Eye on Extremism December 20, 2016

Eye on Extremism December 20, 2016 Washington Post: German Officials Explore Possible Refugee Link To ‘Act Of Terrorism’ At Berlin Holiday Market “German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday called the deadly truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market a likely “act of terrorism,” but questions were raised over the suspect held and possible links to the wave of migrants who have entered Germany. The suspect in custody, said German Interior Minster Thomas de Maizière, was a Pakistani asylum-seeker detained late Monday. The man denied any involvement in the assault that left the festive market wood-splintered and bloodstained, authorities said. Berlin Police Chief Klaus Kandt, however, warned that it was “uncertain” if the man in custody was the perpetrator, and authorities asked the public to “stay alert.” Germany’s general prosecutor added: “We need to consider that he was not the perpetrator.” The statements raised the alarming prospect that the assailant — who killed 12 and left 52 injured — might still be at large.” The New York Times: Christmas Markets Are Beloved Tradition, But A Challenge To Protect “In France this year, the annual Strasbourg Christmas market opened under heavy security. Instead of the usual gleam of holiday decorations in the central square, dominated by a 100-foot pine tree, the authorities left it mostly bare — in case they needed to set up a field hospital. Before anyone can reach the market, they must pass through one of the 15 checkpoints fortifying the center of the city. Vehicles are not allowed on the streets near the market, and the closest tram stops have been temporarily shut down. At a time when terrorist attacks have become all too familiar, public spaces are no longer presumed to be safe, and that includes the ubiquitous Christmas markets that flourish across much of the Continent this time of year.” New York Post: Orlando Nightclub Victims' Families Sue Facebook, Twitter “Families of the victims of the Orlando gay nightclub shooting on Monday filed a federal civil suit against Twitter, Facebook and Google for allegedly providing “material support” to the Islamic State and helping to radicalize shooter Omar Mateen. In a complaint filed in the Eastern District of Michigan, the families of Tevin Crosby, Javier Jorge-Reyes and Juan Ramon Guerrero argue that the three web platforms “provided the terrorist group ISIS with accounts they use to spread extremist propaganda, raise funds, and attract new recruits.” The Washington Post: Turkish Police Officer, Invoking Aleppo, Guns Down Russian Ambassador In Ankara “A Turkish police officer who angrily denounced the bloodshed in Syria killed the Russian ambassador to Turkey in Ankara on Monday, shooting the diplomat in front of a room full of horrified spectators at an art gallery in an assassination captured on video and quickly shared around the world. As the ambassador, Andrei Karlov, lay on the floor, the assailant, still waving his gun, screamed, ‘Don’t forget Aleppo! Don’t forget Syria!’ The shooting was among the most brazen retaliatory attacks yet on Russia since Moscow entered the war in Syria on the side of President Bashar al-Assad, and unleashed a bombardment on Aleppo that has drawn international condemnation for what observers on the ground have called indiscriminate attacks on civilians.” USA Today: Swiss Police: Body Of Zurich Shooting Suspect Found “Police investigators in Zurich have suspended a hunt for the suspected gunman behind an attack on a mosque frequented by Somali migrants after the discovery of a body in the vicinity that is believed to be that of the assailant, officials said Tuesday. Cantonal (state) police in Switzerland’s largest city said Tuesday on Twitter that “we are working on the assumption that the dead person who was found is the culprit in the shooting at the Islamic Center in Zurich.” A news conference was scheduled for later in the day.” Haaretz: Aleppo and Mosul Residents Anxiously Await Murderous Shi'ite Militias “Two Middle Eastern cities are now tensely awaiting their fate. Aleppo has already been conquered by the Syrian army, but daily life is controlled by the militias acting in its name. These are murderous groups, some of which have no particular feelings for the civilian population. The fighters in these militias come from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. They raid houses, looting whatever they can get their hands on, murdering randomly and dividing the spoils. They were recruited by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards from among the many refugees who themselves had fled their homelands, found refuge in Iran, and are now ‘paying their dues’ for being allowed to live there. Some of these individuals were forcibly conscripted, some enlisted to finance their families’ expenses in Iran, and others were ideologically motivated.” Wall Street Journal: The Travels OF Mrs. Murray's Toyota Unveil Terror Finance Network “Annie Murray had no idea how her champagne-colored 2009 Toyota Land Cruiser made its way from her hometown of Columbus, Ga., to a dirt parking lot in West Africa. She drove that car to church every week until circumstance, bad luck and the repo man took it away last winter. Her Toyota landed in Benin—at a car lot U.S. officials have alleged was a front for a global money-laundering network benefiting Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group backed by Iran. The Land Cruiser had traveled more than 5,700 miles along a well-worn U.S.-Benin trade route that federal agents thought they had cleaned up five years ago in a terror-finance case. The U.S. alleged at the time that hundreds of millions of dollars from overseas car sales were mixed with profits from Latin American drug cartels and deposited at a Lebanese bank that cooperated in the money laundering.” Fox News: North American Couple Held By Afghan Terrorists Pleads For Any Kind Of Help “A North American couple captured by the Taliban-tied Haqqani Network in Afghanistan was purportedly seen on video pleading for their governments to intervene on their behalf with their captors. The video, which was uploaded to YouTube on Monday, purportedly shows Canadian Joshua Boyle and American Caitlan Coleman, who were kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2012. Coleman refers to ‘the Kafkaesque nightmare in which we find ourselves’ and urges ‘governments on both sides’ to reach a deal for their freedom. She then adds: ‘My children have seen their mother defiled.’” U.S. News: Belgian Police Detain One, Seize Weapons In Brussels Raid “Belgian authorities say they have detained one person and seized weapons and computer materials in a raid in Brussels. The Brussels prosecutor's office said Tuesday that the search "was aimed at a person suspected of being in possession of arms and explosives and who was thought to have made threats of a terrorist nature." The raid was launched Monday in the Schaerbeek neighborhood of the Belgian capital. An explosives team was called into to handle a suspect package, but no explosives were found. The person, identified only as A.B. and who is known to police, is due to face a judge Tuesday. Belgian police and the military have been on high alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people at Brussels airport and on the city's subway in March.” The Jerusalem Post: Danish Woman Faces Jail Time For Traveling To MidEast To Battle ISIS “Joanna Palani, a 23-year-old Danish woman, spent a year of her life joining Kurdish forces in the front lines against ISIS, and claims to have worked with a group to free children and women held by ISIS as sex-slaves and to train young girls to be Kurdish soldiers, according to a report Monday by the Mirror. Yet Palani has been taken into custody by Danish authorities and faces a possible six months in prison in a Copenhagen City Court trial for violating a Danish travel ban. According to the Mirror, Denmark has the authority to revoke the passports of any Danish citizen who plans to join any foreign conflict.” The Root: Glendon Scott Crawford: White Supremacist Receives 30-Year Sentence For Plot Against President Obama, Muslims “Glendon Scott Crawford, 52, a Navy veteran and Ku Klux Klan member, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe in Albany, N.Y., Monday to 30 years in prison for his plot to assassinate President Barack Obama and kill Muslim Americans, The Guardian reports. Crawford was found guilty in 2015 of conspiring with Eric Feight, 58, to build a radiation-dispersal device, called a “death ray” by tabloid press, that would be used to not only kill the 44th president but target mosques. Targets included Albany and Schenectady, N.Y., the Executive Mansion in Albany and the White House. Feight pleaded guilty to lesser charges in 2015 and was sentenced to eight years and one month in federal prison, the Times Union reports.” PRI: A Belgian Woman Explains Why She Joined ISIS, And Why She Came Back “When three women were arrested recently in Paris for an attempted car bombing in the heart of the city, attention turned to female jihadists and the apparently growing number of Western women who sympathize with ISIS. Laura Passoni is among at least 550 women known to have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS, according to a 2015 report from the Institute of Strategic Dialogue. More have gone since. However, not all women who join ISIS want to carry out attacks. Passoni is Belgian, and says she was seduced by the terrorist group to move with her toddler to Syria. She lived there for nine months before escaping.” United States The Daily Caller: State Dept Warned ISIS Might Target Christmas Markets Before Berlin Attack “The Department of State warned Islamic State terrorists could target European Christmas markets three weeks before Monday’s attack in Berlin. Germany authorities confirmed that 10 people were killed and more than 50 were injured when an attacker slammed a truck into a group of pedestrians attending the Berlin Christmas market. It is currently unclear whether or not ISIS is responsible for the attack, although police are considering it intentional. ‘U.S. citizens should exercise caution at holiday festivals, events, and outdoor markets,’ the State Department warned in a travel alert Nov. 21. ‘Credible information indicates the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or Daesh), al-Qaida, and their affiliates continue to plan terrorist attacks in Europe, with a focus on the upcoming holiday season and associated events.’” Syria Reuters: Kurd-led Forces Press Islamic State Near Syria's Raqqa “Several villages held by Islamic State have been captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of militias backed by the United States that includes a strong Kurdish contingent, an organisation that monitors the war said on Monday. The advance is part of a military campaign backed by an international coalition led by the United States to drive Islamic State from its Syrian capital of Raqqa. It follows SDF gains against the jihadist group across the north of the country. The strongest group in the SDF is the People's Protection Units or YPG, a Kurdish militia, but Washington has said that any operation to retake Raqqa should be predominantly Arab, the ethnicity of most of the city's residents.” Reuters: Russia, Iran And Turkey To Hold Syria Talks In Moscow On Tuesday “The foreign and defense ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey will discuss the future of Syria and the city of Aleppo at talks in Moscow on Tuesday, Turkish and Russian officials said. ‘(The meeting) will be to understand the views of all three sides, laying out where we all stand and discuss where we go from here,’ an official from Turkey's foreign ministry told international media in Istanbul on Monday. ‘It is not a miracle meeting, but will give all sides a chance to listen to each other,’ the official said. All three countries have emerged as important players in Syria, with Iran and Russia strongly backing President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey, a NATO member, would like to see him step down.” Reuters: Putin Says Turkey Ambassador Murder Is Ploy To Wreck Syrian Peace Process “President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the killing of Russia's ambassador to Turkey was a despicable provocation aimed at spoiling Russia-Turkey ties and derailing Moscow's attempts to find, with Iran and Turkey, a solution for the Syria crisis. In televised comments, Putin, speaking at a special meeting in the Kremlin, ordered security at Russian embassies around the world to be stepped up and said he wanted to know who had ‘directed’ the gunman's hand. He heaped praise on the murdered Russian ambassador, Andrei Karlov, who was shot in the back and killed as he gave a speech at an Ankara art gallery, and made clear that Moscow's response to his assassination would be robust.” Reuters: Putin Tells Rouhani He Wants Syria Conflict Resolved Soon: Kremlin “Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in a phone call on Monday he hoped the two could work together to get a resolution for the Syria crisis as soon as possible, the Kremlin said in a statement. The call, which the Kremlin said was at Iran's initiative, came on the eve of a meeting in Moscow of the foreign and defence ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey on Syria. Putin wants to see new Syrian peace talks involving the Syrian government and the opposition get underway in Kazakhstan and is trying to build support for them.” Turkey The New York Times: Turkey, Russia And An Assassination: The Swirling Crises, Explained “Turkey and Russia, whose up-and-down relationship has helped shape the Syrian war and its related crises, shared a new trauma on Monday after an off-duty Turkish police officer assassinated Russia’s ambassador. The killing of Andrey G. Karlov in Ankara caused global alarm and raised questions about the larger consequences. On social media, many drew parallels to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, which helped set off World War I — a comparison that analysts, thankfully, reject. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place at an art gallery in the Turkish capital where Mr. Karlov was speaking.” NPR: Russia's Ambassador To Turkey Shot And Killed In Ankara “Russia's ambassador to Turkey has died after he was shot Monday evening at an art exhibition in the capital, Ankara, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in comments broadcast on Russian state television. Ambassador Andrei Karlov was shot ‘multiple times’ by an armed assailant as he was ‘delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of a photo exhibit,’ Turkey's state run news agency, Anadolu, reported. Three other people were injured in the attack, the agency reported. Turkey's interior minister has identified the gunman as Mevlut Mert Altintas, a 22-year-old Turkish riot police officer who had been working in Ankara for about 2 1/2 years, according to Anadolu.” Egypt The New York Times: Child Victim Of Egypt Church Attack Dies; Death Toll Now 27 “Egypt's state news agency says a 10-year-old girl who was critically wounded in the suicide bombing at a Cairo church earlier this month, has died of her wounds. The fatality raises the death toll from the attack to 27. Egypt's Islamic State affiliate has claimed responsibility for the bombing, though authorities blamed the banned Muslim Brotherhood group. The little girl, Maggie Mamoun, became the face of the Coptic community's grief in the days following the horrific bombing, with photos of the smiling child circulating on social media, along with prayer requests." Middle East The Jerusalem Post: IDF Tanks Fire At Hamas Targets In Response To Gaza Border Shooting “Shots were fired at IDF troops stationed on the border near the southern Gaza Strip on Monday morning, the military said. The soldiers were securing civilian engineering work near the border fence when they came under fire.There were no reports of injury or damage in the incident, but according to Channel 10 news, farmers in the area were advised by the army to stop working in the fields and to remain in their homes. The IDF responded shortly afterward with tank fire targeting Gaza-based Hamas positions, which according to Palestinian media was located south of the Al Buraige refugee camp.” Newsweek: Tunisia: Hamas Drone Expert Has Been Assassinated By 'Foreign Elements' “Tunisia said on Sunday that ‘foreign elements’ were behind the assassination of a Hamas-linked engineer in the country’s second city of Sfax, after the Palestinian militant group blamed Israel for his death. Unidentified assailants shot and killed Mohamed Zaouari, 49, while he sat in his car outside his home on Thursday. Tunisian authorities discovered four rental cars, two handguns and silencers at the scene of the murder, the interior ministry said. ‘The investigations concerning the assassination of Tunisian citizen Mohamed Zaouari and the latest findings have proven that foreign elements were involved,’ the government said in a Facebook post.” Libya Associated Press: IS Suicide Bomber Kills 8 Libyan Troops Near Benghazi “A suicide bomber has killed eight Libyan army troops near the eastern city of Benghazi, an attack that showed the Islamic State group is still able to strike out in the North African country despite recent battlefield losses, Libyan security and health officials said Monday. The Sunday bombing in the besieged Ganfouda area was a counterattack on the advancing troops that also wounded another eight soldiers, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. IS claimed responsibility for the bombing in a statement circulated online, releasing images of an explosion hitting parked vehicles and buildings it said was taken from a drone.” United Kingdom Daily Mail: Armed Police Deployed To Prevent British Christmas Market Attack: Eleven Forces Send Out Anti-Terror Squads In Bid To Stop Extremists Carrying Out An Atrocity  “Police forces across Britain have stepped up security at Christmas markets this year in a bid to prevent Islamic State-inspired terror attacks such as the one in Berlin. The security services warned the UK was at risk of terror attacks on ‘large crowds of soft target civilians’ by the likes of IS and al-Qaeda during the festive season. American State Department officials have told US travellers to be vigilant when travelling to Europe – and to be particularly careful when going to Christmas events. Eleven forces are sending out anti-terrorism police patrol squads to shopping centres, transport hubs and tourist hotspots in a bid to spot extremists carrying out ‘hostile reconnaissance’.” Sputnik News: UK Calls For 'Loyalty Oath' To Combat Extremism “A senior UK minister has said the British government must revolutionize the way it tackles integration, calling for immigrants to take an oath of loyalty. Sajid Javid's proposals come after a landmark report revealed that some communities were isolated in ‘ethnic bubbles’ across the country. Opposition ministers have decried the policy. Sajid Javid was appointed in July 2016 by Prime Minister Theresa May, a month after the UK's historic decision to exit the EU. Many political commentators drew a direct line between festering resentment fueled by the perception that successive previous governments had mismanagement immigration into the UK, and the successful Brexit campaign. Then, in December 2016, the Conservative government published the Casey Review, an independent review into immigration and integration. The findings made for difficult reading for politicians and many members of the public alike.” Germany The New York Times: Berlin Crash Is Suspected To Be A Terror Attack, Police Say “The Berlin police said early Tuesday that the killing of at least 12 people and the wounding of dozens more when a truck plowed through a Christmas market on Monday night was ‘a suspected terrorist attack.’ In a statement, the police added that they were working swiftly and with ‘necessary care’ in the investigation. The truck jumped the sidewalk about 8 p.m. near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, whose jagged spire, a reminder of the bombings during World War II, is one of the most symbolic sites in Berlin. The police said they later arrested a man near the scene who was suspected of driving the truck, which had been stolen from a worksite in Poland about a two-hour drive from Berlin. A passenger, identified by the authorities as a Polish national, was found dead in the cab.” CNN: Berlin Christmas Market: 12 Dead, 48 Hospitalized In Truck Crash “A tractor trailer barreled into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin on Monday night, killing 12 people and injuring 48 others. Witnesses said shoppers screamed and dropped packages and glasses of mulled wine as the truck plowed into the market. Officials are investigating the crash as an act of terrorism, according to a German intelligence official familiar with the matter. After a tip, Berlin police arrested a man on foot about a mile and a half away from the crash site. Authorities are working to determine whether he is linked to the case. Some of the 48 people in the hospital have serious injuries, Berlin police tweeted.” Europe Associated Press: Court Convicts Italian Woman Who Joined Islamic State “In the first trial in Italy involving foreign fighters operating inside the war zone, a court on Monday convicted an Italian woman and her Albanian husband in absentia on terrorism charges for traveling to Syria to join the Islamic State group. The court sentenced Maria Giulia Sergio to nine years in prison and her husband, Aldo Kobuzi, to 10 years; both are believed to be in Syria. Sergio had encouraged her parents and sister to join her, the first known case of an entire Italian family planning to join IS.” Time: A Timeline Of Recent Terrorist Attacks In Europe “Over the past 13 months, Europe has become a crucible of terrorist activity. Monday was a dark day for Europe. Within a span of hours, three acts of bloodshed were reported across the continent. Three men were shot in an Islamic center in Zurich. Russia’s ambassador to Turkey was assassinated at an Ankara art gallery by a police officer who cried ‘don’t forget Syria!’ A large truck plowed through a Christmas market in central Berlin killing 12 and injuring 48 others. Zurich police have said that they are not treating the attack there as terrorism. But Russia was quick to condemn the assassination of its ambassador as a ‘terrorist attack,’ and police in Berlin are now treating the carnage at the Christmas market as ‘presumed terrorism.’ Such outbreaks of violence are no longer new in Europe. Here’s a rundown of major terrorist attacks over the past 13 months.” ISIS Aljarida: Kuwait: Arrest Of Cell Financing ISIS In Syria “Kuwait's State Security Agency dismantled a cell discovered to be financing ISIS and other extremist organizations in Syria. The cell, composed of five Syrian expatriates, was involved in raising funds illegally and transferring them to Syria. Security sources revealed that the agency received Western intelligence tips a few days ago concerning money transfers from Kuwait to terrorist groups in Syria, including ISIS, Nusra {Front} and other banned organizations. The sources added that {Kuwait's} State Security tracked the information that ultimately led to the cell's mastermind - a Syrian expatriate residing in Sulaibikhat district. He had obtained donations illegally and confessed {during interrogations} that over several months he had transferred large sums of money to terrorist groups in Syria. Security forces found in his home large sums of money obtained through donations. They reported that the suspect had also acknowledged collaborating with a money transfer office run by a Syrian resident and his three sons in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh district.” Muslim Brotherhood The Seventh Day: Egyptian Parliament Demands Excluding Muslim Brotherhood Teachers From Educational Institutions “Fayez Barakat, a member of the Egyptian parliament's education committee, said he intends to submit a request to the Minister of Education, demanding exclusion of teachers affiliated with Muslim Brotherhood from classrooms and moving them to perform administrative work. He also demanded that security authorities belonging to the Interior Ministry provide the Education Ministry with lists of Brotherhood teachers in schools. Fayez stressed that the advancement of education begins with barring all extremist ideas among schoolchildren. According to the MP, this starts with identifying and disqualifying Brotherhood teachers and anyone who promotes extremist ideas in the education system. The parliament's education and scientific research committee, headed by Gamal Sheiha, demanded at a meeting on Monday with Minister of Education, Dr. El Helali el Sherbini, that he take decisive action to clean up the learning process by expelling Brotherhood-affiliated teachers.” Elbalad: Source Predicts Internal Brotherhood Conflict Over The Group's Financial Inheritance “Salafi leader Sameh Hamoda noted that the "declaration by Muslim Brotherhood media spokesman Mohammed Montaser about the separation of the group's Guidance Office from its General Shura Council, and the {subsequent} denial of another spokesman the next day, confirms the official split of the group into two factions. Each side has its own organizational structure, an historic event we have not seen since the creation of the group." Hamoda added, "This is a result of internal strife and violent conflict within the group since the ouster of {ex-president} Morsi. This shows the state of weakness and decline that has hit the group, its inability to unite and to contain its internal differences. Thus, the internal wars have fragmented this entity, and its members are busy fighting each other." He explained that "We await, following the announcement of the split, additional conflicts over who has the right to lead and receive the legacy for political, financial and international representation of the group.” Houthi Yemen Akhbar: Ibb University Subject To Grand Theft By Houthis “Ibb University is facing its biggest heist ever, initiated by senior Houthi leaders in the governorate. Private sources at Ibb University disclosed that hundreds of millions of riyals were stolen from the University's safe on Friday evening. All in all, criminals got away with 120 million riyals ($480,000) and another $300,000 in US currency.” Hezbollah Alarab: Need For Economic Alternatives To Liberate Shiites From Hezbollah Grip “Hezbollah has managed to impose its hegemony over the Shiite sect in Lebanon. It boasts a monopoly not only in representation of the sect politically and militarily, by exploiting the poor financial and economic situation in the country, but also through sectarian mobilization. Therefore, a large group of researchers believe that the "liberation" of Lebanon's Shiite sect from Hezbollah's exploitation begins with the introduction of economic solutions. However, these should not be limited to the imposition of sanctions on the organization. According to Lebanese researcher, Hanin Ghaddar, the solutions should be based on {viable} economic alternatives. Ghaddar indicated that due to Hezbollah's financial state, it is not overly affected by the imposition of sanctions by Lebanese banks or even by the United States. On her part, Lebanese researcher and media personality Fatima Huhu said, "The closure of bank accounts belonging to institutions affiliated with Hezbollah angered the group and prompted it to criticize the Governor of Lebanon's Central Bank, Riad Salameh. While some financial intermediaries attempted to intervene, eventually several {Lebanese} banks applied the US law even to private accounts. Although the banking procedures against Hezbollah may have "ruffled its feathers" these did not impede the continuity of its funding activities.”