Eye on Extremism October 7, 2016

Eye on Extremism October 7, 2016 Counter Extremism Project 1WNC: Five Years After His Death, Anwar Al-Awlaki’s Toxic Message Is Still Lively And Well “Awlaki’s influence shows number signs of abating, thanks in portion to the omnipresent presence of his violence-inspiring sermons on the internet. In a report released just latest week, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) detailed eighty-eight U. S. and European extremists who have been directly inspired by Awlaki’s calls to jihad. Five years later, Al Awlaki’s influence shows number signs of abating, thanks in portion to the omnipresent presence of his violence-inspiring sermons on the internet. In a report released just latest week, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) detailed eighty-eight U. S. and European extremists who have been directly inspired by al-Awlaki’s calls to jihad. Most recently, NY and NJ bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami included messages in compliment of Al Awlaki in a notebook retrieved by U. S. law enforcement.” The Wall Street Journal: In Syria Crisis, Russia Expands Alliance With Iran, Increases Missile Presence “Russian officials intensified their rhetoric over the Syria crisis Thursday, saying Moscow was stepping up cooperation with Iran and boosting its military presence in the eastern Mediterranean. The Russian military said Thursday that a new small warship armed with cruise missiles will join Russian’s naval grouping off the coast of Syria in the coming days, adding to Moscow’s naval presence in the region. Russia’s sole aircraft carrier is also expected to join the grouping before the end of the year. Russia also boosted contacts with Iran over the Syria crisis. Following a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Thursday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said he had discussed ‘immediate renewal of the coordinated international efforts aimed at an inclusive inter-Syrian dialogue,’ the news agency Interfax reported.” The New York Times: In Fight For Aleppo, Tangled Alliances In Syria Add To Chaos “The Syrian civil war, and the intense new ground battle in the divided city of Aleppo, is often seen as a contest between a chaotic array of rebel groups and the Russian-backed government of President Bashar al-Assad. But the reality is that Mr. Assad’s side is increasingly just as fragmented as its opponents, a panoply of forces aligned partly along sectarian lines but with often-competing approaches and interests. There are Iraqi Shiite militiamen cheering for clerics who liken the enemy to foes from seventh-century battles. There are Iranian Revolutionary Guards fighting on behalf of a Shiite theocracy. There are Afghan refugees hoping to gain citizenship in Iran, and Hezbollah militants whose leaders have long vowed to fight ‘wherever needed.’” LA Times: Al-Qaeda-Founded Rebel Group's Growth Underscores U.S. Challenges In Syria “As Islamic State has lost fighters and territory over the last year, an Al Qaeda-founded militant group in Syria has grown in strength, establishing a reputation as the most ferocious fighting force against Bashar Assad’s government.  The militant group formerly known as Al Nusra Front has expanded, in part, because its fighters also oppose Islamic State on the battlefield and are rarely targeted in airstrikes by U.S. and coalition aircraft, American officials say. In recent weeks, U.S. intelligence has detected signs that Al Qaeda operatives in Syria are plotting attacks against the West, raising concerns that the hard-line Islamist group has escaped scrutiny for too long, according to two U.S. intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.” The Jerusalem Post News: Security Forces Thwart Hezbollah Attempt To Plant Bombs In Haifa Area “Northern District prosecutors formally charged six suspects with a host of security offenses on Thursday as the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) revealed it had thwarted an attempt by a Hezbollah terrorist cell to plant bombs in the Haifa area. The agency said six residents of the Alawite village of Khadr on the Israel-Lebanon border were arrested in recent months on suspicion of ‘severe security offenses’ following an investigation that began July 30 after security forces found explosives hidden south of Metulla near the Lebanese border. Security forces subsequently raided the village and heard reports that residents were in touch with Hezbollah, carrying out cross-border smuggling runs and gathering intelligence. This led to two waves of arrests, including the apprehension of Diab Kahamuz, who was named as head of the cell, on September 4.” The Jerusalem Post: Gazan Jihadists Issue Ultimatum, Threaten To Escalate Violence If Demands Not Met “A projectile fired from the Gaza Strip struck an open area in the Eshkol region on Thursday, triggering warning sirens and sending residents running for cover. The mortar shell did not cause injuries or damage, the IDF said. Palestinian media said the IDF returned fire into Gaza, possibly using tank shells, though this was not confirmed by press time. Gadi Yarkoni, head of the Eshkol Regional Council, told reporters after the attack that he was ‘convinced this situation cannot continue,’ and that he was sure the security forces and the government ‘think the same.’ He called on the state to take action. ‘We will continue to live near the Gaza border, and the State of Israel will ensure that this ‘drizzle’ – I hate using that word – this sporadic fire will stop,’ said Yarkoni. Tensions between with Gaza look set to rise, after a Salafi jihadist leader threatened to escalate his organization’s attacks on Israel within 48 hours, if his demands on Hamas were not met.” Fox News: Syrian Family Describes Amputation Of Young Boy's Arm By ISIS “A Syrian family who escaped ISIS' de facto capital of Raqqa has described seeing an 11-year-old boy's arm chopped off as punishment by the terror group's religious police. The family, who chose to remain anonymous for fear of retribution against them or their family members, told Sky News the boy was a orphaned neighbor who attempted to exchange a stolen car battery for food. The man he tried to bargain with informed the ISIS authorities. ''They used a sword … they put a block of wood underneath his hand, put his hand on it and said this stole a car battery … they didn't say he was an orphan," the family's mother said. "They said this hand has stolen and he had to be punished and they cut his hand off.” Reuters: France's Ayrault Tells Russia Aleppo Bombing Is Feeding Extremism “French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Thursday that what he described as the indiscriminate bombing of the Syrian city of Aleppo was feeding terrorism and creating a new generation of Islamist extremists. Ayrault, who was speaking at a news conference after holding talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said it was never too late to stop the bombing and that was why he had decided to visit Moscow.” Associated Press: 3 Charged With Unlawfully Shipping Military Tech To Russia “A New York City man and two Russian nationals have been arrested and charged after federal authorities say they were involved in a scheme to unlawfully export advanced military technology used in missile guidance systems to Russia. Authorities say Alexey Barysheff, Alexey Krutilin and Dmitrii Karpenko, among others, used two Brooklyn-based front companies to buy and unlawfully export sensitive electronics without a mandatory federal license. The microelectronics include digital-to-analog converters and integrated circuits, among others, which officials say are restricted for ‘anti-terrorism and national security reasons.’ Authorities say the trio also falsified records to conceal where they were shipping the electronics.” United States Reuters: U.S. Watchdog Questions Money Spent On Afghan 'Ghost' Soldiers “A U.S. government watchdog is pressing the Pentagon to explain reports of tens of thousands of ‘ghost’ soldiers and police on the payrolls of the Afghan security forces, which are heavily funded by international donors. The U.S. government has allocated more than $68 billion since 2002 to help support Afghan security forces battling Taliban insurgents and other militants. The United States and its NATO allies pledged earlier this year to provide around $5 billion per year until at least 2020 for the army and police. Some of that money could be fraudulently wasted by funding non-existent positions in the security forces, John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, wrote in a letter to the U.S. Defense Department. The letter was sent in August but released publicly on Friday.” Daily Mail: Exclusive: America's Enemies Within - SIXTY-TWO ISIS Attackers And 'Plotters' In Just A Year And More Than Half Of Them Are Immigrants Or Their Children “The growing scale of ISIS activities inside the United States is revealed in a DailyMail.com analysis. A total of 62 people - overwhelmingly men - have launched attacks or been accused of taking part in the Islamic terror group's activities in just over a year. The 62 were responsible for 48 attacks or alleged ISIS-inspired activities - from mass stabbings to attempts to send money and munitions to Syria. The DailyMail.com analysis of public records shows that six ISIS-inspired attackers have died and 54 have been arrested. The figures also show that 34 of those ISIS attackers and alleged plotters were either immigrants or the children of immigrants. They included six people who came to the U.S. as refugees from countries including Palestine and Somalia.” Syria BBC: Syria Conflict: Eastern Aleppo Faces 'Total Ruin' In Two Months “Rebel-held eastern parts of the Syrian city of Aleppo may face ‘total destruction’ in two months, with thousands killed, the UN's envoy says. Staffan de Mistura told reporters that he was prepared to personally accompany al-Qaeda-linked jihadists out of the city if it would stop the fighting. He also appealed to Russia and Syria's government not to destroy the city for the sake of eliminating militants. Troops have been besieging the east, where 275,000 people live, for a month. Russia and Syria say their forces are attacking the powerful jihadist group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, which was known as al-Nusra Front until it formally broke off ties with al-Qaeda in July.” CNN: Syrian Regime Forces Gain Control Of Key Aleppo Area “The Syrian military and its allies have gained control of part of a key neighborhood on Aleppo's front line, pushing into the city's rebel-held east, Syrian state media and a UK-based monitoring group said. ‘An army unit in cooperation with the supporting forces carried out a 'swift' operation against the fortified sites of the terrorist organizations in Bustan al-Basha neighborhood in Aleppo city,’ state-run SANA quoted a military source as saying. Bustan al-Basha is located on the front line between besieged rebel-held eastern Aleppo and government-held areas in the center and west of the city. It is the first time the government has made gains in that neighborhood since losing the area to rebels three years ago, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.” ABC News: Russia Warns US Not To Intervene In Syria, Threatens To Shoot Down Any Airstrike Attempts “Russia has warned the United States not to intervene militarily in Syria against forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, threatening that it may shoot down any aircraft attempting to launch strikes. In a bluntly worded statement, a spokesman for Russia’s defense ministry warned that Russia and the Syrian government had deployed sufficient air defenses to block any potential attacks. It follows rumbling in Washington that the White House may be considering launching limited strikes against some Syrian regime military targets as an alternative option for moving forward in the Syrian conflict after the collapse of U.S.-Russian cease-fire negotiations.” Iraq Reuters: Iraq Requests U.N. Emergency Meeting On Turkish Troops In North “Iraq has requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the presence of Turkish troops on its territory as a dispute with Ankara escalates. Turkey's parliament voted last week to extend the deployment of an estimated 2,000 troops across northern Iraq by a year to combat ‘terrorist organizations’ - a likely reference to Kurdish rebels as well as Islamic State. Iraq condemned the vote, and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned Turkey risked triggering a regional war. On Wednesday, Ankara and Baghdad each summoned the other's ambassador in protest at remarks from the other camp. Turkey says its military is in Iraq at the invitation of Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish regional government, with which Ankara maintains solid ties. Baghdad says no such invitation was ever issued.” Turkey Reuters: Turkey Holds 20 Alleged Members Of Coup 'Sleeper Cell': Agency “Twenty suspects including Turkish soldiers and a deputy governor were jailed pending trial on Thursday, accused of belonging to a ‘sleeper cell’ to be activated if a July military coup attempt had been successful, state-run Anadolu Agency said. The move followed Wednesday's dismissal of 540 soldiers from the naval and forces command and the expulsion of 66 judges from their profession as the government presses a purge of the civil and security forces following the July 15 putsch. Turkey enforced emergency rule and began dismissing, suspending and arresting state officials after the coup attempt in which rogue troops commandeered warplanes to bomb parliament and used tanks to kill 240 people, many of whom were civilians.” Reuters: Turkish Police Capture PKK Militant Suspected Over Istanbul Bombing: Anadolu “Turkish police have captured a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant whom they suspect carried out a ‘motorbike bomb’ attack on Thursday that wounded 10 people near an Istanbul police station, the state-run Anadolu Agency said on Friday. It said a total of six people had been detained in connection with the attack in the Yenibosna neighborhood, several kilometers from Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, Turkey's largest airport. The suspected perpetrator was captured with a fake identity card in the central province of Aksaray, traveling in a car with two other people, Anadolu said. Television footage released after the explosion on Thursday showed damaged vehicles, shattered glass and broken windows in the residential area, along with the mangled wreckage of a motorbike to which the bomb was attached.” Reuters: 'Motorbike Bomb' Blast In Istanbul Wounds 10: Governor “A bomb attached to a motorbike exploded near a police station in southwest Istanbul on Thursday wounding 10 people, the provincial governor said. The blast occurred in the Yenibosna neighborhood, several kilometers from Istanbul Ataturk Airport, the country's largest. Television footage showed damaged vehicles, shattered glass and broken windows in the residential area. Governor Vasip Sahin said all of the wounded were civilians and that investigations into who might be responsible were ongoing. There were no immediate claims of responsibility on Thursday. Kurdish, leftist and Islamic State militants have all carried out bomb attacks across Turkey in the past. The last blast in Istanbul was in June, a month before an attempted coup to overthrow President Tayyip Erdogan's government, when 45 people were killed in a triple suicide bombing at the airport. That attack was blamed on Islamic State.” The Wall Street Journal: Turkey And Iran Draw Closer, Despite Syrian War “The Syrian war went through one of its bloodiest stretches in recent weeks, with Iranian proxies battling Turkish-backed rebels for control of the city of Aleppo. At the same time, Iran’s foreign minister visited Ankara for the second time in two months for talks on how to improve bilateral ties, boost mutual trade, and bolster energy cooperation. This rapprochement between Sunni-majority Turkey and Iran’s Shiite theocracy, which began earlier this year and picked up pace after the failed July coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan , defies the easy characterizations of the region’s mayhem as a sectarian conflict. It also shows the ability of these two regional powers to compartmentalize their differences over the future of Syria—and to focus on areas where they share a common agenda.” Afghanistan Reuters: U.N. Says Situation 'Rapidly Deteriorating' In Embattled Afghan City “Fighting in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz has led to a ‘rapidly deteriorating’ humanitarian situation, officials said on Thursday, leaving thousands of people with limited access to food, water, or medical care. Street-to-street gun battles have continued for four days after Taliban militants slipped past the city's defenses on Monday. Government troops, backed by U.S. special forces and air strikes, have repeatedly declared that they are in control of the city, but residents report that heavy fighting has forced many people to flee. The fighting has forced as many as 10,000 people from their homes in Kunduz, the United Nations reported, with those who remain facing serious water, food and electricity shortages, as well as threats from the fighting.” RT: Opium Growth In Afghanistan Soars, Eradication Close To Zero – UN “Opium poppy cultivation levels in Afghanistan this year are the highest on record, said the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, adding that efforts to eradicate the crop have fallen flat. ‘Unfortunately, preliminary results suggest that illicit cultivation has increased well above 200,000 hectares (494,000 acres),’ UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov said on Wednesday., according to the text of a speech prepared for an international conference on Afghanistan in Brussels, Reuters reported. ‘The production of opiates is expected to follow the same upward trend,’ while eradication efforts have dropped to ‘close to zero,’ Fedotov said. Presently, 2016 is set to make it into the top three worst years in this regard since the UNODC started tracking information on opium production in Afghanistan in 1994. The largest growing area was detected in 2014, totaling 224,000 hectares.” The Wall Street Journal: Thousands Flee Fighting In Northern Afghanistan “The United Nations warned of a humanitarian crisis in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, where it said fighting between the Taliban and U.S.-backed Afghan forces had forced some 10,000 residents to flee their homes. ‘Many families were unable to bring their possessions with them and are in a precarious position. We have had reports that some families have been forced to sleep out in the open and many have few food supplies,’ Dominic Parker, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said on Thursday. Many of those fleeing Afghanistan’s fourth-largest city have gone to cities in neighboring provinces, including Mazar-e-Sharif, with some reaching the capital Kabul, the agency said. U.N. organizations were working with the Afghan government to identify and assist the most vulnerable of Kunduz’s residents, it added.” Yemen The Washington Post: Five Years After Winning The Nobel Peace Prize, Her Nation Is Riven By War “Yemeni journalist and activist Tawakkol Karman was the most prominent leader of the 2011 revolution in Yemen, part of the wave of uprisings that swept the Arab world five years ago and led to the ousting of longtime autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh. She was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize -- the first Arab woman to receive the honor -- in recognition of her work. At the time, Karman called the award ‘a victory for our revolution, for our methods, for our struggle, for all Yemeni youth, and all the youth in the Arab world — in Tunisia, in Egypt, everywhere.’ Today, Yemen is gripped by a devastating war and a humanitarian crisis, and Karman lives in exile in Qatar. She spoke to The Washington Post about the plight of her nation. Her comments have been condensed and lightly edited.” Middle East The Jerusalem Post: Analysis: Hezbollah’s Drug Trail “The Shin Bet and Israel Police’s thwarting of Hezbollah’s plan to carry out terrorist attacks in the North, including in Haifa, was just another manifestation of the ongoing clandestine war between Israel and the Lebanese Shi’ite organization. It’s a war whose trademark is not to leave behind fingerprints. Six people, mostly from one family in the Alawite village of Ghajar on the Golan Heights, were arrested on suspicion of severe security offenses. The village is divided between Israel and Lebanon and is considered by Israeli authorities as a hub for drug smuggling and terrorist activity. In the past, some of its residents were arrested and sentenced to long prison terms for both types of offenses. The unholy world combining drug smuggling, intelligence operations and terrorist plots is neither new nor surprising.” Libya Associated Press: UN Authorizes EU To Stop Migrant-Smuggling Vessels Off Libya “The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution Thursday authorizing the European Union and individual countries to seize migrant-smuggling vessels on the high seas off Libya for another year. The resolution, adopted by a vote of 14-0 with Venezuela abstaining, stressed that the council's aim is ‘to disrupt the organized criminal enterprises engaged in migrant smuggling and human trafficking and prevent loss of life.’ Britain's U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said after the vote that he wanted to make clear that the EU's Operation Sophia ‘is only targeting smugglers and empty boats.’ He said migrants found during the operation are taken to Europe. Since the U.N. authorized the interdictions in October last year, Rycroft said, the Operation Sophia flotilla has directly apprehended 90 suspected smugglers and has made over 300 smuggling vessels unusable.” United Kingdom RT: UK Muslims View Anti-Extremism Efforts As ‘Spying Programme’ “Muslim communities in the UK regard Prevent – the government’s anti-extremism strategy – as a ‘spying programme’ which targets followers of the Islamic faith, according to the UK’s terror law watchdog. The Independent Reviewer of Terrorism, David Anderson QC, said Muslim fears around the controversial programme were ‘exaggerated’ but ‘very real.’ Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today Program, Anderson called for an independent review and overhaul of the controversial strategy, which was set up to counter radicalisation. ‘There is a strong feeling in Muslim communities that I visit that Prevent is, if not a spying programme, at least a programme that is targeted on them,’ he said.” Germany The Wall Street Journal: German Chancellor Angela Merkel Works To Slow Migration From Africa “German Chancellor Angela Merkel is stepping up her efforts to stem migration to Europe at the source, flying to Africa this weekend and working to convince Germans that better conditions in developing countries are in their own interests. In a three-day swing through Mali, Niger, and Ethiopia starting Sunday, Ms. Merkel will discuss German development aid and ways to prevent young Africans from attempting the perilous land-and-sea journey to Europe. After she returns, she will meet the presidents of Chad and Nigeria in Berlin next week. The flurry of diplomacy underscores how deeply the refugee crisis is affecting the foreign policy of the European Union’s most populous country.”  The Associated Press: German-Turkish Man Convicted Of Joining Islamic State “A German court has convicted a 23-year-old German-Turkish dual national of membership in a terrorist organization for joining the Islamic State group to fight in Syria. The Duesseldorf state court sentenced Kerim Marc B., whose last name wasn't given in accordance with German privacy laws, to six years and nine months in prison, the dpa news agency reported Thursday. During his trial, the suspect confessed to joining the organization, fighting under the nom de guerre ‘Abu Zulfikar’ and pledging loyalty to the leader. According to the indictment, the suspect, who was born in Dortmund, joined the Islamic State group after traveling to Syria via Turkey in 2013.” Associated Press: Germany Convicts 4 Of Supporting Terrorist Group In Syria “A German court has convicted four men who procured tens of thousands of euros (dollars) worth of supplies for the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham group in Syria of supporting a terrorist organization. Lebanese citizen Kassem El-R., 33, was sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison Thursday by the Stuttgart state court. Hassan A.S., 30, also Lebanese, 32-year-old German-Lebanese dual citizen Ali F., and 50-year old German Nuran B. received suspended sentences. Their last names weren't given in accordance with German privacy rules. In 2013 and 2014, they provided the group with 7,500 boots and 6,000 jackets and other goods worth 130,000 euros ($146,000), procured through B.'s army-surplus company in Amstetten and in a delivery organized by El-R. — who also provided five ambulances.” Deutsche Welle: Germany Signs On To Declaration On The Use And Export Of Military Drones “Germany is among the 45 countries that issued a joint declaration on Wednesday regarding the use and export of military drones. The declaration, released by the US State Department, calls on the international community to ‘take the appropriate transparency measures to ensure the responsible export and subsequent use’ of armed drones. The joint declaration on the ‘Export and Subsequent Use of Armed or Strike-Enabled Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)’ stipulates that international laws on armed conflict and human rights should apply to the deployment of drones. Meanwhile, export controls should be consistent with the existing multilateral export controls and nonproliferation regimes.” Sputnik News: In US’ Footsteps, Germany Plans Military Base In Niger “A week after the US confirmed that it is building a military base in Niger, Germany has announced plans for a base of its own in the impoverished West African nation. Bernd von Munchow-Pohl, the German Ambassador to Niger, made the announcement in a speech in Niamey, the country’s capital, on October 5, AFP reports. ‘With the establishment of a German military airbase in Niamey in support of the MINUSMA mission in Mali, which Niger has supported since the beginning, a new chapter in our cooperation has begun,’ von Munchow-Pohl said. MINUSMA is the acronym for the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali.” Europe Sputnik News: Study: Foreign Daesh Recruits More Educated Than Local Fighters “A new study released by the World Bank has found that foreign Daesh recruits are generally more educated than members who are born in the region. The study, entitled ‘Economic and Social Inclusion to Prevent Violent Extremism,’ surprisingly showed that those volunteering to be suicide bombers tended to be in the more educated group. The study focused chiefly on the socioeconomic factors that influence people to join the extremists. The study found that, contrary to widely-held belief, ‘poverty is not a driver of radicalization into violent extremism.’ Whether from the Middle East, Africa or Europe, recruits from abroad tended to have several more years of education than violent extremists in their home countries. This was true almost without exception.”