Eye on Extremism - May 10, 2016

Eye on Extremism May 10, 2016 Reuters: Aleppo Fighting Rages As U.S., Russia Try To Revive Syria Truce “Syrian government forces and their allies fought insurgents near Aleppo on Monday and jets conducted raids around a nearby town seized by Islamist rebels, a monitoring group said, as Syria's military said a ceasefire in Aleppo would be extended by 48 hours starting on Tuesday. A recent surge in bloodshed in Aleppo, Syria's largest city before the war, wrecked the 10-week-old, partial truce sponsored by Washington and Moscow that had allowed U.N.-brokered peace talks to convene in Geneva. The United States and Russia, which support rival sides in the civil war, said they would work to revive the February ‘cessation of hostilities’ agreement that reduced fighting in parts of the country for several weeks.” BBC: Islamic State Leader In Iraq's Anbar Killed, Pentagon Says “A key leader of so-called Islamic State (IS) in Iraq's Anbar province has been killed in a coalition air strike, the Pentagon says. Abu Waheeb, formerly a member of al-Qaeda in Iraq, was killed in a raid on Friday, according to the Pentagon. ‘It is dangerous to be an Isil leader in Iraq and Syria nowadays,’ spokesman Peter Cook said, using an alternative name for the group. Waheeb has falsely been declared dead on several previous occasions. He was killed travelling in a vehicle in a town near Rutba, in Anbar province, Mr Cook said. The Pentagon said three other militants were killed in the raid, describing Waheeb as the IS ‘military emir for Anbar province’.” CNN: Russia's Military In Syria: Bigger Than You Think And Not Going Anywhere “Russia deployed dozens of strike aircraft and jet fighters to Syria at the end of 2015, bombing in support of Syrian president Bashar al Assad's forces. But Moscow also appears to have built up substantial ground forces in various locations in Syria. There are no reliable numbers on Russian troop levels in the country but it appeared to us that there were at least several thousand troops on the ground along with modern weaponry and infrastructure. The Hmeymim air base on the outskirts of Latakia, on the country's northwest coast, is a mix of an existing Syrian military airfield and container housing units that the Russians have set up. The camp is large, modern, and well-maintained.” Voice of America: Afghan Officials: Haqqani Network Controls Taliban Command “Officials in Afghanistan say the State Department designated terrorist group, the al-Qaida linked Haqqani network, has effectively taken over battlefield command of the Taliban insurgency. Haqqani militants allegedly operate from sanctuaries in neighboring Pakistan and are known for staging high-profile suicide assaults on Afghan and international forces. ‘The Taliban are currently being commanded by [the] Haqqani [network]. We believe Haqqani and al-Qaida are two different names for the same terrorist organization,’ Interior Ministry spokesman, Sediq Seddiqi, told reporters in Kabul. He said Afghan security forces military strategists are aware of the terrorist threat and dealing with all of them as a common enemy of Afghanistan.” CBS News: Inside The Battle To Take Back Fallujah From ISIS “Bullet-ridden, beat-up humvees were the only protection on offer from the Iraqi forces as we weaved our way along the back roads leading to Fallujah. For a time we got separated from the forward crew, and they warned us they believed they'd seen a car bomb driving through the territory -- they told us to not get too close. But we never saw it, nor did we ever see any U.S. advisers. The Iraqi army and ISIS have fought to standstill since taking over the embattled city on Baghdad's doorstep. Colonel Ahmed has been there since Fallujah fell. ‘Same battle, two years,’ Ahmed said. Now he and his soldiers are holding onto a jagged edge of a front line, scattered among the abandoned homes and flattened buildings.” Voice Of America: Chaos In Iraq Puts Fight Against IS At Risk “The United States is expressing concern about the rising political unrest in Iraq. The Obama administration is concerned about how the unrest will affect the fight against the self-declared Islamic State group. Recently, protesters raided the Green Zone in Baghdad. The Green Zone is the protected area of Iraq’s capital where foreigners live and work. Sheikh Sabah took part in the protests. ‘This is what we want,’ he said. ‘If there are no reforms the whole government should be replaced.’ Shi’ite clergyman Muqtada al-Sadr sent the protesters to the Green Zone to pressure the Iraqi government. The government led by another Shi’ite, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.” The Jerusalem Post: Bin Laden’s Son Calls To Target Jewish, US, Western Interests “Hamza Bin Laden, the son of former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, is calling for the targeting of Jewish and Western interests and the building of an army to ‘liberate Jerusalem.’ According to a new al-Qaida video discovered by the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor of MEMRI (the Middle East Media Research Institute) and shared with The Jerusalem Post, Hamza praised the stabbing attacks by Palestinians against Israelis and called on Muslims from around the world to join the fight to defend Jerusalem, urging them to ‘participate in the intifada’ of their Palestinian brethren by ‘killing the Jews and attacking their interests everywhere.’” Voice Of America: France Outlines New Plan To Fight Extremism “France’s leftist government says it will create deradicalization centers around the country, sinking $45 million into a barrage of new proposals to fight terrorism. ‘Radicalization, recruitment strikes everywhere,’ French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said as he unveiled the proposals during a ministerial conference, warning the country will likely face another strike. ‘We’ve entered a new era of hyper-terrorism,’ he said. The measures are likely to resonate in neighboring Belgium, where a trial opened Monday of seven alleged jihadists accused of links with both the March attacks in Brussels and those in Paris last November that killed 130 people.” Reuters: Saudi Intercepts Missile From Yemen But Truce Holds “Saudi Arabia intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Yemen on Monday, but a Saudi-led military coalition said it would maintain a shaky truce despite the ‘serious escalation’ by the Houthi militia and its allies, state news agency SPA said. The Iran-allied Houthis and Yemen's Saudi-backed exile government are trying to reach a peace agreement in talks in Kuwait aimed at ending the year-long war and easing a humanitarian crisis in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen a year ago mainly with air strikes in support of the Yemeni government. A tentative U.N-backed ceasefire has been in place since last month to give the peace talks in Kuwait a chance at progress. Both sides have regularly accused each other of violations.” United States Reuters: Pentagon Report Reveals Confusion Among U.S. Troops Over Afghan Mission “Amid fierce fighting after the Taliban captured the northern Afghan city of Kunduz last year, U.S. special forces advisers repeatedly asked their commanders how far they were allowed to go to help local troops retake the city. They got no answer, according to witnesses interviewed in a recently declassified, heavily redacted Pentagon report that lays bare the confusion over rules of engagement governing the mission in Afghanistan. As the Taliban insurgency gathers strength, avoiding enemy fire has become increasingly difficult for advisers, who have been acting as consultants rather than combatants since NATO forces formally ceased fighting at the end of 2014.” Syria The Washington Post: Syrian Government Extends Cease-Fire For 48 Hours “The Syrian military on Monday extended a fragile cease-fire that had broken down in the northern city of Aleppo, as the United States and Russia worked together to try to get peace talks back on track and quell the violence. Shortly before the cease-fire was due to expire and as fighting raged in the northern city of Aleppo, the Syrian military announced that the truce would be extended for 48 hours. But Secretary of State John F. Kerry, in Paris to discuss Syrian peace talks with his counterparts from Europe and the Middle East, spoke with caution rather than optimism.” Fox News: ISIS Claims Female Russian Spy Infiltrated Terror Network “Her name was ‘Elvira,’ and her treachery cost several ISIS members their lives before the caliphate's spy hunters tracked her down and executed her, according to the latest issue of the Islamic State’s Russian-language online magazine. The article in Istok, titled ‘Elvira Karaeva – Agent of the Russian Special Services,’ focuses on a woman whom ISIS in the Caucasus accused of being an agent of the Russian intelligence services. According to the piece, Karaeva worked as a spy for four years, during which she secretly passed along information on the jihadi groups in the Caucasus, including locations and photographs of ISIS fighters.” Iraq Wall Street Journal: Islamic State Claims Iraq Bombing “Islamic State claimed a suicide bombing that killed at least 10 people and wounded 29 in the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala on Monday, a local police official said, adding to a string of deadly attacks in recent days. The bombing took place outside a popular restaurant in Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, destroying it and several buildings nearby, he said. While Iraqi government forces wrested control of the area from Islamic State last year, Diyala province remains a hotbed of sectarian and ethnic tension, with large populations of Kurds and Sunni and Shiite Muslims. Separate bombings and a shooting in Baghdad killed eight people and wounded 30 on Monday, according to local officials.” International Business Times: Who Is Abu Wahib? ISIS Leader In Iraq’s Anbar Province Killed In US Airstrike “A senior Islamic State group leader in Iraq has been killed in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike, the Pentagon said Monday. Abu Wahib, chief military official of ISIS in Anbar province, was traveling in a vehicle when the strike hit last week. The Pentagon reportedly said that three other ISIS members were also in the vehicle and were killed in the airstrike Friday. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said that Wahib — a former member of al Qaeda in Iraq — has appeared in several ISIS execution videos. Cook described him as the militant group's ‘military emir for Anbar province.’” International Business Times: Islamic State Terrorism Has Cost Iraq Billions In Damages As ISIS Has Taken More Control “The cost of terrorism in Iraq has been mounting since the United States invaded the country over a decade ago, and things don’t seem likely to get better soon. An Iraqi Planning Ministry official told reporters Sunday that between 2004 and 2016 as much as $31.4 billion in damages had been sustained in the country. The country’s Defense Ministry was hit the worst, according to the Middle East Monitor. That section of the government sustained as much damage as 15.35 trillion Iraqi dinars — roughly $1.4 billion American dollars — and al Anbar province was the worst hit, with an estimated 107 billion Iraqi dinars' worth of damages. Al Anbar lies in the western portion of the country and is bordered by Syria to its north, Jordan to its west and Saudi Arabia to the south.” Turkey Reuters: Two Days Of Clashes In Southeast Turkey Kill 9 Militants, 1 Soldier “At least 10 people were killed in two days of fighting between security forces and Kurdish militants in Turkey's southeast, the military said on Monday. Hundreds of soldiers, police officers and militants have been killed since fighting between the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and security forces re-ignited in July, and the conflict is at its deadliest in two decades. Nine PKK members were killed on Sunday in the towns of Nusaybin and Sirnak, the military General Staff said on its website. On Monday, a soldier was killed in clashes in Nusaybin, located at the Syrian border and under a round-the-clock curfew since mid-March, the army said. Fighting continued in both Nusaybin and Sirnak throughout the day, a security source said.” Afghanistan The Washington Post: Taliban Claims It Shot Down U.S. Drone In Afghanistan “Taliban fighters said on social media that they shot down a U.S. drone this week over Afghanistan’s volatile region near the Pakistan border. Officials with the U.S.-led military operation in Afghanistan confirmed Tuesday that they lost contact with the unmanned aircraft that was flying over the country’s Nangahar province. That’s an area where Taliban forces have made advances in recent months and where Islamic State militants are believed to have a small presence. ‘We can confirm that we have lost contact with a remotely piloted aircraft,’ officials with Resolute Support, the NATO operation in Afghanistan, said in a statement. ‘At this time we cannot confirm the cause.’ The loss of the drone comes amid increasing U.S. military operations in Afghanistan in an effort to help the Afghan army beat back Taliban fighters who are seeking to tighten their grip on provinces that surround Kabul, the nation’s capital.” Middle East Al-Monitor: Will Hamas Respond To Israel's Destruction Of Its Tunnels? “Hamas and other armed Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip refer to the attack tunnels they dig toward Israeli settlements and military positions as a ‘strategic weapon’ designed for any future confrontation. On April 18, the Israeli army announced it had discovered two of the newest Hamas tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip. One tunnel was found near the Eshkol settlement east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. This tunnel, Israel said, extended under Israeli borders about 150 meters (164 yards). The second tunnel was found May 5 near the Sofa crossing east of the province. Israel said its army infiltrated and destroyed the 200-meter-long tunnel. Since 2004, the Israeli army has devoted $250 million toward detecting Palestinian tunnels. According to Israeli reports, the army found and destroyed 30 tunnels during the 2014 war in Gaza.” Libya Sputnik News: Libyan Government Calls For Russian Anti-Terror Role In Country “The Presidential Council of Libya, which is the name of country's national unity government, calls for Russia's contribution to the struggle against terrorists in the African nation, Ahmed Maiteeq, the council's vice chairman, told Sputnik Monday. The United Nations brokered the creation of a new national unity government in the war-torn country earlier this year, after the overthrow of Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi had plummeted it into chaos five years ago. He added that the council welcomed any international help in country's struggle against terrorism.” Reuters: Regional Powers To Hold Libya Talks In Vienna, Italian Minister Says “Talks on providing support for Libya's new unity government will be held in Vienna next week, Italy's foreign minister said on Monday. The meeting will focus on international efforts to bring stability to Libya, where two rival governments have vied for power since 2014, opening the way for Islamic State to establish itself and gain ground in the North African state. Regional foreign ministers will meet for the talks, according to Italy's Paolo Gentiloni. He did not give details on who would attend, but past talks on Libya have included the United States and European officials and Libya's North African neighbors. Prime Minister Fayez Serraj's U.N-backed Government of National Accord arrived in Tripoli a month ago, but it has faced resistance from hardliners in both the Libyan factions running rival governments.” Nigeria Voice Of America: Cameroon Urges Religious Leaders To Fight Boko Haram “Boko Haram reportedly is working to enlist traditional and religious leaders in northern Cameroon to recruit new members amid continued military pressure on both sides of the border. Abdouraman Ousman, a Muslim religious leader, says members of the militant group kidnapped him from his home in Kerawa on the border with Nigeria last year. The militants told him that he could go home if he would recruit for them, Ousman said. He refused, but was freed in February during a raid by soldiers. Imams and traditional rulers are being manipulated by Boko Haram fighters to convince naïve, young people to join the terrorist group, Ousman says, adding that Boko Haram targets traditional rulers, too — not only for ransoms, but to get them to help recruit members. Some imams reportedly return to Cameroon and lie to young people, telling them they will earn $500 per month if they join Boko Haram, or they try to trick youths into thinking they are joining the military.” The Guardian: Boko Haram Using Loans To Recruit Members In Face Of Crackdown “Boko Haram appears to be reverting to using cash loans to recruit members as it struggles to maintain its numbers in the face of the continuing crackdown by Nigerian government forces. Although the Islamist terrorist group has built its international reputation on large-scale atrocities such as attacks on schools and the mass kidnapping of girls, it has previously sought to use financial incentives when under pressure. Witnesses have told the Guardian that Boko Haram is trying to get poor traders to spy on their communities and provide information on military movements in return for cash. In the middle of last year, Ibrahim*, a fish trader in his 50s and Musa*, a vegetable trader in his 20s, were taken by Boko Haram from the Askira Uba area of Borno state in north-eastern Nigeria.” United Kingdom BBC: Mock Terror Attack: 'Suicide Bomb' At Trafford Centre “A mock terror attack, featuring a bomber simulating killing and injuring shoppers, has been staged at one of England's largest shopping centres. It was part of a terrorism training exercise at the Trafford Centre, Greater Manchester overnight to test the emergency response to an attack. Eight hundred volunteers took part in the counter-terrorism drill to make it as realistic as possible. Police said the event was not linked to any specific terror threat.  Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said the simulation - codenamed Winchester Accord - was to ‘test the emergency response to a major terrorist incident’.” Germany Time: Police Investigating Possible Terrorist Link After 1 Killed, Several Injured In Munich Stabbing “German police say a man has been arrested after stabbing several people, killing one, at a suburban train station at Grafing, close to Munich, early Tuesday morning. The Associated Press reports an assailant attacked at least four, possibly five, people with a knife. Police said that one of the people had died in the hospital. Reports said witnesses heard the attacker shouting in Arabic during the assault, raising the possibility of a link to Islamist terrorism. The AP cited police spokeswoman Michaela Grob saying the police were working to identify the attacker. According to the BBC, witnesses claimed the man shouted ‘Allahu akbar’ — God is great — during the attacks. The specific claims have not been verified, but police confirmed that the suspect ‘expressed political motivations’ during the attack. More developments are expected as the story unfolds.” Europe The Atlantic: How Europe’s ‘Little Losers’ Became Terrorists “Only now are the nations of the continent beginning to reckon with the notion that these men, the delinquent-radicals who appear so prominently among the thousands of Europeans who have traveled to the Syrian jihad, might have been at best underestimated and at worst created, in no small measure, by the very systems meant to protect Europe from terrorism. More than a decade ago, American and European counterterrorism analysts had already begun to classify such men as members of a new class of fighters. ‘You have ‘little losers’—and that actually is the expression that was used,’ said Glenn Carle, a former officer of the CIA and the National Intelligence Council, who until his retirement in 2007 spoke regularly with European counterparts.” Technology Business Insider: Twitter Is Banning US Spy Agencies From Using A Service That Can Detect Terrorist Attacks Early “Twitter has reportedly banned US intelligence agencies from using Dataminr, a service it partially owns that provides real-time alerts for breaking news like natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and actionable business events. The Wall Street Journal reported the news on Sunday, citing US intelligence officials who say Twitter was concerned about the ‘optics’ of the relationship. The social network told The Journal that its ‘data is largely public and the US government may review public accounts on its own, like any user could.’” Arabic Language Clips ISIS Alwasat: ISIS (In Libya) Breaks Into The Commercial Bank East Of Misrata ISIS militants stormed the building of the National Commercial Bank branch in the town of Abu Qarin, east of the Libyan city of Misrata. A local source from the town said on Monday: "Gunmen of what is known as ISIS raided the National Commercial Bank branch building in Abu Qarin. They smashed and broke into bank safes." The same source added that the ISIS gunmen had tampered with bank documents, and he estimated that the money stolen did not exceed 20,000 Libyan dinars (roughly $15,000). Muslim Brotherhood The Seventh Day: "(Egyptian Parliament) Deputy Proposes Allocating Part Of The Brotherhood's Funds To The Compensation Article Within The Transitional Justice Law Mohammed al-Ghoul, a member of the Human Rights Committee of the Egyptian Parliament, suggested allocating part of the Muslim Brotherhood's funds, which have been and are still being seized, to fulfill the aims of the Transitional Justice Law in its article dealing with compensation and reparations. Note that the Human Rights Committee is in the process of drafting this law. Albayan: Kuwait: Terrorism Law Will Include Brotherhood And Hezbollah The Kuwaiti National Assembly (Parliament) determined a list of laws that must be approved before its recess, which is scheduled to start on June 28th. The most prominent laws deal with the autonomy of the judiciary as well as the criminalization of terrorist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood. Informed sources disclosed that the Criminalization of Terrorist Groups Act describes "the following groups, organizations and parties and their branches as being terrorist: Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, ISIS, Boko Haram, al-Qaeda, Abu Sayyaf, and Nusra Front, as well as any and every other group that has been listed as being terrorist, whether internationally or regionally." Hezbollah Alhayat: Lebanese Banks Are Not Targeted By The (American) Act Of Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Ahead of the upcoming visit by American Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing Daniel Glaser, Lebanese banking circles have described the published analyses which anticipate a climate of negativity and sanctions against Lebanon's banking sector as "exaggerated and unrealistic." The senior US official is scheduled to arrive in Lebanon later this month. The banking circles assert that what is being published in the media ahead of the visit is detrimental to the sector and its durability. The same sources claim that Glaser's visit, which is aimed at explaining the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act, is "normal and routine." Houthi Al-Sharq: Asiri: Houthi Involved In Human And Drug Trafficking While (Ousted Yemeni President Ali) Saleh Used 'Al-Qaeda Scarecrow' Arab Coalition Spokesman, Brigadier General Ahmed Asiri, stressed that the Houthi militia is making enormous profits through its involvement in various illicit operations, including human trafficking, smuggling of drugs and weapons, as well as other outlawed activities. The Saudi officer noted that the largest proportion of weapons being smuggled into Saudi Arabia's territory is derived from Yemen.