Eye on Extremism November 22, 2016

Eye on Extremism November 22, 2016 Counter Extremism Project Parliament Magazine: Online Radicalism: Times To Take Down Prohibited Content Permanently "The tragedy of online radicalisation can no longer be denied. While Facebook, Twitter and others take down prohibited content, the current process is slow, user dependent, often quite random, and temporary. Given the sheer volume of content uploaded and shared each day around the world, CEP has found another way forward after entering into a partnership with Dartmouth College Computer Science Professor Dr Hany Farid, to develop a technology called eGLYPH, that quickly, efficiently and consistently identifies and removes images, video and audio recordings that violate the terms of service of these companies." The New York Times: ISIS Used Chemical Arms At Least 52 Times In Syria And Iraq, Report Says “The Islamic State has used chemical weapons, including chlorine and sulfur mustard agents, at least 52 times on the battlefield in Syria and Iraq since it swept to power in 2014, according to a new independent analysis. More than one-third of those chemical attacks have come in and around Mosul, the Islamic State stronghold in northern Iraq, according to the assessment by the IHS Conflict Monitor, a London-based intelligence collection and analysis service. The IHS conclusions, which are based on local news reports, social media and Islamic State propaganda, mark the broadest compilation of chemical attacks in the conflict. American and Iraqi military officials have expressed growing alarm over the prospect of additional chemical attacks as the allies press to regain both Mosul and Raqqa, the Islamic State capital in Syria.” The Daily Star: U.S. Names, Warns Syrian Generals “The United States Monday named a dozen Syrian generals and officers accused of leading attacks on civilian targets in the 5-year-old war and warned they would one day face justice, as regime forces pressed their offensive against rebel-held east Aleppo. U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said the military commanders were involved in “killing and injuring civilians” with assaults on schools, hospitals and homes since the outbreak of the war in 2011. “The United States will not let those who have commanded units involved in these actions hide anonymously behind the facade of the Assad regime,” Power told the Security Council.” Voice Of America: Mosque Attacks Signal Expanding IS Presence In AF-Pak Region “Monday's suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque in Kabul is yet another indicator of Islamic State's expanding terror activities in parts of the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, government officials and analysts say. IS, which claimed responsibility for the bombing, is expanding its presence in several districts of Afghanistan, including eastern Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan, officials say. And in Pakistan, authorities say recent arrests of IS members in several parts of Pakistan show the group is establishing a foothold in that country. With IS under siege from a coalition of forces in Iraq and Syria, the terrorist group is looking for safer havens elsewhere, experts say.” USA Today: Battle For ISIL's Syrian Headquarters Is Huge Test For U.S.-Backed Forces “A critical offensive to retake the Islamic State’s remaining stronghold in Syria depends on a loosely organized and lightly armed U.S.-backed force to breach the militants' heavily defended city. Despite the challenge in capturing Raqqa, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have shown a remarkable willingness to fight and can point to a string of successes in driving militants from towns throughout northern Syria, said Col. John Dorrian, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. ‘They’ve been successful in defeating (the Islamic State) anywhere they’ve encountered them,’ he said. The Islamic State ‘considers Raqqa their capital in Syria, so we expect resistance to stiffen as forces move closer to the city,’ Dorrian said. The Raqqa offensive, which started earlier this month, will be the SDF's largest test.” Fox News: Man Arrested For Plotting Terror Attack On Times Square “A Brooklyn man has been arrested for plotting a terror attack on Times Square and trying to join ISIS at least five times, according to a complaint unsealed Monday. Mohamed Rafik Naji, 37, is charged with traveling to Turkey and Yemen between March and September of last year in an effort to join the terror group, court papers filed in Brooklyn federal court say. But in emails exchanged with his girlfriend back in the US, the Yemen-born man disclosed he faced problems crossing into ISIS-controlled areas. ‘It’s very hard to get in I’m on my 5 try its difficult mad po po military and ppl here very scared,’ he allegedly wrote to his girlfriend. Naji also hit up his lover several times for cash to fund his terrorist endeavors.” New York Times: Suit Calling War Against ISIS Illegal Rejected “A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit that accused President Obama of waging an illegal war against the Islamic State, clearing the way for the conflict to continue under President-elect Donald J. Trump without explicit congressional authorization. In a 34-page opinion, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the plaintiff — an Army captain who was, until recently, deployed to Kuwait to participate in the conflict — lacked the standing to bring the case. Judge Kollar-Kotelly also said that whether the war had been properly authorized was a question for the two elected branches of government, not a court, to decide.” Deutsche Welle: US Issues Travel Advisory For Americans Travelling In Europe “The US State Department said it had received credible information indicating that militants belonging to the so-called ‘Islamic State’ movement (IS) as well as al Qaeda and other groupings were planning attack in Europe. ‘US citizens should exercise caution at holiday festivals, events, and outdoor markets. This Travel Alert expires on February 20, 2017,’ its travel alert said, adding that travelers should also apply caution on public transport, places of worship, restaurants and hotels. The travel alert also recognized that European authorities were continuing with raid to disrupt terror plots, stressing that the Department of State and various European government worked closely together, routinely sharing information in order to combat terrorism.” CNN: In Biblical Lands Of Iraq, Christianity In Peril After ISIS “Behnam Lalo crunches over jagged glass and tiptoes around a fallen altar, burned Bibles and a decapitated porcelain Virgin Mary. He picks up a cross from a heap of rubble and wipes away ashes with his priest's robes. He recognizes the cross immediately; he used it at confirmation ceremonies of so many boys and girls here at St. George Church. He no longer knows where some of them are. Or, if they are still alive. This was a sanctuary once, a place of peace and love in the northern Iraqi town of Bartella, just 13 miles east of Mosul. Now everything is in disarray -- defaced and damaged, covered in soot and remnants of war. In the adjoining cemetery, a rocket launcher points east toward the front lines, and bullet-ridden gravestones stand as silent witnesses to the desecration.” Jerusalem Post: ISIS Publishes A 'How To' Outfox Twitter Guide “Islamic State’s presence social media is here to stay even as it loses ground in Iraq and Syria and after a serious crackdown by Twitter. The terrorist entity has published a guide on how to outfox Twitter’s efforts, according to an advance copy of a report by the Jihadi Websites Monitoring Group of IDC’s International Institute for Counter-Terrorism obtained by The Jerusalem Post. The Amaq media group, which Islamic State uses to “raise awareness about safe and secure Internet use,” recently published several graphs on its Telegram instant messaging-service account regarding the organization’s activities on social networks, according to the report. ABC News: Leaders: Boko Haram Besieging Villages In Chibok Area “Boko Haram fighters are overrunning villages near the northeast Nigerian town of Chibok, forcing hundreds of people to flee as they loot and burn in the area from which nearly 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped in 2014, local leaders said Tuesday. "Chibok is now under Boko Haram siege," the chairman of the Chibok local government area, Yaga Yarkawa, told journalists Tuesday in Maiduguri, the birthplace of Nigeria's homegrown Islamic extremist group 130 kilometers (80 miles) to the northeast. The accounts of Boko Haram violence around Chibok, along with multiple suicide bombings in Maiduguri city and attacks on army outposts in the area, raise doubts about claims by the military and government that the 7-year-old insurgency is nearly defeated. Instead, the insurgents have stepped up attacks as the rainy season draws to an end, making them more mobile.” United States Voice Of America: US Pursuing Yemen Peace After Fragile Truce Expires “The United States ‘is working very hard’ to have the cessation of hostilities remain in place after a fragile cease-fire in Yemen expired Monday. ‘I think it's definitely something the Secretary [of State John Kerry] is still pursuing. And I would tell you that he had a conversation this morning with the deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia as well as Foreign Minister [Adel] al-Jubeir about this issue,’ said State Department spokesman John Kirby on Monday. A 48-hour cease-fire after nearly two years of war in Yemen expired at midday Monday and would not be renewed, according to a spokesman for a Saudi-led military coalition. Kerry also spoke to United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed on Monday.” Syria Reuters: Week Of Renewed Aleppo Strikes Kills 141 In East, 16 In West: Observatory “At least 141 civilians, including 18 children, have been killed in a week of renewed bombardment on the rebel-held eastern half of Aleppo which has devastated its hospitals, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday. The Britain-based war monitor said it had documented hundreds of injuries as a result of Russian and Syrian air strikes and shelling by government forces and its allies on the besieged eastern half of the divided city. The assault began last Tuesday after a weeks-long pause in air strikes and shelling inside east Aleppo, although battles and air strikes did continue along the city's front lines and in the surrounding countryside.” BBC: Syria Conflict: Almost One Million Living Under Siege - UN “The number of people living under siege in Syria has doubled this year to almost one million, the UN says. Emergency Relief Co-ordinator Stephen O'Brien said the figure had jumped from 486,700 to 974,080 in six months. People were being ‘isolated, starved, bombed and denied medical attention and humanitarian assistance in order to force them to submit or flee,’ he said. Mr O'Brien noted that the ‘deliberate tactic of cruelty’ was mostly employed by President Bashar al-Assad's forces. ‘Those maintaining the sieges know by now that this Council is apparently unable or unwilling to enforce its will or agree now on steps to stop them,’ he told the UN Security Council. Newly besieged locations include the rebel-held Damascus suburbs of Jobar, Hajar al-Aswad and Khan al-Shih, as well as several areas in the eastern Ghouta agricultural belt outside the capital.” Voice Of America: Syria Health Services 'Devastated' By Conflict “Top United Nations aid officials warned Monday that health care services in Syria have been devastated by bombings and the nearly six-year-old conflict. ‘Over half the country's public hospitals and primary health care centers are either closed or only partially functioning,’ the World Health Organization's representative in Syria, Elizabeth Hoff, told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council via a video link from Damascus. ‘Almost two-thirds of all health professionals have left the country; domestic production of medicines has dropped by two-thirds and vaccination coverage rates have dropped by half,’ she said.” Iraq Reuters: Iraq Lauds Progress On Mosul, Expects Trump To Continue Support “Iraq's foreign minister said on Monday that the fight to wrest back control of Mosul from Islamic State was making progress, citing what he called better-than-expected cohesion within Iraqi security forces and the U.S.-led coalition. Ibrahim Al-Jaafari said it was difficult to predict how long the battle would take, but more than 1,000 Islamic State fighters had been killed, 650 had been taken prisoner, and about one-third of the area had been freed. ‘Those are very good signs for the positive results of the operations. It's going better than we expected,’ al-Jaafari told reporters after a meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.” Turkey Reuters: Turkey Dismisses Close To 15,000 More In Post-Coup Probe “Turkey on Tuesday dismissed close to 15,000 more civil servants, military officials, police and others and shut down 375 institutions and news outlets in investigations over a failed coup in July, authorities said in two official decrees. More than 110,000 people have been sacked or suspended in the military, civil service, judiciary and elsewhere, while 36,000 people have been jailed pending trial as part of the investigation into the failed putsch. Ankara blames the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen and his supporters, which it calls the ‘Gulenist Terror Organisation,’ for orchestrating the coup bid, in which more than 240 people were killed.” BBC: Turkey And The EU: The End Of The Affair? “The European Parliament will vote this week on whether to suspend Turkey's talks on joining the EU, and the Turkish government is giving a good impression of looking the other way. ‘Turkey should feel relaxed about the EU and not be fixated about joining it,’ President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the weekend. Instead he repeated his idea of joining Russia and China in the Eurasian security group Shanghai Co-operation Organisation. ‘Why shouldn't Turkey be in the Shanghai 5?’ he suggested. Turkey's long journey towards the European Union has never been a bed of roses; rather a bumpy road of twists and turns. Ever since the 1960s it has aspired to be part of the bloc, officially applying to become a member in 1987. It was not until 2005 that accession talks actually started.” Afghanistan CNN: Afghanistan Mosque Attack: 30 Dead, ISIS Claims Responsibility “ISIS says it carried out the suicide bomb attack Monday in the Afghan capital of Kabul which killed at least 30 people and left more than 70 injured. The explosion occurred when the bomber detonated their vest inside a mosque in the sixth police district of Kabul, according to Basir Mujahid, spokesman for the local police force. Mujahid told CNN that children and women were among the victims. ISIS claimed responsibility via a statement published by its media wing, Amaq news agency. The statement said that it targeted the Shia gathering in Kabul but did not disclose any information on the identity of the suicide bomber. The attack took place at 12:10 p.m. (2:40 a.m. ET) after a suicide attacker entered Shia mosque Baqir ul-Uloom as religious worshipers gathered to mark the Shia ceremony of Arbaeen, which comes 40 days after the major festival of Ashura.” Yemen BBC: Yemen Conflict: No Extension To 48-Hour Truce “The Saudi-led multinational coalition fighting the Houthi rebel movement in Yemen says a 48-hour cessation of hostilities will not be extended. A coalition spokesman said the truce, which ended at midday (09:00 GMT), had been violated repeatedly by the rebels. A pro-Houthi Yemeni army spokesman also accused the coalition of breaches. The truce brought residents of the capital, Sanaa, a brief respite from air strikes. But fighting continued around the city of Taiz. More than 7,000 people have been killed since the conflict in Yemen escalated in March 2015, when the coalition launched a military campaign in support of the government against the Houthis and allied security units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. More than three million people have also been displaced by the fighting, and 21 million are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance.” Egypt Associated Press: Egypt Court Overturns Islamist Ex-President's Life Sentence “An Egyptian appeals court has struck down a life sentence and ordered the retrial of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi on charges of conspiring with foreign militant groups, including the Palestinian Hamas. Tuesday's decision by the Appeals Court in Cairo comes nearly 17 months after the initial sentence against Morsi, who hails from the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood. Along with Morsi's life sentence, those of 16 others, including the group's spiritual leader Mohammed Badei, were thrown out. The court also overturned death sentences against powerful Brotherhood figure Khairyat el-Shater and 15 others, most of who were tried in absentia.” Middle East Newsweek: Hamas Chief Khaled Meshaal: Israel Is ‘Playing With Fire’ By Silencing Mosques “The leader-in-exile of Palestinian militant group Hamas has warned Israel that it is ‘playing with fire’ over a draft bill that would silence mosque loudspeakers from uttering the traditional call to prayer. Khaled Mashaal lives in Qatar, running Hamas’s political bureau outside of the Gaza Strip, the coastal enclave it has controlled since 2007. ‘What the Israeli occupation state is doing at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as preventing the call to prayer in Jerusalem, is playing with fire,’ Meshaal told Turkey’s Anadolu Agency in a statement Sunday, referring to the compound that houses a contested Jerusalem holy site. ‘This created a fierce reaction in the Palestinian community and the whole of the Islamic nation.’” Libya Reuters: Blast In Libya's Benghazi Kills Three Children - Hospital Official “At least three children were killed and 20 people wounded by a blast in the Libyan city of Benghazi on Monday, witnesses and a medical official said. A Reuters reporter saw billowing smoke and flames at the site of the explosion near the city's Jala hospital, which destroyed several vehicles, scattered the body parts of victims and shattered windows in nearby buildings. Witnesses said the blast had been caused by a car bomb though Abdulhakim Matouk, a spokesman for Libya's eastern government, said initial investigations suggested it was caused by projectiles fired from nearby. A hospital official said the bodies of three children had been received. Benghazi has been the scene of fighting between the Libyan National Army (LNA) and Islamist-led opponents for more than two years. The LNA has made major advances in this year, but faces pockets of resistance in parts of the city.” Nigeria International Business Times: Is Boko Haram In Decline? Terrorist Group Might Be Defeated Soon, Nigerian Army Claims “Nigerian government forces believe that terrorist group Boko Haram has been defeated. Although there are still some active members, officials have stated that they will continue to work until the group is wiped out, Nigerian online news publication Premium Times reported Monday. ‘It is very clear that the terrorists have been defeated; there are no doubts about it,’ lieutenant general Tukur Buratai told journalists in Maiduguri, Nigeria. ‘What we are doing now is a mop up operations aimed at ensuring that we clear the rest of them. It is one thing to defeat, and it is another issue for the terrorists to surrender.’” France Daily Mail: France Says Ready To Help ICC To Prosecute IS Fighters In Syria France is ‘ready to cooperate’ with the International Criminal Court to probe Islamic State jihadists in Syria for war crimes, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Monday. The ICC, founded in 2002, is the world's only permanent war crimes court. But moves so far to refer Syria to The Hague-based body have been unsuccessful as Russia has blocked them with its veto in the UN Security Council. The UN go-ahead is needed as Syria is not a member state. Ayrault told AFP that action ‘can be launched it they concern (French) nationals who are engaged in the war in Syria alongside Daesh,’ using another name for the Islamic State group. International Business Times: Terrorism In France: Paris Attack Prevented With Arrests From Anti-Terror Raids In Strasbourg And Marseille “French authorities prevented a major terrorist attack when they arrested seven people Sunday who were suspected of planning an ‘enormous’ act of terror. Seven men, aged 29 to 37, were arrested in Strasbourg and Marseille while antiterrorism raids were being conducted by officers from the General Directorate for Internal Security and the Research, Assistance, Intervention and Deterrence unit, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said. ‘France has never faced such a [terrorist] threat before,’ said Cazeneuve. The men were French, Moroccan and Nigerian and six of the seven were unknown to authorities, according to Cazeneuve. Most were arrested in Marseille, where a large Christmas market will open this week. The mayor of Strasbourg said the plot was centered on Paris, according to France24.” The New York Times: France Detains 7, Saying It Has Thwarted A New Terrorist Attack “Seven men who French authorities say were planning a terrorist attack have been arrested in France, the government announced on Monday, sounding an alert about the continuing threat from terrorism barely a year after the attacks that killed 130 people in and around Paris. The arrests followed an eight-month-long investigation led by France’s domestic intelligence service, according to Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who said investigators were looking into the possibility that the plot involved a ‘coordinated attack aimed to hit several sites simultaneously’ in the country. The seven men were arrested in the eastern city of Strasbourg and the Mediterranean port city of Marseille in an operation that began Sunday night, Mr. Cazeneuve said at a news conference, adding that the operation had ‘thwarted a terrorist attack that had been envisaged on our soil for a long time.’” Europe Politico: Europe’s Migration Campaign Pivots To Africa “In November, when autumn winds whip up storms across the Mediterranean, the migration season ends. The arrival rates won’t drop to zero — if last year’s numbers are anything to go by, several thousand will set off from Libya despite the rougher seas. But until the weather calms in April, monthly arrivals are unlikely to hit above 10,000 as they do in summer. For Europe, winter is no time for complacency. Several member states, including France and Germany, face elections next year. With a populist right emboldened by the victories of Donald Trump and Nigel Farage, migration is certain to emerge as a key issue. Before next spring, Brussels is keen to reduce the migrant flow across the Mediterranean. Having successfully reduced the number of crossings from Turkey to Greece earlier this year, European leaders are now turning their attention to northern Africa.” Terrorist Financing Afrigatenews: Libya: Link Between Value Of The Dinar And Terrorism Financing “Libyan financial expert and ex-banking official, Said Rashwan, stated that the crisis of the value of the Libyan dinar against foreign currencies is not merely economic or financial. He claimed that "hidden hands" are behind the crisis. He explained that the dollar market in Tripoli, which is known to be controlled by the militias, is being managed from outside Libya. The same applies to credit, which is reportedly open to merchants for importing essential goods. In fact, the credit is fake and used for smuggling dollars and pumping them into the parallel market. According to Rashwan, these activities are linked to the domestic funding for the war, because the group which controls foreign trade in Tripoli and credit is one and the same. This {kind of militant} group {for instance} smuggles $1 million abroad and re-sells it in Libya for 6 million Libyan dinars.  This is how it finances its military operations.” Muslim Brotherhood The Seventh Day: Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Asset Freeze Committee Seizes Assets Of 46 Leaders And Five Companies “Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Asset Freeze Committee, headed by Judge Dr. Mohammed Yasser Abu El-Fotouh, appropriated assets belonging to 46 members of the group as well as five companies owned by Muslim Brotherhood leaders. The companies include: Sedeek for Contracting and Real Estate Investment; Al Wafa Contractor Company for Real Estate Investment; Egypt Group for Import-Export and Commercial Agencies; Professional Group for Import Export and Commercial Agencies; and Afaq Group. In addition, the assets of Muslim Brotherhood leader and ex-chairman of the Pharmacists' Union, Mohammed Abd El Jawad Mohammed, were seized. The seizure includes his shares in Ibn Sina Pharma Company.” Elwatan News: Egypt: Seized Assets Of The Disbanded Muslim Brotherhood Associations Are To Benefit The Private Organizations Support Fund “Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Asset Freeze Committee disclosed it has prepared a national tender, in coordination with the management of "June 30th Group Council", to select the best-qualified, by international standards, of executive managers, accountants and financial supervisors for seized schools and educational companies. In addition, the Committee has coordinated with the Ministry of Social Solidarity that funds belonging to disbanded associations will be allotted to the Private Organizations and Associations Support Fund. The Committee declared that it is currently in contact with a prominent holding company affiliated with the Ministry of Public Business, in the field of housing and construction, to take over the running of impounded real-estate companies and engineering offices.” Gulf Eyes: Yemen: Oil And Gas Sale Revenues Go To Muslim Brotherhood Leaders   “Political sources claim that Ahmed bin Dagher and Sultan Alaradah transfer tens of millions of dollars a day from the Central Bank branch in Marib to bank accounts in Egypt and Turkey. These represent proceeds from oil and gas sales supplemented by the remainder of funds at the Central Bank branch, estimated several months ago at 89 billion riyals ($414 million). The sources noted that bin Dagher has been tightening his grip on as many revenues as possible from oil and gas sales. In the past, these revenues were controlled by senior leaders of the Islah (Reform) Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen. The Brotherhood leaders got their share of the money via payments by Sultan Alaradah.” Wilayat Sinai El-Balad: Funding Sources Of 22 Wilayat Sinai-Affiliated Terrorist Cells Disclosed “Egypt's Attorney-General Nabil Sadiq approved forwarding the cases of 292 suspects to military courts due to their membership in 22 cells affiliated with Wilayat Sinai terrorist group. Investigations revealed that {chief} suspect, Hisham Abdel Halim Alkatsh, who lives in Syria, sold all his property in Egypt and assigned one of his relatives to give $1 million to several cell members. From confessions made by the detainees information emerged to the effect that they had been smuggling weapons from Gaza to Sinai. Security forces confiscated weapons, ammunition and money in possession of the defendants. Some of them were arrested with takfiri books and fake IDs as well as cash in US dollar currency.”