THE TERRORISM NEWSLETTER
Domestic
Terrorism
July 16, 2019
A three-count indictment unsealed July 16, 2019,
charged Ali Reza Shokri Pourghannad and Farzin Faridmanesh with exporting
carbon fiber from the United States to Iran. Pourghannad, an Iranian
national, was arrested on those charges on May 3, 2017, in Germany and
was extradited to the U.S. Between 2008 and July 2013, Pourghannad,
Shokri and Faridmanesh lived and worked in Iran. During that period, they
worked together to obtain carbon fiber from the U.S. and surreptitiously
export it to Iran via third countries. In particular, Shokri worked to
procure many tons of carbon fiber from the U.S.; Pourghannad agreed to
serve as the financial guarantor for large carbon fiber transactions; and
Faridmanesh agreed to serve as the trans-shipper. Carbon fiber has a wide
variety of uses, including in missiles, aerospace engineering, and gas
centrifuges that enrich uranium.
International
Terrorism
July 17, 2019
A Turkish diplomat was among two people shot dead on
Wednesday in Irbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan Region. The victims,
who were eating at a restaurant when gunmen opened fire, were reportedly
Turkey's deputy consul in the city and an Iraqi civilian. Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the "heinous attack".
No-one has so far said they were behind it. The Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK), which has fought Turkey for decades and has bases in Iraq, has
denied any role.
July 17, 2019
Hafis Saeed was taken into custody in Punjab province
while traveling from the eastern city of Lahore to the city of
Gujranwala, according to counterterrorism official Mohammad Shafiq. Mr.
Saeed founded Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, which has been
banned since 2002. It was blamed for the Mumbai attacks that killed 166
people, though never held to account. Only a handful of peripheral
planners — and one gunman captured after the attack — have been
convicted.
July 15, 2019
Every summer Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad
(PIJ) conduct summer camps in the Gaza Strip for youngsters, mostly for
high school students. Thousands of campers enjoy summer activities, which
are combined with radical ideologies and paramilitary training. Hamas is
the most prominent organization conducting summer camps (as a
continuation of the military training in the high schools during the
school year). The PIJ also conducts summer camps, which ended this year
on July 4. Hamas summer camps are supposed to begin on July 20, 2019, and
registration is in progress.
July 12, 2019
A child was used as a suicide bomber at a wedding
party on July 12 in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least five people and
injuring about a dozen others, local authorities said. The motive of the
13-year-old who blew himself up during the event has not been confirmed.
Members of the Taliban and ISIS have a presence in the region, but no one
has taken responsibility for the attack.
July 11, 2019
Hezbollah maintains an extensive network of social
foundations in the Shiite community in Lebanon. These foundations deal
with healthcare, education, finance, welfare, and media. They support
Hezbollah's military infrastructure. They also serve as a means of
disseminating Hezbollah's ideology and strengthening its position among
the Shiite community and in Lebanon in general. They provide the Shiite
community with large-scale social services that are generally provided by
the state while exploiting the weakness of the Lebanese administration
and its long-standing neglect of the Shiite community. Thus, Hezbollah's
civilian infrastructure enables it to maintain a sort of "Shiite
mini-state" within the Lebanese state. The residents of this
"Shiite mini-state" enjoy large-scale Iranian financial support
and Hezbollah's military infrastructure is located among them.
Terrorist
Designations
July 16, 2019
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of
Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), in concert with the Department of State,
took action on July 16th targeting Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin
(JNIM), a west African terrorist group designated in September 2018, by
designating a JNIM leader as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist
(SDGT) pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, which targets terrorists
and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism.
Specifically, OFAC designated Bah Ag Moussa for acting for or on behalf
of JNIM. OFAC also designated Bah Ag Moussa for acting for or on behalf
of JNIM leader, Iyad ag Ghali, who was designated pursuant to E.O. 13224
in February 2013. The Department of State also designated Ali Maychou as
an SDGT pursuant to E.O. 13224.
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment