Eye on Extremism January 26, 2017

Eye on Extremism January 26, 2017 Reuters: Jihadists Crush Syria Rebel Group, In A Blow To Diplomacy “A powerful jihadist group has crushed a Free Syrian Army rebel faction in northwestern Syria, in an attack that threatens to deal a critical blow to the more moderate wing of the Syrian rebellion and derail new Russian-backed peace talks. The Jabhat Fateh al-Sham jihadist group, formerly known as the Nusra Front, launched an attack on a number of FSA groups in northwestern Syria on Tuesday, accusing them of conspiring against it at peace talks in Kazakhstan this week. The fighting has engulfed the rebels' last major territorial stronghold in northwestern Syria, prompting a major Islamist insurgent faction to warn on Wednesday that it could allow President Bashar al-Assad and his allies to capture the area.” Fox News: ISIS Fight Stays The Course For Now Under Trump, Army General Says “Since President Trump became commander-in-chief, ‘our mission has not changed’ in the battle against the Islamic State terror group, a senior U.S. Army general told reporters Wednesday from Baghdad. Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin, commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division, said he has not received any change to his orders in prosecuting the ISIS war in Iraq and Syria. When asked if the military could do more to stop the terrorists, he responded, ‘Our role is where it needs to be right now.’” Reuters: Rowboats And Missiles In War Of Attrition On Iraq Front Line “Iraqi rapid response forces take up positions on the roof of a house as their Islamic State enemies plot their next move along the front line between east and west Mosul. Sometimes the militants row small boats across the Tigris River at night to stage surprise attacks, or they fire mortar bombs that can rattle whole neighborhoods. Jihadist snipers are a constant threat, dug in along a tree line about 600 meters away. Both sides are waging a war of attrition as government forces, who have retaken most of east Mosul over the past three months, prepare to push into the west of the city. Two nights ago, Iraqi forces got lucky. With night-vision binoculars, they spotted 20 militants who had crossed the river in wooden boats and begun crawling across a field toward a small military camp.” Voice Of America: Eastern Mosul In Ruins As Islamic State Militants Retreat “After more than 100 days of fighting, much of eastern Mosul is in ruins after Iraqi forces took over the last Islamic State stronghold Tuesday on the eastern side of the Tigris River. Residents say they are relieved the fighting in their neighborhoods has ended and the militant group is gone. The violence and isolation of the past two and a half years, however, has shrouded the city in heartbreak and fear. Everyone VOA speaks with has lost loved ones to Islamic State, and many people say they have relatives that are trapped in western Mosul, which is running out of food, water and electricity. Militants also are becoming increasingly violent in their treatment of civilians as Iraqi forces close in.” Reuters: Islamic State Extending Attacks Beyond Sinai To Egyptian Heartland “Coupled with the group's highest profile attack outside Sinai, the bombing of Cairo's Coptic Christian cathedral in December which killed 28, the online campaign shows that the group has extended operations to the rest of Egypt, a key U.S. ally seen as a bulwark against Islamist militancy in the region. In turning its sights on targets outside Sinai, Islamic State puts more pressure on the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, presents new challenges for security services and threatens a potentially heavy blow to tourism, a cornerstone of the country's already battered economy. Islamic State claimed responsibility for seven attacks in Cairo last year, after mounting four in 2015.” Haaretz: Assailant Fires On Israeli Soldiers In West Bank In Second Suspected Attack In Hours “Israeli soldiers were fired on in an apparent terror attack Wednesday near the village of Abud in the West Bank, according to the IDF spokesperson. Israeli troops returned fire, injuring the assailant who the IDF said was cared for at the scene. A ‘Carlo’ rifle was found in the assailant's vehicle. No Israelis were hurt in the attack. Another suspected terror attack occurred in the West Bank just hours earlier, the Israeli army said Wednsday. According to the army, a Palestinian ran his car into the bus station outside the Kohav Yaakov settlement in the West Bank, near the Michmash crossing, and was then shot.” New York Times: Islamic State Pushing For Asian Links, Expansion, Philippines Says “The Philippines has received intelligence that shows closer links between domestic militants and Islamic State, its defense minister said on Thursday, adding weight to worries that Middle East extremists are building a network in Southeast Asia. Intelligence from allies showed a leader of the Abu Sayyaf militant group, which has gained notoriety for piracy and kidnapping in the southern Philippines, was trying to spread into new areas of the Philippines upon the instruction of Islamic State, according to Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.” The Times Of Israel: Germany Busts Alleged Far-Right Plot To Attack Jews, Refugees “German authorities on Wednesday carried out dawn raids against far-right suspects accused of plotting attacks on Jews, refugees and police, federal prosecutors said. Police swooped on 12 homes and other sites in six states ‘as part of a federal investigation on suspicion of forming a right-wing extremist organization,’ the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Six suspects, ‘connected primarily via social media,’ are accused of founding the group ‘and in early 2016 beginning plans for armed attacks against police officers as representatives of the state, asylum seekers and members of the Jewish community.’” Al Arabiya: Saudi Arabia Shuts Down Six Explosives Factories In 28 Months “Saudi Arabia has confirmed that six explosives factories were found and destroyed after multiple operations were conducted in the past 28 months. Saudi Arabia Interior Ministry General Bassam Attiyah confirmed the news on Tuesday when further details were revealed on the operations that killed two ISIS extremists in Jeddah last week. When asked about the improvement of Mohamed Bin Nayef Center for Counseling and Care, General Attiyah said that all the experience and expertise are the result of the establishment of this center, pointing out that counseling has nothing to do with extremist attacks or the reoccurrence of terror activities after the counseling period.” PRI: How An Iraqi Christian Teenager Survived Two Years In The Heart Of The ISIS 'Caliphate' “Ismail al-Kanon had been held captive for more than a year, and threatened with execution more times than he cared to remember. But this time was different. The people who held him, ISIS fighters, found in his possession a picture of Jesus and two small crosses. They took the items away, burned them, and told him he would be beheaded if they found any more. Ismail could tell they were serious this time. So he took his last cross — the only one they hadn’t found — and hid it very carefully in the back of a cable receiver box. “When I left it there, I told myself the cross is not just around the neck, it’s in the heart,” Ismail, 16, says.” Newsweek: Nigeria’s Misfired Airstrikes Risk Losing Civilian Trust In Battle Against Boko Haram “It was around noon on January 17 when the Nigerian Air Force dropped two bombs on the remote settlement of Rann, close to the border with Cameroon and an area hotly contested by the military and Boko Haram, the Islamist militant group. Alfred Davies, an aid worker for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), tells Newsweek that he and his colleagues were distributing items—including soap and sleeping mats—to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the settlement in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state. They were also testing mothers and infants for malnutrition and vaccinating children against measles in the isolated town.” Daily Mail: How A Discarded Laptop Proves Terror Network Behind Brussels And Paris Attacks Had Links With ISIS In Syria “A laptop discarded by the terror network behind the Brussels and Paris attacks revealed how they had links with top ISIS commanders in Syria - and were planning another attack. The computer was found two hours after a team of ISIS suicide bombers murdered 32 people at Brussels Airport and on the city's Metro system on March 22 last year. Files painstakingly retrieved from the laptop, belonging to one of the airport suicide bombers, Najim Laachraoui, show how the unit had been in contact with bomb-making experts in Syria.” Marine Times: Meet ISIS's Worst Nightmare: A Marine Who Grew Up In Iraq “Militants forced him to flee Iraq as a teenager, but now the Marine Corps has allowed him to return as an avenging angel. “America is my home, but Iraq is my homeland,” Cpl. Ali J. Mohammed said in a Marine Corps news story. “My biggest motivation right now is to help drive these extremist groups out of my homeland, and being able to do that as a United States Marine is the most rewarding thing I could have asked for.”  Mohammed, 23, is serving as a translator with a team of U.S. troops that is helping Iraqi security forces expel the Islamic State terror group from Iraqi soil, the story says. He grew up in Baghdad and speaks a unique dialect of Arabic.” United States Associated Press: Feds Say Arizona Man Guided College Student Toward Terror “A prosecutor told jurors Tuesday that the proof was overwhelming that an Arizona man helped a New York college student join the Islamic State group, while a defense lawyer blamed the student alone for engineering the journey that ended in his death in Syria. During closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Negar Tekeei directed jurors to online communications between defendant Ahmed Mohammed el-Gammal, a 44-year-old Phoenix-area man, and Samy el-Goarany, the 24-year-old who was attending a Manhattan school when he went to Syria.” Reuters: Trump Says He Will Order 'Safe Zones' For Syria “U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he ‘will absolutely do safe zones in Syria’ for refugees fleeing violence in the war-torn country. Saying Europe had made a tremendous mistake by admitting millions of refugees from Syria and other Middle Eastern trouble spots, Trump told ABC News in an interview: ‘I don't want that to happen here.’ ‘I'll absolutely do safe zones in Syria for the people,’ he added, without giving details. According to a document seen by Reuters on Wednesday, Trump is expected to order the Pentagon and the State Department in coming days to craft a plan for setting up the ‘safe zones,’ a move that could risk escalation of U.S. military involvement in Syria’s civil war.” Newsweek: Why Trump Won’t Move The U.S. Embassy In Israel To Jerusalem—At Least For Now “On the south side of Jerusalem, an open field that once served as a British military encampment has stood unoccupied for more than two decades. In the spring, Arab shepherds often graze their sheep on the low scrub grass. In 1995, the Israeli government set aside the nearly eight acres of land for the new U.S. Embassy after Congress passed a law requiring the U.S. to move it from Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital. Ever since, however, every American president—both Republican and Democrat—has invoked a waiver that postpones the move, sobered by the impact it would have on the Middle East and U.S. national security. After less than a week in office, President Donald Trump, who promised repeatedly on the campaign trail to break from his predecessors and move the embassy, is now backing away from that pledge.” The Daily Caller: Trump Appears Open To His Own Surge In Afghanistan “President Donald Trump reportedly told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani he would consider sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan in a December phone call, The Wall Street Journal reports. Afghanistan’s security and political situation is increasingly deteriorating. After former President Barack Obama ended the U.S. combat mission in 2014, the Taliban made unprecedented gains across the country. The Afghan Security Forces the U.S. is supposed to be supporting in the fight against the Taliban are monumentally corrupt, and losing thousands of soldiers per month.”                             Syria Reuters: Kremlin Hails Syria Talks In Astana As A Success, Says More Possible “The Kremlin on Wednesday hailed Syria peace talks held in Kazakhstan as a success and said more might be held in future if there was a need. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters he thought the talks might help give impetus to troubled U.N.-brokered negotiations in Geneva.” Reuters: Syrian Army, Allies Push Back Islamic State Near Aleppo: Monitoring Group “Syrian government forces and their allies drove Islamic State militants out of several villages northeast of Aleppo between Tuesday and Wednesday, a monitoring group said, bringing them closer to territory held by Turkish-backed rebels. Advances in the last week have brought the Syrian army to within 8 km (5 miles) of the Islamic State-held town of al-Bab, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Al-Bab, which the Turkish-backed insurgents are separately fighting to seize from the jihadist group, lies some 30 km northeast of Aleppo and 30 km south of the Turkish border.” Turkey Reuters: Turkey To Announce Date Of Constitutional Referendum This Week: PM Yildirim “Turkey's high electoral board is expected to announce the date this week of a referendum on constitutional changes that would extend the powers of the presidency, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Wednesday. The referendum is likely to be held sometime between April 1 and April 20, Yildirim told a meeting of officials from the ruling AK Party. ‘I believe the president will approve it this week and a concrete date will be set,’ he said.” ABC News: Islamic State: Family Deported From Turkey After Father Allegedly Tries To Join Terror Group “An eight-year-old boy born in Australia has been deported from Turkey along with his family after his Indonesian father allegedly attempted to join the Islamic State group. The family is being held in Jakarta by counter-terror officers there, Bali police deputy chief commissioner Hengky Widjaya said. Indonesian authorities said the boy was born in South Australia in 2009 while his father was studying for a Masters degree at university there. Police said the couple travelled to Turkey via Malaysia with their three children because the 39-year-old father, who has been named as Triono, wanted to be an IS fighter." Afghanistan The Times Of Israel: Taliban Tells Trump: It’s Time To Leave Afghanistan “In a long, rambling letter, the spokesman for the Taliban told US President Donald Trump that it’s time to leave Afghanistan. The letter, emailed to journalists Wednesday, was written on behalf of the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s spokesman, warned Trump that peace will be elusive as long as foreign troops are on Afghan soil. He added that independence from foreign dominance is ‘the only asset’ that an impoverished nation like Afghanistan truly has.” Saudi Arabia CNN: Saudi Arabia Warns Of New Crippling Cyberattack “Five years ago Saudi Arabia suffered the world's biggest cyberattack. Now it's on red alert for a repeat. A cybersecurity agency affiliated with the Saudi government issued an urgent warning after an attack earlier this week. ‘Following a recent cyberattack which targeted several national organizations, this is an urgent call for your cybersecurity team to be on the alert for Shamoon 2 and ransomware attacks that could possibly cripple your organization's systems,’ it said late on Tuesday. The Shamoon virus operates like a time bomb. It was used in the huge cyberattack in 2012 on Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil company.” Middle East The Times Of Israel: Hamas Court In Gaza Convicts Members Of Abbas’s Fatah Movement “A court in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Wednesday sentenced eight members of the rival Fatah faction to lengthy jail terms for undermining ‘revolutionary unity,’ the interior ministry said. Fatah, which is headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, was largely ejected from Gaza in 2007, when Hamas seized power in a bloody coup. Fatah controls the West Bank, where Abbas is based. The convicted men were found to have collected ‘security information’ against Hamas, including on the ‘structure and movements’ of its militants, in cases dating back to 2014, the ministry said in a statement.” The Jerusalem Post: Bill To Compensate Israeli Victims Of Terrorism Abroad Advances “The Knesset on Wednesday passed in preliminary reading an amendment to the Benefits for Victims of Hostilities Law (5730 – 1970) that would allow Israelis who were wounded or died in a terrorist attack abroad to be recognized by the state and be entitled to compensation. The legislation that was initiated by MK Haim Jelin (Yesh Atid) and coalition chairman David Bitan (Likud) passed 39-0. Under the bill, a committee would be established to examine the cases of Israelis who were wounded or killed in terrorist attacks abroad and recognize them as victims, even if the attack was not aimed specifically against Israeli citizens or the Jewish people. Currently, an attack is only recognized under the Benefits for Victims of Hostilities Law if it is aimed against Israel, if its secondary aim is against Israel or if it is aimed against the Jewish people.” The Washington Post: Family Begs For Help To Free Israeli Jew Who Volunteered To Fight ISIS “An Israeli Jew who traveled to an Arab country and volunteered in the fight against the Islamic State is in danger of being executed after being charged with murdering a man there. Now the family of Ben Hassin, 21, is trying to raise $120,000 toward reaching a ‘sulha’ or peacemaking deal, with the family of the man killed, a crime they say was committed in self-defense after it was revealed that Hassin was Israeli and Jewish. Hassin, who is also a Canadian citizen, initially went to the country to visit his grandparents who live there. While there, he decided to join local fighters in their battle against the Islamic State, said his father, Ilan.” Libya Associated Press: Libyan East-Based Army Routs Militants From Part Of Benghazi “A Libyan military spokesman says troops have routed Islamic militants from a key area they controlled in the eastern city of Benghazi. The official speaks for the armed forces that answer to the internationally recognized parliament based in eastern Libya. Ali al-Mosmari says troops swept into the militants' stronghold in the city's western district of Ganfouda on Wednesday, after months of laying a tight siege on the area. He says dozens of civilians trapped by the fighting were liberated. The two-year campaign to push militants out of Benghazi is led by Khalifa Hifter, who is not recognized by Libya's U.N.-backed government in the capital, Tripoli.” United Kingdom BBC: Swansea Man Charged With Terrorism Offences “A man from Swansea has been charged with terrorism offences. Lee Edward Griffiths is facing five charges of collecting information which may be useful to someone who commits or prepares acts of terrorism. The 26-year-old will appear before Westminster Magistrates Court on Thursday. ‘Wales is still one of the safest places to live, work, and enjoy,’ said Supt Lee Porter, head of Wales' extremism counter terrorism unit. ‘The public should be reassured that we will continue to work with all partners to keep our communities safe.’ Mr Griffiths was arrested by officers from Wales Extremism Counter Terrorism Unit (WECTU) and West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit (WMCTU) on 19 January.” Politico: UK To Push For Ways To Redefine EU Surveillance Ruling “British Home Secretary Amber Rudd will seek help from European interior ministers in finding ways around a European Court of Justice ruling that declared British surveillance laws to be illegal, the Financial Times reported Wednesday. A limit on U.K. policing and intelligence powers would undermine the Continent’s efforts to curtail cross-border crime, particularly terrorism, Rudd is expected to tell her European colleagues at a Justice and Home Affairs meeting on Thursday. The legal challenge was originally made by two British MPs, Labour’s Tom Watson and Conservative David Davis, now Britain’s Brexit secretary, who argued that the legislation posed a threat to civil liberties.” Europe The Guardian: Migration: EU Rejects Proposals For Turkey-Style Deal For Libya “The European commission has rejected proposals to offer Libya a deal similar to the EU’s agreement with Turkey on migration, revealing divisions over how to respond to the record death toll in the central Mediterranean. The EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, outlined her opposition to the suggestions as she set out plans to boost EU training for the Libyan coastguard, arguing that the situations were ‘completely different’. The commission’s stance is a setback for the Maltese prime minister, Joseph Muscat, whose island state took over the rotating presidency of the EU on 1 January, with the goal of healing Europe’s divisions on migration.” Associated Press: Spain: Court Orders Release Of 2 Held For Praising Terror “A Spanish judge has ordered the release of two people arrested last month on suspicion of exalting Islamic extremism, saying evidence against them appeared to have been planted by a police informer. National Court magistrate Santiago Pedraz ordered the two Spaniards released without charges, concluding there was no evidence that they had anything to do with jihad activity. He cited police reports that said an informer described as troublesome may have set up both the police and the detainees by planting false evidence.” Reuters: Belgium Holds Seven In Hunt For Returning Syria Militants “Security officers detained seven people in Brussels on Wednesday as part of an investigation into whether militants were returning from Syria, prosecutors said. The people were held for questioning after police searched houses in about eight locations around the Belgian capital, authorities said. No explosives or weapons were found, they added. ‘The investigation relates to the issue of possible returning Syria fighters,’ federal prosecutors said in a statement. A judge would decide whether to keep them detained over the course of the day, prosecutors added, without giving further details. Europeans fighting alongside jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq have become a major source of concern for European authorities.” Financing of Terrorism Copts United: Terror Economy Represents Nearly 10 Percent Of World Trade “The Egyptian Dar al-Ifta's Takfiri Fatwa Observatory published a report entitled "The Economy of Terrorism...The Secret of Life." In it the Observatory claimed that the terror economy accounts for nearly 10 percent of global trade. It stressed that ISIS is not the only beneficiary of this economy; so are other militant and extremist groups that uphold the Jihadi approach. In addition to terror groups, businessmen and companies around the world are also benefiting from the funds generated by this economy. The Dar al-Ifta's Observatory explained that the terror economy guarantees the lifeline and survival of ISIS and similar extremist groups. The report also stressed that this economy is not random, as some believe.” Egypt 24: Algeria Reviews Its Experience In Criminalizing Ransom-Paying To Terrorists “The Mediterranean Forum Countries (also called 5+5 Dialogue) formed a committee to follow up "imbalances" in banking systems and observe suspicious financial operations of terrorist groups in the region, especially ISIS. During its recent meeting held in Paris, Algeria presented its {own} experience with legislation that criminalizes paying ransom to terrorists. It also highlighted international efforts in this aspect in which it is involved with the United Nations. Algeria stressed the need to further develop coordination and exchange of information to monitor terror-financing operations. In their meeting earlier this week, the finance ministers of the 5 + 5 Dialogue urged FATF and regional organizations to find solutions to rectify the imbalances within the financial system, as part of the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.” Muslim Brotherhood Dakahliya News Agency: Waste Of State Funds Caused By Muslim Brotherhood Real Estate 'Mafia' In Egypt's Dakahlia “A probe carried out by Colonel Saeed Shaeer, from Egypt's Public Funds Investigation Department in Dakahlia, indicates that millions of pounds belonging to the state treasury were squandered. Shaeer claimed that this is the fault of several employees in the case known publicly as 'Muslim Brotherhood real-estate mafia.' Investigations verified the complaint submitted by Attorney Khaled Elbery with regard to irregularities linked to the Muslim Brotherhood towers, a venture which caused the state to lose millions of pounds without any action being taken by the mayor. According to investigations, tax officials failed to seize these towers and tax them. Investigations found that some Brotherhood-affiliated employees were part of the conspiracy which ended in the waste of state funds.” Dostor: Egypt Investigating Flow Of Funds From Muslim Brotherhood Schools And Hospitals To 'Qualitative Committees' “Judicial sources revealed that prosecutors are investigating complaints against several Brotherhood members suspected of manipulating the revenues and expenditures of seized schools and hospitals. The sources noted that the Brotherhood Asset Freeze Committee had filed complaints to the Public Prosecutor against 120 Muslim Brotherhood suspects. They are accused, in case No. 12086, of falsifying financial statements of the seized schools in Alexandria, Fayoum and other provinces. They are also suspected of transferring funds to the group's 'qualitative' cells to support terrorist operations against state institutions.” Houthi Elnada: Houthis Loot Relief Shipments “Houthi militants looted a relief shipment provided by the World Food Program (WFP) for victims of the war in the Central Yemeni Governorate of Al Bayda. According to local sources, on Monday the Houthi gunmen stopped three trucks loaded with relief assistance, enroute to the war-afflicted people in Al Bayda provinces of the Dhi Na'im District. They hijacked the shipment and moved its contents to one of their warehouses. A relief-organization source claimed that the shipment, containing essential food items provided by the United Nations' WFP, was designated for distribution to 2800 families afflicted by the war.”