than half a million 18-year-olds living in Italy are eligible to receive vouchers valued at more than $500 each. The vouchers will allow recipients to visit museums free, go to concerts for reduced prices or watch movies. According to the Italian government, the program is also intended to send a message to militant groups. When the scheme was announced last year, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi implied that extremists should be countered not only militarily, but also ideologically. The announcement came days after militant attacks in Paris killed at least 130 people.” United States Fox News: Obama Extends Libya Bombing Mission Against ISIS, Officials Say “President Obama has extended the U.S. military’s combat mission in Libya for another month at the request of senior military leaders, two defense officials with knowledge of the order told Fox News. The decision keeps two U.S. Navy warships off the coast of Libya to continue striking ISIS and assist Libyan ground forces fighting the terror group in the coastal city of Sirte. One of the U.S. warships had been scheduled to go to the Persian Gulf in September to begin airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria and keep an eye on Iran, a week after four provocations between Iranian gunboats and U.S. Navy ships -- one of which resulted in warning shots being fired by a U.S. warship. The other, a U.S. Navy destroyer, was supposed to head to the Black Sea near Russia next month. But both plans will be put on hold, according to one defense official.” Time: Former U.S. Commanders Take Increasingly Dim View Of War On ISIS “As conflict enters its third year, endgame still elusive. It’s a most peculiar war: rarely has the U.S. been killing so many while risking so few. The U.S. is beating ISIS handily, judging by Vietnam’s body-count metric. The total number of ISIS battlefield deaths claimed by U.S. officials has jumped, from 6,000 in January 2015 to 45,000 last month—a bloodbath for an enemy force estimated to number about 30,000. Three U.S. troops have died. That’s an eye-watering U.S.-to-ISIS ‘kill ratio’ of 15,000-to-1. ‘We’ve got good momentum going,’ General Joseph Votel, chief of U.S. Central Command, who is overseeing the war, said Tuesday. ‘We are really into the heart of the caliphate.’ But some of his predecessors disagree.” CNN: Washington's Syrian Headache: Keeping Turkey And Kurds Apart “Sometimes when a complex mess suffers an added complication, it can in fact make matters simpler -- such is the case in northern Syria now. For months, US support for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a predominantly Syrian Kurd force that also includes Arab tribes and other factions, has led them to take large swathes of territory from ISIS quite effectively and establish Kurdish control over the territory. But there's always been one problem: that territory is along the Turkish border and Turkey considers the SDF's main component, a Syrian Kurdish militia called the People's Protection Units -- or YPG -- to be terrorists.” CNN: US Doubts Russia's Claim It Killed ISIS Spokesman “Russia said one of its airstrikes in Syria killed ISIS spokesman Mohammad al-Adnani -- a claim that a US official called preposterous. On Wednesday, Russia's Ministry of Defense announced it killed the terror leader on the ministry's official Facebook page. It said Adnani was one of up to 40 ISIS militants killed by a Russian bomber in Aleppo province. But a US defense official slammed Russia's assertion. ‘It would be laughable but for the very real humanitarian suffering Russia has inflicted,; the defense official said Wednesday. ‘We stand by the statement we made yesterday. We conducted a strike that targeted al-Adnani. We are assessing the results of that strike.’ That attack was carried out by a US drone, two US defense officials told CNN on Wednesday.” Syria Associated Press: Uneasy Truce Holds Between Syrian Kurds, Turkey “An uneasy truce between Turkish troops and Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria held on Wednesday, despite Ankara's vow that it would never negotiate with what it calls a ‘terror organization.’ The U.S. has called on both sides to stop fighting each other and focus on defeating the Islamic State group, hoping to halt days of clashes between a NATO ally and a Kurdish force that has proven to be highly effective against IS. But a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would continue to attack U.S.-backed Kurdish militias inside Syria. The spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said a cease-fire was ‘out of the question.’” BBC: Syria Conflict: Russia Questions Syria Chlorine Attacks Probe “Russia has said it does not accept the findings of a UN-led investigation that concluded Syria's government had used chemical weapons against civilians. A report said last week that chlorine had been used by President Bashar al-Assad's forces on two occasions. But Russia, a close ally of Mr Assad, told the UN Security Council a number of questions still had to be clarified. The UK and France, which back the rebellion against the president, called for sanctions to be imposed on Syria. A September 2013 resolution states that the Security Council will impose measures under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which permits military action, in the event of "any use of chemical weapons by anyone" in Syria.” Turkey BBC: Journalist Lindsey Snell Detained In Turkey “An American journalist has been arrested by Turkish authorities and charged with violating a military zone, US officials have confirmed. Lindsey Snell was arrested earlier this month, US state department spokesman John Kirby said. The Florida native recently posted on Facebook that she was kidnapped in July by Jabhat al Nusra, formerly al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, and had escaped. The US said it was in touch with Turkish officials regarding the case. Ms Snell is being held at a prison in the southern Hatay Province and consular officials had visited her on 26 August, Mr Kirby added. According to her Facebook page, Ms Snell is a native of Daytona, Florida, and had been living in Istanbul. The American describes herself on her Twitter page as a video journalist. She also has worked as a senior foreign correspondent and producer for Vocativ since March 2014, according to her LinkedIn page.” Reuters: Turkey Arrests 865 This Year In Islamic State Crackdown: Minister “Turkey has arrested 865 people since the start of 2016 in its fight against Islamic State, and more than half of those were foreigners, Interior Minister Efkan Ala said in remarks broadcast on Turkish television channels on Wednesday. Thousands of foreign fighters from countries including Turkey, Britain, Europe and the United States have joined the Islamist militants in their self-proclaimed caliphate in recent years, many of them passing through Turkey. Turkey has since launched a crackdown on the networks facilitating their passage. Since launching the crackdown, Turkey has detained a total of 5,803 people, of which about 2,200 were foreigners, the minister said, without giving a precise period.” Reuters: Turkey Wants To 'Cleanse' Strip Of Territory On Syrian Border “Turkey wants to clear Islamic State from a 90-km (56-mile) stretch of territory on the Syrian side of its border, an official said on Wednesday, a week after it launched an incursion that has strained ties with the United States. Operation ‘Euphrates Shield’, in which Turkish troops and tanks entered Syria in support of rebels for the first time, began on Aug. 24 with the swift capture of Jarablus, a town a few km (miles) inside Syria that was held by the militant group. Turkish-backed rebels patrolled the town on motorbikes on Wednesday as children played in dusty alleys. The bulk of Turkish-backed forces have since moved further south into territory held by militias loyal to the Kurdish-aligned Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition supported by Washington in its bid to defeat the jihadists.” Associated Press: Turkey Vows To Keep Attacking US-Backed Syrian Kurd Forces “Turkey on Wednesday vowed to keep attacking a U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia inside Syria, saying it will never negotiate with what it considers to be a ‘terror organization.’ The defiant rhetoric is likely to set back U.S. expectations of a halt in the fighting between Washington's two allies in the region, both of whom are also fighting the Islamic State group in Syria. Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish force an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, a domestic group that Ankara has declared a terrorist organization. Last week, Turkey sent its troops and warplanes to back Syrian rebels in their advance on Jarablus, a town near the Turkish border and the next IS-stronghold after Manbij.” Afghanistan The New York Times: An Attack On Afghanistan’s Future “On the morning of Aug. 24, I awoke to a nightmare that had become a reality. The American University of Afghanistan — an oasis of intellect, education and optimism in the heart of Kabul — was under attack. Although Afghan National Security Forces were able to safely evacuate hundreds of students and professors, eight students, one professor, three security guards and four Afghan soldiers lost their lives during the siege. Among the dead is my former colleague, one of Afghanistan’s most promising young academics, Naqib Ahmad Khpulwak, an assistant professor of law and a former Fulbright scholar who had been a fellow at Stanford and was about to start his Ph.D. at Oxford. The authorities told his family that he died while trying to help his students escape out a second-story window.” Radio Free Europe: Pakistan, Afghanistan Agree To Reopen Chaman Border Crossing “Pakistan has reopened a border crossing that had been closed for almost two weeks after Afghan protesters burned the Pakistani flag at a rally nearby. Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps early on September 1 reopened the crossing between the Afghan town of Spin Boldak and Chaman, Pakistan -- a border town in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan. The move comes 13 days after it was closed in the aftermath of the flag-burning protest. Along with the Khyber pass crossing at Torkham between Jalalabad and Peshawar, the Chaman-Spin Boldak crossing is now one of only two official border crossing points between Afghanistan and Pakistan that is open.” Saudi Arabia Reuters: Saudi Arabia Says Houthis Will Not Be Allowed To Take Over Yemen “Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Wednesday the Iranian-allied Houthi movement would not be allowed to take over Yemen, as he accused Iran of seeking to sow unrest around the region. The head of a Houthi-backed ruling council pledged readiness on Monday to resume negotiations on ending Yemen's war but reserved the right to resist attacks by a Saudi-backed exiled government seeking to unseat it. U.N.-sponsored talks to try to end 18 months of fighting collapsed in failure this month and the Houthi movement and allied forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh resumed shelling into neighboring Saudi Arabia. The talks foundered after the Houthis and Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) announced the formation of the 10-member governing council on Aug 6., ignoring a warning by U.N. Yemen envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed that such a move would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions on how to solve the conflict.” Middle East The Jerusalem Post: Israeli Jews, Muslims Puzzled By French 'Burkini' Brouhaha “In Israel, where it is fair to say Muslims and Jews do not always agree, there is shared confusion and surprise at events across the Mediterranean: the push by French mayors to ban full-body swimsuits, or ‘burkinis’, on beaches. France's highest administrative court ruled against the ban on Friday, but mayors in several beachfront towns have said they will defy the edict, determined to stop swimwear designed to be Islam-compliant appearing in public. It is a policy that has drawn some popular support while provoking outrage and ridicule, with editorialists playing up the irony of a liberal country challenging the strictures of Islam by telling women what they cannot wear.” Libya Reuters: Libyan Forces Prepare For Last Push Against Islamic State In Sirte “Behind the front lines in the Libyan city of Sirte, ageing tanks crunch through the debris of battle to new positions and resting fighters drink sweetened coffee waiting for orders to advance. Ahead, Islamic state militants besieged in a single residential neighborhood and targeted by U.S. air strikes deploy mines, snipers and suicide bombers to defend their shrinking area. Islamic State exploited Libya's divisions to seize Sirte and rule it largely undisturbed for more than a year. But after a bloody campaign, brigades from the nearby city of Misrata stand poised to win back what became the militant group's most important base outside the Middle East. The loss of Sirte would compound Islamic State setbacks suffered in Syria and Iraq. But the Sirte campaign has been halting, with onslaughts followed by long pauses as forces regroup and hospitals struggle to clear the wounded.” United Kingdom Business Standard: UK Churches Given Terror Alert Guidelines “Churches across the Ukhave been issued counter-Terrorismadvice, including using CCTVs and hiring bouncers at the door during services, following the Murderof an elderly Catholic priest by two Islamic State militants in France last month. ‘Every church should have CCTV and someone stood on the door. Firstly, to welcome people; secondly, to act as a spotter if someone is approaching the church carrying a weapon,’ said Nick Tolson, chief of the UK's National Churches Trust who has drafted the guidance released this week. The measures follow the Murderof 85-year-old Catholic priest Jacques Hamel by two ISIS militants in France last month amid fears that similar attacks against priests could be launched in the Ukas well.” Germany RT: German Army To Prevent Islamist Infiltration With All-Out Background Checks On New Recruits “All recruits willing to join the Germany military will have to undergo detailed background and security checks – run by the military intelligence agency – that would rule out a threat of insider attacks and help detect Islamists and far-right extremists. The extraordinary measure is set out in a new bill, expected to be approved by the German cabinet on Wednesday, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.  According to the proposed legislation, starting from July 2017, all recruits will be checked for links to radicalism and extremism by the German military intelligence agency, MAD. The proposal highlights German government’s efforts to tackle so-called ‘green-on-blue attacks’, otherwise known as insider attacks, at the very outset.” BBC: Migrant Crisis: Terrorism Was Already Here, Says Merkel “Chancellor Angela Merkel says terrorism ‘was already here’ in Germany, defending her handling of the migrant crisis. A year ago, Mrs Merkel lifted border controls allowing in thousands of people, a decision criticised at home and abroad. She told Sueddeutsche Zeitung that despite the influx ‘Germany will remain Germany’. Meanwhile, thousands more migrants have been rescued in the Mediterranean. The Italian coast guard said about 3,000 were plucked from the sea on Tuesday, with the youngest being twins aged just one week old.” Europe Voice Of America: Crumbling Islamic State Caliphate Puts Europe On Edge “Progress against the Islamic State terror group in Iraq and Syria could come at a cost for European countries, which fear returning foreign fighters could soon turn their wrath on their homelands. IS has long put European countries in its crosshairs, ‘unambiguous’ about its view of the continent as part of its larger battlefield, according to U.S. intelligence officials. And even the reported death of IS spokesman and external operations chief Abu Muhammad al-Adnani is unlikely to ease the threat. ‘When you kill the head of the network, someone else steps in right away,’ a Western diplomatic official told VOA on condition of anonymity. ‘The networks he had, the contacts he had are not going away.’” Australia The Wall Street Journal: Australia To Step Up Airstrikes On Islamic State “Australia will step up airstrikes against Islamic State, allowing its military for the first time to attack support facilities as well as militant fighters. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, in a major security speech to Parliament on Thursday, said the conservative government had agreed to new rules of engagement requested by the military, amending domestic laws that restricted strikes to only front-line Islamic State units. Australia, a close U.S. ally, has since 2014 committed combat aircraft and army special-forces advisers to the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, as well as refueling, early warning and control aircraft.” Technology Voice Of America: Concerns Mount Over Foreign Cyberattacks On US Election Day “As Democrats in the U.S. Congress call for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate concerns that Russia may be trying to manipulate the November general election with cyberattacks, government officials are wrestling with new challenges to ensure accurate results. In a letter dated Saturday to FBI Director James Comey, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said the threat of Russia tampering with the elections ‘is more extensive than widely known. The prospect of a hostile government actively seeking to undermine our free and fair elections represents one of the gravest threats to our democracy since the Cold War,’ Reid added.” ISIS Dot Emirates: Iraq: ISIS Militants Set Fire To Oil Wells “Militants of the terrorist Islamic State (IS) set oil wells on fire in the Iraqi town of al-Qayyarah, following last week's defeat and their forced withdrawal from the area. The terror group ignited the wells in order to retreat under the cover of dense black smoke and to obstruct the progress of the advancing Iraqi forces. The local population tried to spread sand on the burning oil spills in the streets of the city, Tuesday (August 30th) to ease the severity of the flames and columns of smoke.” Alalam: Iraq: "For-Sale" Signs On Homes Of ISIS Leaders “A security source in Kirkuk province disclosed on Wednesday that ISIS leaders in Hawija are offering their homes for sale at low prices in order to prepare their escape from the district. The source claimed that some have already fled with their families to the city of Mosul, fearing the launch of military operations to liberate Hawija. The source, who asked not to be named, said, "Arab and foreign ISIS leaders fled Wednesday with their families to the city of Mosul." The source added that "members of the organization are living in a constant state of fear and confusion due to {multiple} cases of desertion and combatants' refusal to fight after having their salaries cut from 350,000 (about $300) to 50,000 dinars ($43) a month.” Muslim Brotherhood Albawabh News: Muslim Brotherhood Seeks To Achieve Seven Goals Through Usage Of Social Media “Audiences have abandoned Muslim Brotherhood TV channels such as El Sharq, Rabaa and Mekameleen because they broadcast false declarations and rumors in order to influence Egyptian public opinion. These channels, therefore, have been losing millions {of dollars} every day. However, despite their nearly non-existent impact, the TV channels continue to broadcast thanks to Turkey's support. This has forced the Brotherhood to recruit supporters on social media websites, since every household in Egypt has a PC or mobile phone connected to the Internet. The Muslim Brotherhood has pumped large sums of money into the creation of many pages and websites to achieve seven major goals through the social media. They are as follows: to influence young people, harm the {Egyptian} economy, humiliate the government, undermine the achievements of the {Egyptian} President, tarnish the army's reputation, cause a rift in the social fabric of the nation, and harm tourism.” Treckat: Muslim Brotherhood Asset Freeze Committee Receives Appeals From Seized Companies “A judicial source from {Egypt's} Muslim Brotherhood Asset Freeze Committee said the committee, headed by Dr. Mohammed Yasser Abu el-Fotouh, has recently received appeals from several owners of appropriated foreign exchange companies, hospitals and schools, demanding the lifting of the seizure on their property. They have also submitted documents proving they do not belong to the Muslim Brotherhood. Meanwhile, the judicial source disclosed that the committee has rejected complaints filed by three recently seized companies, suspected of being affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. The three companies are: The Egyptian Company for Developing Education Technologies; Computek International; and Square Distribution Company. The committee explained its rejection of the appeals by having found evidence proving these companies' affiliation with the Brotherhood. The committee maintained that an investigation run by the security services has corroborated this finding.” Houthi From Yemen: Yemen: Houthi Militia Continues Robbing Citizens And Extorting Ordinary People In Ibb “The militias of the Houthis and {former Yemeni president Ali} Saleh continue to extort citizens and merchants in Ibb governorate under different titles, most notably in support of what they call the "war effort." Local sources confirm that these militias have abducted and arrested the children of local merchants in order to force their parents to pay "fines" set by senior leaders of the Houthi militia in Ibb. According to these sources, the militia has imposed high taxes in Al Radmah District upon orders issued by Abdullah Al-Madhuri (Abu Jabr), the District Supervisor. The new taxes are being imposed on owners of sheep and camels, as well as on farmers.”