Eye on Extremism January 18, 2017

Eye on Extremism January 18, 2017 Counter Extremism Project The Ringer: Extreme Moderation “Farid has long wanted to develop the same type of program for terrorist content, and he gave an interview to The Atlantic this summer explaining that he was waiting for companies to get onboard. To that end, he partnered with a nonprofit called the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), where he is now a senior adviser. His proposal: Just as with his pornography detector, Farid would create a system for flagging terrorist photos. With PhotoDNA, the centralized database of banned images is held by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; with this new system, the Counter Extremism Project figured a new clearinghouse could be established for the same purpose. Last summer, the CEP brought its idea for the hashing tool to major social media companies, assuming they’d be eager to take advantage of the technology. The companies balked.” NBC News: Mosul Bridges Are Key To Liberating ISIS Stronghold “American-backed forces are nearing the halfway point in their operation to liberate the ISIS stronghold of Mosul. Key to unlocking the rest of the Iraqi city are its five bridges. The northern Iraq city is divided between east and west by the Tigris river which runs through its center. Iraqi coalition forces, supported by the United States, say they have recaptured at least 70 percent of the eastern side during a months-long battle in the streets. American airstrikes partially destroyed the five bridges crossing the river in order to cut supply lines to the jihadis.” Hurriyet Daily News: Istanbul Nightclub Attacker Took Orders From ISIL Militants In Raqqa “An Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant who killed 39 people while wounding 65 others in a nightclub in Istanbul’s Ortaköy district on Jan. 1 took the orders to stage the attack from an ISIL emir in Syria’s Raqqa, according to Turkish authorities.  Abdulkadir Masharipov, the 34-year-old ISIL militant who was apprehended by Turkish police late on Jan. 16 after two weeks on the run, said he initially went to Istanbul’s Taksim Square to stage an attack, but “there were too many precautions,” so he chose the Reina nightclub to attack.” The Wall Street Journal: Islamic State Gains In Remote Syria Outpost “Islamic State forces cut in half the last Syrian government enclave in an oil-rich eastern province, pro-government media and opposition activists said Tuesday, putting new pressure on the regime after the terror group suffered setbacks elsewhere. The group’s advances in Deir Ezzour—the capital of a province of the same name—came during a fierce Islamic State offensive. By Tuesday morning, the extremists had cut off a supply route to a Syrian military air base. Islamic State has laid complete siege to the government-held part of the city for about two years. With the fresh advances, the group cut off an area where tens of thousands of civilians live from a Syrian air base that has been used to bring supplies and aid to the enclave. The extremists advanced despite heavy airstrikes by Syrian regime and allied Russian warplanes.” Newsweek: Florida Airport Gunman Inspired By Islamic Stat “An Iraq war veteran accused of killing five people at a Florida airport told investigators he was inspired by Islamic State and previously chatted online with Islamist extremists, an FBI agent testified on Tuesday, U.S. media reported. Esteban Santiago, 26, was ordered held in jail until a Jan. 30 arraignment, court records show. At that time he would enter a formal plea to charges that he opened fire in the baggage claim area of the Fort Lauderdale airport on Jan. 6. ‘He has admitted to all of the facts with respect to the terrible and tragic events of Jan. 6,’ Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Del Toro said at the federal court hearing in Fort Lauderdale, NBC 6 South Florida television reported. ‘These were vulnerable victims who he shot down methodically.’” CNN: Pentagon Readies Aggressive ISIS Proposals For Trump “The Defense Department is prepared to provide the new administration with military options to accelerate the war against ISIS in Syria that could send additional US troops into direct combat, CNN has learned. These options would inherently increase the risk for US troops compared to what President Barack Obama was willing to accept. The options will be ready for President-elect Donald Trump to consider as soon as he takes office and would be presented by James Mattis as the new defense secretary and Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They would have the final say on any details being briefed to the new president for his approval.” The Washington Post: Iran Opposes U.S. Participation In Russian-Backed Syria Talks “Iran opposes the participation of the United States in Syrian peace talks backed by Russia that are due to be launched in Kazakhstan next week, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tuesday. His comments contradicted promises from Russia and Turkey and indications from U.S. officials that the newly installed Trump administration would be invited to the talks, scheduled for Jan. 23 in the Kazakhstan capital, Astana. They also pointed to the potential for conflict over at least one of the Middle East’s flashpoints between Tehran and the incoming Trump administration, which has consistently indicated that it plans to adopt a more hawkish posture toward Iran than the Obama administration.” Associated Press: Israeli Army: Palestinian Shot Trying To Stab Soldier “Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian who tried to stab a soldier in the West Bank, the military said Tuesday, as it investigates soldiers' conduct during a violent Palestinian demonstration the day before. The military said in a statement that troops responded to an ‘imminent threat’ on Tuesday when a Palestinian armed with a knife tried to stab a soldier at a crossing in the West Bank. Later, video footage emerged showing forces dragging a wounded Palestinian away from a violent demonstration on Monday with his head bumping the ground several times on the way.” Reuters: Pakistan Forces Kill New Leader Of Banned Sectarian Militant Group “Pakistani counter-terrorism forces killed the new leader of the banned sectarian Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group, along with three more militants, in an operation in the eastern province of Punjab, authorities said on Wednesday. The killings come 18 months after police gunned down longtime Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) leader Malik Ishaq in a separate encounter. Among the four militants killed on Tuesday night was Asif Chotoo, also known by the name Rizwan, who was named LeJ chief after Ishaq's death, authorities said. "He was now heading Lashkar-e-Jhangvi," the Counter Terrorism Department of Punjab said in a statement.” Los Angeles Times: Prosecutor Says Pulse Gunman's Widow Knew About The Attack Before It Happened “The widow of a terrorist who gunned down dozens of people at a Florida nightclub in June stood solemnly before a judge, her hands clasped together in front of her waist. Noor Zahi Salman, 30, had been sleeping Monday morning when FBI agents burst into her mother’s home in Rodeo, a working-class community in Contra Costa County. Appearing in a federal courtroom in Oakland on Tuesday, Salman stood next to a federal public defender and listened to charges that she had known in advance of the attack on the gay nightclub and had lied to federal investigators about it.” The Washington Post: Nigerian Military ‘Mistake’ Kills At Least 50 In Attack On Safe-Haven Town “The Nigerian air force on Tuesday bombed a crowded town full of people who had fled Islamist militants, killing more than 50 in what was described as a mistake by pilots targeting Boko Haram fighters. The bombardment occurred in the town of Rann, near the Cameroon border, one of the places where more than 2 million victims of Boko Haram have sought shelter in recent years as part of one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. More than 100 people were injured, and humanitarian workers who had been helping the roughly 25,000 displaced people in Rann were among the dead, aid officials said.” Reuters: Iraqis Who Escaped Islamic State Grapple With Trauma “While fleeing Islamic State rule in northern Iraq three months ago, Laila saw two of her daughters die in front of her. Crippled by grief and the trauma of that night, she now struggles to walk and hardly eats. Running under the cover of darkness after more than two years under the jihadists' harsh rule in Shirqat town, south of Mosul, Laila's children stepped on a mine. The youngest one died on the spot, covered in blood and partially buried in the dirt. Her 16-year-old daughter had a leg blown off and lost consciousness. Laila tied the girl's leg with her own headscarf, then carried her on her back for several kilometers to the Iraqi army's frontline. ‘I could hear her soul leaving her body, her head on my shoulder,’ she recounted earlier this month at a nearby camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) where she now struggles with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).” Fox News: US Transferring 4 Gitmo Detainees To UAE And Saudi Arabia, Officials Say “The U.S. military will transfer four more detainees out of Guantanamo Bay this week ahead of President Obama’s final day in office, two U.S. officials with knowledge of the transfers tell Fox News. Three detainees will be sent to the United Arab Emirates, and one will be sent to Saudi Arabia, on two separate military flights, the officials said. After the transfers are complete, 41 detainees will remain at the detention camp. It is not immediately known if any more transfers will take place before Obama leaves office Friday, though it is clear the outgoing president will not achieve his 2008 campaign goal of shuttering the camp. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to end detainee transfers from Gitmo after taking office.” The Wall Street Journal: German Court Decides Against Ban Of Neo-Nazi Party “Germany’s top court Tuesday rejected a bid to ban the extreme-right National Democratic Party, arguing that while the party resembles Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party, it poses no serious threat to German democracy. The ruling comes after the German parliament’s upper house had filed a plea to ban the party in 2013, arguing that the NPD, the party’s acronym in German, espouses neo-Nazi views in violation of Germany’s constitution. The NPD itself argued that a ban would be incompatible with democracy. Germany’s constitutional court said that the NPD is itself an anti-democratic party.” United States The Hill: US Increasing Military Support For Turkey In Syria “The U.S. has conducted four airstrikes near Al-Bab, Syria, in support of a Turkish offensive against ISIS, a military official said Tuesday.  ‘These strikes eliminated Daesh's capabilities around the forward line of enemy troops near the city,’ Air Force Col. John Dorrian told reporters Tuesday, using a derogatory Arabic term for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.  The airstrikes highlight growing U.S. cooperation with Turkey in the war against ISIS, under pressure from Turkey. It also highlights the balancing act that the U.S. is playing in Syria. U.S. forces in Syria are partnered against ISIS with the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is mostly comprised of Syrian Kurdish fighters who Turkey considers terrorists but are the U.S.'s most effective fighting partner on the ground against ISIS.” Reuters: U.S. Carries Out Strikes Near Syria's Al-Bab After Turkish Criticism “The U.S. military said on Tuesday it carried out air strikes in Syria against Islamic State targets of interest to both Washington and Ankara near the town of al-Bab, following Turkish criticism of insufficient U.S. support for its ground offensive. U.S. Air Force Colonel John Dorrian, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led military coalition battling Islamic State, counted four strikes in recent days against Islamic State targets that he said were in both countries' ‘mutual interest.’ ‘We saw a window of opportunity where it was in our mutual interest to get those targets destroyed,’ Dorrian said, adding the targets were identified by working with Turkey. They included an armored personnel carrier and Islamic State tactical units, he said.” The Washington Post: Brother Of Islamic State Fighter Testifies At Terror Trial “The brother of a New Yorker who joined the Islamic State group and died testified Tuesday at the terrorism trial of an Arizona man, saying he lied to his parents and the FBI in the days after his brother left for Syria, where he was eventually killed. Tarek el-Goarany, 24, told a Manhattan federal court jury that he and a cousin were the only family members to know when his brother, Samy, flew to Jordan in late January 2015 so he could enter Syria and join the Islamic State. ‘I was scared of the outcome of what would happen to my family and myself if the FBI knew that I knew Samy was planning to join the Islamic State,’ he said.” The Washington Post: ‘We Have To End It’: Trump Takes Over Islamic State Fight, Vowing To Finish It “As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, the Islamic State is on the defensive in three countries and has been all but wiped out in another. Two and a half years after the extremists rolled across northern Iraq, Pentagon and diplomatic officials say a military victory, at least in their major strongholds, is within sight. But tens of thousands of fighters remain, and the militants are showing signs of reinventing themselves as a dispersed terrorist movement — a threat that the incoming commander in chief says has been given too much time to grow.” Syria Haaretz: Russia Invites Trump Team To Syria Talks Amid Anticipated Warming Of Relations “Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has invited Donald Trump's administration to participate in Syria peace talks next week to kick off an expected detente with the United States. He also downplayed recent comments by Trump and his pick for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, that hinted at a tougher line on Russia once the new president takes power. Lavrov said it would be ‘right to invite’ Trump's team to the talks that Russia is organizing with Turkey and Iran on January 23 in Astana, Kazakhstan. ‘We expect the new administration to accept this invitation and send representatives,’ he said. ‘This will be the first official contact, during which we can start talking about raising the efficacy of the fight against terrorism.’” Iraq Voice Of America: Kirkuk Archbishop: Aid For Iraq Best Targeted At Home “A high-profile Iraqi cleric says the best way to help his countrymen is at home, rather than pouring money into refugee programs overseas. Kirkuk's Archbishop Yousif Mirkis, who is visiting France, called Tuesday for an initiative for Iraq similar to the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after World War II. He said the the effort and money Western countries spend in taking in refugees would be more wisely targeted in Iraq, channeled into private projects such as building hospitals. The Chaldean Catholic archbishop is visiting France to spread awareness about the situation in his homeland and to raise funds for an interfaith educational project targeting young Iraqis that he has set up in Kirkuk.” Radio Free Europe: Capturing Mosul Solidified Islamic State. Losing It Could Break It. “The dawn of the new year has unsurprisingly witnessed global media turn toward the incoming U.S. administration with an intensity bordering on the obsessive. Cabinet confirmations, Russia's alleged hacking activities, and intelligence agency squabbles now dominate international headlines. Meanwhile, events of arguably equal or greater importance are sacrificed in favor of the story of the day. Nowhere is this failing clearer than with the lack of recent coverage of the ongoing campaign to drive the extremist group Islamic State (IS) from one of its last remaining urban strongholds: Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul. The battle for Mosul is as much symbolic as it is strategic. The city stands at the center of IS's emergence as a global force of terror.” Reuters: Iraqi Artist Recreates Ancient Works Destroyed By Islamic State “As Iraqi forces fight to retake the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State, an artist in nearby Erbil is chiseling at clay in a tiny, unheated studio to recreate historic Assyrian monuments destroyed by the group. Ninos Thabet, an 18-year-old Christian who studied art at Mosul University, is creating miniature replicas of statues the jihadists destroyed when they overran the 3,000-year-old Assyrian city of Nimrud, south of Mosul, 2-1/2 years ago. Once the capital of an empire stretching across the ancient Middle East, Nimrud is one of several historic sites that Islamic State looted and ransacked when they seized large swathes of Iraq and neighbouring Syria in 2014. The statues included winged bulls with human faces, known as lamassu, and a bronze head of King Sargon of Akkad.” Reuters: Iraqi Forces Push Islamic State Further Back In Mosul: Military “Iraqi special forces pushed deeper into Islamic State-held districts in eastern Mosul and army units fought the insurgents inside a military base in the city's north, officials said during the day on Tuesday. On Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the military had begun ‘movement’ against Islamic State in the west of Mosul without specifying what action was being taken there. Three months after the start of the U.S.-backed campaign, Islamic State has been driven out of about three quarters of the eastern districts of its Iraqi stronghold, ceding large areas along the Tigris River, which bisects Mosul from north to south. Renewed military progress has been made in the last two weeks, thanks to improved tactics and coordination between different military units, U.S. and Iraqi military officials say.” Turkey Deutsche Welle: Turkey Seeking Up To 142 Years In Jail For Co-Head Of Pro-Kurdish Opposition Party “Prosecutors in Turkey are seeking a prison sentence of up to 142 years for Selahattin Demirtas, the co-leader of the third-largest party in parliament, reported the state-run Anadolu news agency on Tuesday. Demirtas' co-leader, Figen Yuksekdag, faces up to 83 years behind bars, according to the indictment which was also viewed by Reuters news agency. The two are also charged with inciting violence and spreading propaganda in support of a terrorist organization. Demirtas and Yuksekdag were arrested last November and are already in jail along with nine other members of parliament from the HDP as part of a terrorism investigation. The arrests drew international condemnation over what rights groups view as a growing crackdown on dissent under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.” The New York Times: Veteran Times Reporter Denied Entry To Turkey “Border officials in Turkey detained a veteran New York Times correspondent as he arrived at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Tuesday, then forced him to take a flight back to London without explaining why he had been refused entry to the country. The action against the correspondent, Rod Nordland, who has reported from more than 150 countries, including from Turkey last month, appeared to be part of a broader government crackdown against the domestic and foreign news media. There was no immediate explanation from Turkish officials about the action taken against Mr. Nordland.” Yemen Associated Press: $2 Billion In Aid Sought For Hardest-Hit In Yemen Civil War “About $2 billion in urgent aid is needed this year to alleviate the suffering of the most vulnerable victims of Yemen's civil war, or about 10 million of the country's 27 million people, the resident U.N. humanitarian chief said Tuesday. The Arab world's poorest country has been in the grip of a civil war since 2014, when Shiite Houthi rebels and allied forces swept down from the north and captured the capital, Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition has been helping government forces battle the rebels for nearly two years. ‘Yemen faces a dramatically bad future’ without the needed aid, Jamie McGoldrick, head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen, told The Associated Press.” Egypt Reuters: Egypt Adds Retired Soccer Star To Terror List “Egypt has added retired soccer star Mohamed Aboutrika, one of the country's most renowned athletes, to a terror list for alleged ties to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, his lawyer told Reuters on Tuesday. Egypt has listed the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization and jailed thousands of its supporters since the military removed Islamist president Mohamed Mursi from office in July 2013 following mass protests against his rule. A committee established to seize and manage Brotherhood properties and funds had previously frozen the former player's assets. Aboutrika has denied supporting the Brotherhood, which maintains that it is peaceful, but was seen as supporting the former president's election campaign in 2012.” Middle East The Times Of Israel: Police Say Officers Thwarted Jerusalem Stabbing Attack “Israel Police said Tuesday they had foiled a stabbing attack in Jerusalem planned by a West Bank resident a day earlier. They said the suspect, who was in Israel illegally, was intercepted before he reached his target, security forces at the Damascus Gate of the Old City in Jerusalem. Border Police officers routinely stopped and combed a bus from an East Jerusalem transport company as it traveled through the A-Tur neighborhood, police said. They became suspicious of a Palestinian passenger, and discovered that he was a 19-year-old resident of the West Bank who did not have a permit to be inside Israel.” Libya Reuters: Russia Turns To Libya With Show Of Support For Eastern Commander “A visit to a Russian aircraft carrier by Libya's Khalifa Haftar has given the eastern–based commander a symbolic boost while also signaling Moscow's interest in a greater role in the region following its intervention in Syria. Haftar is a figurehead for east Libyan factions who harbors national ambitions, and his renewed engagement with Russia comes at a time when the U.N.-supported government in Tripoli that he has shunned is once more in crisis. Russian support could embolden Haftar in making a play for power in Tripoli, a move likely to fuel conflict and represent a major setback for genuine unity government in Libya. Western states say the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) provides the best chance of reversing Libya's slide into anarchy and warfare.” The New York Times: Libyan’s Rendition Case Against Britain Can Proceed, Court Rules “A Libyan dissident who claims he was abducted and tortured by American and British intelligence agents can sue the British government and a former foreign secretary over his rendition, Britain’s Supreme Court said on Tuesday. The court’s decision overturned a High Court ruling that said the dissident, Abdel Hakim Belhaj, could not seek damages from the government, the spy agencies MI5 and MI6, or Jack Straw, the former foreign secretary. That court said Mr. Belhaj did not have standing to sue because the case involved other countries and could damage Britain’s relations with the United States. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court said it ‘unanimously dismisses the government’s appeals,’ and that Mr. Belhaj’s case could go to trial.” United Kingdom The Guardian: UK Counter-Terror Laws Most Orwellian In Europe, Says Amnesty “The UK is leading a Europe-wide ‘race to the bottom’ with Orwellian counter-terrorism measures that seriously threaten human rights, according to a comparative survey of security laws by Amnesty International. A 70-page report, entitled Dangerously disproportionate: The ever-expanding national security state in Europe, alleges that Britain has introduced powers in the name of national security that are ‘among the most draconian in the EU’. In more than half the areas of concern highlighted by the report, the UK is judged to be at one end of the spectrum in relation to regulations on ‘mass surveillance’, use of ‘diplomatic assurances’ to deport people where there is a risk of torture, stripping people of their nationality, controlling their movement and detaining without charge or sufficient legal process.” Germany Sputnik News: Merkel Stands Firm On Terrorism, Migrants In Face Of Trump Attack “German Chancellor Angela Merkel - already under pressure at home over terrorism and her ‘open doors’ refugee policy - has hit back at remarks by US President-elect Donald Trump, who criticized her migrant policy as a ‘catastrophic mistake.’ The issue of migrants was already a political hot potato for Merkel who drew plaudits for initially offering refuge to those fleeing warzones, but who is now under pressure to show leadership in the face of terrorism and uncontrolled migration. Merkel came under pressure over the migrant crisis from within her own coalition party (CDU/CSU) for refusing to put a cap in the number of refugees Germany will take in. The original influx in 2015 caused chaos, with many German states — particularly Bavaria — struggling to cope with the asylum applications.” Europe Deutsche Welle: European Counter-Terrorism Legislation 'Dangerously Disproportionate,' Amnesty Reports “The human rights organization Amnesty International released a report Tuesday morning detailing the ‘draconian powers’ many European nations have put in place as part of their efforts to combat terrorism.  Entitled ‘Dangerously disproportionate: the ever-expanding national security state in Europe,’ the 70-page report argued that a security state is becoming ‘the new normal’ across the 14 EU members states examined. In a statement accompanying the report's release, John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's Europe Director, warned that counter-terrorism efforts are undermining Europe's post-World War II consensus on human rights.” Tunisia BBC: Tunisia Attack: No Armed Guards At Hotel Where 38 Killed “Four unarmed guards manned the Tunisian hotel where 30 Britons were killed in 2015 despite the resort being a known terror risk, an inquest has heard. Former manager Mehrez Saadi told the inquests into the British deaths that gardeners had briefly doubled as security guards the previous year. Islamist gunman Seifeddine Rezgui killed 38 people in total at the five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba, near Sousse. The attack was the deadliest on Britons since the 7 July 2005 London bombings. UK officials had also been told of security concerns in Sousse six months before the attack in June 2015, but decided against discouraging all travel to Tunisia, the inquests heard.” Combating the Financing of Terrorism Bwabtk: Egypt: Need To Differentiate Between Financing Terrorism And {Legitimate} Funding Of Ngos “Major General Essam Badawi, Governor of Minya in Egypt, stressed the need to dry up the financial sources of terrorism and violence. However, he added, "We must differentiate between financing terrorists and {legitimate} NGOs which receive funding for developing activities that serve the common good of society. We must also confront those who offer a safe haven to terrorists."  According to Badawi, certain countries are harboring terrorists and even supporting terrorism. Therefore, there must be an international definition of terrorism which takes into account the views of different legal systems regarding the classification of terrorism.” ISIS Albawabh News: ISIS Cuts Off Electricity To The City Of Deir Ez-Zor “An informed source disclosed that ISIS is now permitting residents to depart the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor and its suburbs, under certain conditions. ISIS's security committee, or the so-called Diwan al Hijrah (Immigration Office), allows people to travel to the cities of Tartus, Damascus, Homs and Latakia, while barring them from traveling to Idlib, Aleppo and Hasaka, as well as to Turkey. Abu Saleh al-Awad, an activist of Deir ez-Zor's rural areas, pointed out that "ISIS militants persist in monopolizing the oil supply and cutting off electricity to the city of Deir ez-Zor. Thus, water plants work only one or two hours per day. This is part of their policy to lay siege on the local population. They also impose hefty taxes on shopkeepers.” Muslim Brotherhood Gulf365: Turkey Considers Imposing Restrictions On The Movement Of Muslim Brotherhood Funds In Its Territory “Informed sources revealed that security forces in Ankara have prepared a list of Muslim Brotherhood members residing in its territory. This is ahead of the deportation of some of them out of Turkey in the near future. This is part of the Turkish government's desire to deepen its relationship with Russia as well as with the new US administration. The sources disclosed that Turkish authorities have been examining the possibility of imposing restrictions on the movement within its territory of funds belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, due to fears of being subjected to sanctions expected to be imposed by the new US administration.” Misrday: Five Muslim Brotherhood-Affiliated Societies Dissolved In Egypt's Port Said “The Social Solidarity Directorate of Port Said province announced, on Monday, the dissolution of five Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated societies alongside 30 other associations. Dr. Sawsan Hubaish, Director General of Port Said Social Solidarity Directorate, said in a press statement that the dissolution is attributable to several different reasons, including the failure to provide the Directorate with annual budgets and bank account records. Another reason was the failure of these societies to convene their general assembly in the past two years. Another was that the societies have not engaged in any {real} activities for prolonged periods of time.” Elwatan News: Egyptian Minister Of Education: "We Will Move Teachers Of Muslim Brotherhood Schools To Administrative Jobs" “Egypt's Minister of Education, Dr. El Helali el Sherbini, vowed to move to administrative jobs any teacher, principal, or school employee proved to be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. He noted that any tip to the Ministry about such employees will be forwarded to the relevant security authorities to authenticate the information. If the employee is indeed proven to be a member {of the Brotherhood} he will be transferred to an administrative post at the Ministry to keep him away from students and parents.”