Eye on Extremism November 29, 2016

Eye on Extremism November 29, 2016 Reuters: Syrian Government Drives Rebels From Swath Of Aleppo “The Syrian army and its allies announced the capture of a large swath of eastern Aleppo from rebels on Monday in an accelerating attack that threatens to crush the opposition in its most important urban stronghold. Two rebel officials said the insurgents, facing fierce bombardment and ground attacks, had withdrawn from the northern part of eastern Aleppo to a more defensible front line along a big highway after losses that threatened to split their enclave. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the northern portion of eastern Aleppo lost by the rebels amounted to more than a third of the territory they had held, calling it the biggest defeat for the opposition in Aleppo since 2012.” Reuters: Islamic State Sniper Hits Iraqi Unit As Army Inches Forward In Mosul “The Islamic State sniper was a good shot. His round hit the Iraqi soldier just above the eye through a hole in the wall no bigger than 10 inches across. ‘Come, he's been hit!’ shouted one of his comrades, seconds after the sharp crack rang out. Two soldiers crouching behind other peep-holes on the roof rushed inside, keeping their bodies low to avoid being spotted by the sniper. The challenge the men faced on Sunday - of dealing with a sole sharpshooter in an area the army entered weeks ago - shows how difficult the battle to recapture Mosul is becoming, with Islamic State deploying snipers and suicide car bombs, and using civilians as human shields to bog down Iraqi forces.” CNN: Investigators Look For Motive Behind Ohio State Knife Attack “Investigators are searching for a motive behind an Ohio State University student's knife attack on campus Monday morning that wounded 11 people. Abdul Razak Ali Artan, a student who recently transferred there, had written in a Facebook post he had grown ‘sick and tired’ of seeing fellow Muslims ‘killed and tortured,’ according to federal law enforcement officials. Authorities are now looking into whether the attack was terrorism but said it would take time to determine a motive. In a Facebook post shortly before the rampage, the Somali immigrant urged America ‘to stop interfering with other countries, especially the Muslim Ummah,’ a term for Muslim people at large.” Fox News: Seized Documents Reveal Thousands Of Planned ISIS Attacks Around The World “A large trove of documents seized in Syria from the Islamic State (ISIS) reveals thousands of plots to attack Europe and other parts of the world, Britain's top commander in the region has said. More than 10,000 documents and a huge amount of digital data were seized after the group was driven out of Manbij in northern Syria in August, according to Maj. Gen. Rupert Jones. "If we want to keep Britain safe, we need to deal with Daesh," he said, using another name for the extremist group. The news comes as anti-terror police have started deploying on London's streets.” The Washington Post: ISIS’s Second-In-Command Hid In Syria For Months. The Day He Stepped Out, The U.S. Was Waiting. “For a man given to fiery rhetoric and long-winded sermons, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani became oddly quiet during his last summer as the chief spokesman for the Islamic State. The Syrian who exhorted thousands of young Muslims to don suicide belts appeared increasingly obsessed with his own safety, U.S. officials say. He banished cellphones, shunned large meetings and avoided going outdoors in the daytime. He began sleeping in crowded tenements in a northern Syrian town called al-Bab, betting on the presence of young children to shield him from the drones prowling the skies overhead.” Voice Of America: Yemen Rebels And Allies Form Government, Deepening Rift “U.S. officials on Monday expressed disappointment with a move by Iran-supported rebels in Yemen to form a new ‘national salvation government’ in that impoverished country. ‘We are concerned by reports that the Houthi faction and the General Party Congress element aligned with former President [Ali Abdullah] Saleh have claimed to announce a new cabinet unilaterally, without an official foundation and without the support of the legitimate government of Yemen or the Yemeni peace process,’ State Department spokesman John Kirby told VOA. ‘This development contravenes the commitments provided by the Houthis and the GPC element to support the U.N.-facilitated peace process.’ Formation of the 35-minister government, based in Sana’a, was necessary because of Yemen's ‘internal situation and confronting the [Saudi] aggression,’ according to the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency.” Reuters: Iranian Vessel Points Weapon At U.S. Helicopter: Officials “A small Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard vessel pointed its weapon at a U.S. military helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, two U.S. defense officials told Reuters on Monday, an action they described as ‘unsafe and unprofessional.’ The incident is the latest in a series of similar actions by Iranian vessels this year, but the first reported since Republican Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 8. During his campaign, Trump vowed that any Iranian vessel that harassed the U.S. Navy in the Gulf would be ‘shot out of the water,’ if he was elected. Trump is due to take office on Jan. 20.” The Jerusalem Post: Netanyahu: Israel Won't Allow ISIS To Open 'A Front Of Terror' On The Golan “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Islamic State and other groups in Syria on Monday that Israel would have a zero tolerance policy for attacks across its border. Speaking to the Likud faction, he said over the past few days there were multiple attempts to attack the IDF on the border with Syria. He said Israel responded with great force and ‘its enemies’ have paid a heavy price. ‘We are paying close attention to developments and continuing with determination to implement the policy that I establish. We will not tolerate even isolated fire, and we will respond forcefully and attack our enemies when necessary before they succeed in attacking us,’ he said. ‘We will not permit radical Islam or any other hostile entity to open a front of terror against us on the Golan.’” New York Times: Facebook Runs Up Against German Hate Speech Laws “Yorai Feinberg was going about his daily routine this month when his social media feeds and cellphone began lighting up. It was the 78th anniversary of the Kristallnacht, the 1938 Nazi pogrom against Jews, and the Berlin restaurant owned by Mr. Feinberg, a 35-year-old Israeli, had been included without his knowledge on a map of the city that a far-right group had published on Facebook. The social media post listed the names — and addresses — of local Jewish institutions and Israeli-owned businesses under the banner “Jews Among Us,” in bright yellow Gothic script. Mr. Feinberg soon received anonymous phone calls telling him, “I hate Jews.” The Guardian: Taliban Facing Financial Crisis As Civilian Deaths Deter Donors “The Afghan Taliban are facing a cash crisis with donors unwilling to bankroll an insurgency whose victims are increasingly civilians rather than foreign troops, according to several members of the movement. Mullah Rahmatullah Kakazada, a senior diplomat under the Taliban regime, told the Guardian that the Taliban was in an increasingly precarious financial position despite chalking up several dramatic battlefield successes in the last year. ‘The war is becoming unpopular because of all the bad publicity on civilian casualties,’ he said. ‘These people who give money don’t want to spend it on mines that kill children.’” The Guardian: 'There Was No Plan To Attack UK,' Says Brussels Terror Suspect “The Brussels bombing suspect told Belgian authorities there was no plan for a terror attack in the UK and denied he had made ‘reconnaissance trips’, a court has heard. Mohamed Abrini, known as the ‘man in the hat’, is alleged to have received a £3,000 cash payment from defendant Zakaria Boufassil, 26, together with Mohammed Ali Ahmed, when he travelled to Britain from Syria and Turkey. A jury at Kingston crown court in south-west London heard a transcript from an interview with Abrini, conducted in French by judicial police officer and investigator Marc Simar and Olivier Dochain, on 21 April 2016.” United States USA Today: Ohio State Student Identified As Attacker “An Ohio State University student has been identified as the suspect behind the gruesome attack Monday on the school's campus. The alleged attacker, Abdul Razak Ali Artan, was killed by police, but not before driving a car into a group of people and then attacking victims with a butcher's knife, said Monica Moll, public safety director at Ohio State. FBI agents had joined local police in investigating the incident. Eleven people were injured; all are expected to survive. Artan was born in Somalia and living in the United States as a legal permanent resident. Investigators discovered a message he posted on a Facebook page before the attack in which he expressed anger about the treatment of Muslims around the world, according to reports from multiple news outlets, citing unidentified law enforcement officials.” Syria Reuters: Syrian Rebels, Families Evacuate Besieged Town Near Damascus “Hundreds of people left the besieged town of Khan al-Shih southwest of Damascus on Monday under a deal with the Syrian government for safe passage to other rebel-held areas, a monitoring group said. The Syrian government, helped by Russian air power and Iran-backed militias, has steadily quashed armed opposition to its rule in the remaining pockets of resistance around the capital using a series of army offensives and evacuation agreements. Damascus describes the deals as reconciliation or settlement agreements, but rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad say they involve the forcible displacement of whole communities from opposition areas after years of siege and bombardment.” Iraq Reuters: Islamic State Arrests Shopkeepers For Hiking Prices In Nearly Besieged Mosul “Islamic State has arrested dozens of Mosul shop owners accused of raising food prices in the nearly besieged city, to tamp down discontent as a U.S.-backed offensive closes in on the group's last major stronghold in Iraq, residents said on Monday. The arrests took place on Sunday morning in Bursa, a commercial district in the western part of the city, said a witness who asked not be identified as Islamic State punishes with death those caught communicating with the outside world. About 30 shop owners in the area were arrested and taken away blindfolded to unknown destinations, he said. The Sunni hardline group is relentlessly cracking down on people who could help the biggest ground offensive in Iraq since the U.S-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.” CNN: Sunnis Outraged By Iraq Law Legalizing Shiite-Led Militias “Sunni politicians raised an alarm Monday after the Iraqi Parliament passed a law recognizing Iraq's Shiite-led Hashad al-Shabbi, known as the Popular Mobilization Units, or PMU, as an independent military force. The more than 110,000 strong fighting group has been at the forefront of the fight against ISIS in Iraq. Its role is critical but controversial with human rights groups, which allege the units have committed atrocities in the battlefield against the minority Sunni population. The bill, officially passed Saturday, makes the units an independent entity of the Iraqi Armed Forces that answers directly to the Prime Minister. Under the new rules, the units will be overseen by the Popular Mobilization Unit Committees, or PMUC.” Fox News: Kurdish Casualties Mount In Fight Against ISIS, Despite US Medical Training “The death toll and injuries incurred by the Kurdish Peshmerga  are mounting in the battle against ISIS, but despite the rising number of fallen and maimed fighters, officials say it would be worse without U.S. training. The number of dead stands at an estimated 1,600, and thousands more have lost limbs or been burned by chemical weapons. Yet, they say training has spared many more. ‘In the early days, we would have 70 wounded soldiers coming in all at once from one battle, only a few nurses and doctors who would work three shifts without break,’ Pshtiwan Aziz, manager of the Emergency Management Center in Erbil, told FoxNews.com. ‘But now they have had American training, many less are coming in with wounds. Just a few, even from big battles.’” Turkey Reuters: Two Turkish Soldiers Killed After Clashes With Militants: Sources “Two Turkish soldiers were killed on Monday after clashing with Kurdish militants in the eastern province of Tunceli, sources said. The soldiers were conducting an operation in the region when they were attacked and wounded by members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), military sources said. They later died in hospital despite treatment, hospital officials said. The outlawed PKK has repeatedly targeted security forces, especially in the country's southeast, since abandoning a 2-1/2-year ceasefire in July 2015. Some 49 PKK militants have been killed or captured in operations over the past week, the Interior Ministry said on Monday, adding that 269 people suspected of aiding and financing the militant group had been detained.” Daily Caller: Europe Faces Millions Of New Refugees If Turkey Doesn’t Get Its Way “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened Europe Friday with another three million Syrian refugees if the European Union halts talks with Turkey over membership. The EU parliament proposed halting membership talks with Turkey Thursday over Turkey’s response to a failed July coup. Turkey imprisoned or laid off tens of thousands of former government workers in a full scale purge after elements of the Turkish military tried to seize power. Erdogan’s coup response was called ‘repressive’ and ‘disproportionate.’ Erdogan immediately responded, ‘We are the ones who feed 3m-3.5m refugees in this country,’ threatening ‘you have betrayed your promises. If you go any further those border gates will be opened.’”\ BBC: Turkey Crackdown: Foster Families Investigated For Coup Ties “The Turkish authorities are investigating foster families for suspected ties to the failed July coup. An official says it may remove children from homes if their guardians are found to be coup supporters. More than 125,000 people were dismissed or suspended and about 40,000 others arrested after the coup attempt. Last week, the European parliament voted for a temporary halt to EU membership talks with Turkey because of its ‘disproportionate’ reaction. The government says its investigations are necessary to curb the influence of Fetullah Gulen, the US-based Muslim cleric accused by Ankara of orchestrating the coup.” Afghanistan Reuters: Under U.S. Plan, Afghans May Get Black Hawks To Replace Russian Aircraft “The U.S. military wants to replace Afghanistan's well-worn fleet of Russian helicopters with American-made aircraft, according to a new budget proposal, a decision aimed at reducing the Afghan air force's decades-long reliance on Russian equipment. The Afghan air force, trained and assisted by NATO advisers, has slowly gained strength, but remains too small to meet the needs of security forces struggling to combat a stubborn Taliban insurgency. Now the U.S. Defence Department is requesting funding to refurbish and update 53 older-model U.S. military UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters for the Afghans, enough to replace the current fleet of Russian-designed Mi-17 helicopters.” Yemen The Daily Caller: Leaked Docs: 2 Yemeni Military Officers Went Missing In The U.S. “Two Yemeni military officers in the United States for training went missing in May of 2014, leaked documents reveal. Yemeni Army Warrant Officer Ali Mohsen Al-Esaei and Yemeni Navy Captain Mansoor Saleh Mohammed Al-Ansy were both reported absent without leave (AWOL) in letters sent to the Yemeni Ministry of Defense in May 2014 by the U.S. defense attaché in Yemen. The letters were released in a batch of WikiLeaks documents called the Yemen Files. A Department of Defense spokesman told The Daily Caller the two men were located and for further information to contact the Department of Homeland Security.” Egypt Haaretz: Egypt's al-Sissi Sets Records in Crushing Dissent “It looks as though Egypt has decided to compete with Israel when it comes to the attitude towards human rights organization. This month the parliament in Cairo decided to show its neighbor that whatever it can do, Egypt can do better. The new NGO law was submitted for the perusal of the Egyptian State Council, and if it approves, the Egyptian president can chalk up another achievement in the effort to restrict the work of the NGOs. The law, which is arousing an uproar among Egyptian liberals and international organizations, determines that a special authority, whose members will include representatives of the intelligence branches, will be established to grant occupational permits to the NGOs.” Middle East The Times Of Israel: Stabber Who Killed 2 In Tel Aviv Sentenced To Life In Prison “A Palestinian terrorist who stabbed two Israelis to death in Tel Aviv last year was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences and an additional 20 year. Raed Khalil, also known as Raed Masalmeh, was sentenced on Monday in the Tel Aviv District Court after his conviction in July for the murders of Reuven Aviram, 51, and Aharon Yesiav, 32, and the attempted murder of three others during his terror spree. He was given a life sentence for each murder and another 20 years in jail for the three counts of attempted murder. He confessed to the attacks, which took place in a synagogue in the Panorama south Tel Aviv office building on November 19, 2015.” Daily Mail: Israel Bombs Alleged IS Militant Hideout In Syria “Israel carried out an airstrike in Syria on a building used by Islamic State militants to attack Israeli forces, the military said Monday. The overnight air strike targeted an abandoned United Nations building that Israel said was used as a base by the militants. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Israel has been largely unaffected by the Syrian civil war raging next door, suffering only sporadic incidents of spillover fire over the frontier that Israel has generally dismissed as tactical errors of the Assad regime. Israel has responded to these cases with limited reprisals on Syrian positions in response to the errant fire.” The Times Of Israel: Defense Minister: Israel Will Respond With ‘Full Force’ To IS Attacks “In his first public comments after IDF troops killed four Islamic State fighters in a confrontation along the northern border with Syria, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Monday that Israel would not tolerate any provocations by the group and would respond unilaterally to attacks with ‘full force’. Speaking at his Yisrael Beytenu’s weekly faction meeting at the Knesset, Liberman said aggression against IDF soldiers would be met with an ‘immediate’ response, and without coordination with other countries fighting in Syria. Sunday saw the first case of an IS affiliate deliberately attacking Israeli troops inside Israel. Numerous mortar shells have fallen inside Israel, some of which may have been fired by these terrorist groups, though most were likely spillover from the fighting in Syria rather than a directed attack.” The New York Times: Amid Flames And Suspicions In Israel, Acts Of Jewish-Arab Cooperation “The Israeli police are investigating the possibility that the fire may have been started by a firebomb thrown from Qatana over the Israeli security fence. Fanned by strong, dry winds from the east, the fire was soon rampaging through the wooded hills around Nataf. The flames have been mostly extinguished, but passions in Israel were still smoldering on Monday, mainly over indications that at least some of the fires resulted from politically motivated arson. A police spokesman said that 23 suspects were in detention in connection with the fires — 18 Arab citizens of Israel and five Palestinians from the West Bank.” Nigeria The Guardian: We Are Restrategising To Elimate Boko Haram Finally From Battlefield- Buratai “The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai on Monday, said that the army was restrategising to track and eliminate the remaining Boko Haram elements from the battle field. Buratai said this while speaking with journalists at the media workshop, organised by the Nigerian Army School of Public Relations and Information (NASPRI) at 81 Division Officers’ Mess, Lagos. Buratai, who was represented by the Chief of Civil-Military Affairs, Maj.-Gen. Peter Boje, assured that the elements would finally be eliminated finally from the battlefield in no time.” United Kingdom BBC: Anti-Terrorism Patrols Launch In London Boroughs “Anti-terrorism police patrol units are to be introduced across London boroughs. The Met said uniformed and undercover officers will be on the streets to spot those carrying out ‘hostile reconnaissance’ and other crimes. The patrols will begin in Lambeth and Wandsworth ‘to disrupt potential terrorist activity and crime’ on Monday. The force stressed the move was ‘not in response to a specific threat’. Operation Servator is a tactic of policing already used by other forces including City of London and British Transport Police. Patrols are due to be expanded across the capital in the coming months.” Europe RT: ISIS Planning More Terror Attacks In Europe, Captured Documents Reveal “Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) is planning attacks across Europe, according to intelligence seized by Western-backed rebels in Syria, a British general has claimed. Major-General Rupert Jones, deputy commander of US-led operations against the terrorist group, said that information retrieved by Kurdish and Arab militias in the former IS stronghold of Manbij indicates that there are explicit threats to Europe and elsewhere. Jones did not disclose any information found in the plans, but said that the data acquired by rebel forces will be shared with British and other coalition agencies as quickly as possible. The discovery comes as the US State Department issued a terrorism warning to its citizens visiting Europe over Christmas.” Philippines NBC News: Bomb Found Near U.S. Embassy In Manila; ISIS-Linked Group Eyed “Police detonated an home-made bomb found in a trash bin near the U.S. Embassy on Monday and said militants sympathetic to ISIS could have been responsible. National police chief Ronald dela Rosa said components of the device suggested it could have been planted by the Maute, a Muslim rebel group that has pledged allegiance to ISIS. Maute's fighters were locked in a standoff with the military for a third day in the country's south. More rebels were reported killed on Monday, taking the number of dead to 19.” Technology The Hill: Twitter 'Verifies' Muslim Brotherhood While Expelling Conservatives “Social media users have long considered Twitter’s coveted blue check mark an online status symbol. While formally used as a way to visually display that Twitter has confirmed a given user’s identity, marketing specialists say that the little blue check mark is immense advantage to promoting one’s brand and message. Twitter says verified accounts are those viewed as being in the ‘public interest,’ and emphasizes ‘users in music, acting, fashion, government, politics, religion, journalism, media, sports, business, and other key interest areas.’” Financing of Terrorism Treckat: Gulf States: It's Forbidden To Send "Khums" Money To Iran Due To Its Use In Terrorist Financing “A famous Iraqi cleric dropped a bombshell by issuing a fatwa authorizing Shiites in Gulf countries to transfer Khums funds to the needy in their own countries rather than sending donations to {the Iranian city of} Qom and {the Iraqi city of} Najaf. This comes after the Arab states tightened measures pertaining to sending Khums to Iran and Najaf, by adopting laws that criminalize the transfer of those funds, which amount to millions of dollars {per day}. Previously, an Egyptian newspaper opened the file of Shiite Khums in an extensive investigative report titled "Iran is fighting the Gulf with Arab funds." This report revealed that Iran has received billions of dollars annually from the Shiite Gulf citizens who customarily donate one-fifth of their annual income to the cities of Qom and Najaf. The Khums is regarded as a religious duty of Shiites. Due to the repercussions of the issue, some Arab countries have issued laws that criminalize the transfer of these funds to Iran.” Muslim Brotherhood Parlmany: Egyptian Parliamentary Committee Commissions A Report On Confiscated Muslim Brotherhood Funds And Their Use “The Committee for Defense and National Security in {Egypt's} Parliament, headed by Major General Kamal Amer, asked representatives of the Public Funds Investigation Department and the Ministry of Justice to provide the Committee with full details on all the actions that have been taken regarding the funds taken away from the Muslim Brotherhood and how they are being used. This supplements measures taken with regard to assets belonging to key figures in Mubarak's regime. This came during a briefing to discuss a request submitted by MP Abdul Hamid Kamal about the "Panama leaks", the involvement of the former regime, actions against those who stole the people's money, involvement of Mubarak's sons and other officials, as well as seized Brotherhood assets and how they are being used.” Elwehda: Expert: Muslim Brotherhood Members Enjoy A Life Of Affluence In Qatar “Khaled Al-Zaafarani, a researcher in the affairs of Islamic movements, stressed that the slogans chanted against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Egypt, made by the defendants in the case known as "Al-Adwa police station riot incidents", indicate they are now fully aware they were duped by the Muslim Brotherhood. He added on Monday that members of the Brotherhood live a life of comfort in Qatar, where they stay in luxury hotels and are paid $3000 for each TV appearance in which they lash out against Egypt.” Yemen Akhbar: Source: Muslim Brotherhood-Affiliated Army In Yemen's Marib To Protect Oil Wells “A military source revealed information concerning the military presence of the Reform Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, in Yemen. Military actions in Marib are being led by Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar whose army possesses heavy weapons. The weapons are not directed against the Houthis or {loyalists of their ally} Ali Abdullah {Saleh}. The source claimed that the army, which was built by Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and the Reform Party, intends to control oil wells in the province of Marib, as well as in Shabwa and Hadhramaut. This army will contend with any threat to the oil wells, the revenues of which go to Reform Party leaders and sheikhs from Sanhan.” Houthi Elwehda: Houthi Militias Order To Disburse Payments To Nearly 17,000 Of Its "Fallen Soldiers" “The Acting Chief of Staff and Minister of Defense in the {Houthi's} government sent a memorandum to the Acting Minister of Finance (who is a Houthi loyalist). In the memo, he asked to transfer 1.768 billion riyals ($8.225 million) to the Ministry of Defense's bank account, claiming that this sum is being allotted for the salaries of "martyrs" whose numbers, according to the memo, came to 16,759 in the period of May, June and July 2016. This represents 35,179 riyals ($164) per individual. The Acting Finance Minister was urged to strictly abide by the terms and articles contained in the memorandum, cautioning that he will bear full responsibility before judicial and supervisory authorities in the event that this amount is not disbursed.”