Eye on Extremism - June 6, 2016

Eye on Extremism June 6, 2016 New York Times: Three Somali Americans Found Guilty Of Trying To Join Islamic State “Three Somali-American friends were found guilty on Friday of federal charges that they tried to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State, a plan that prosecutors said unfolded through propaganda videos and social media exchanges, and while they played basketball and paintball. The verdicts against the three men — Guled Omar, 21; Abdirahman Daud, 22; and Mohamed Farah, 22 — came after an emotional 17-day trial in which onetime friends from Minnesota’s large Somali community testified against one another, family members squabbled in the hallways and spectators were occasionally ejected from the courtroom.” Associated Press: Iraqi Forces Secure Southern Edge Of IS-Held Fallujah “Iraqi forces secured the southern edge of the Islamic State group stronghold of Fallujah on Sunday, two weeks after the launch of an operation to recapture the city, the Iraqi special forces commander overseeing the operation said. Iraqi special forces, also known as its counterterrorism forces, have secured the largely agricultural southern neighborhood of Naymiyah under cover of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, Lt. Gen. Abdel Wahab al-Saadi said. Special forces are now poised to enter the main city, al-Saadi said. The Fallujah operation coincides with a twin offensive on IS-strongholds in neighboring Syria. Syrian Kurdish forces are advancing on Manbij, an IS-held city controlling the supply route between the Turkish border and the town of Raqqa, the militants' de facto capital. At the same time, Syrian government troops are advancing on Raqqa from the south.” Express: Barbaric Isis Fighters Burn 19 Women Alive In Iron Cages For Refusing To Be Sex Slaves “The terrified Yazidi Kurdish women were herded into the cages before being set on fire in a city square in the ISIS-stronghold of Mosul in Iraq. Kurdish news agency ARA was told the women were sentenced to death after defying orders of ISIS commanders to be the sex slaves of jihadi fighters. Abdullah al-Malla, a local media activist, said: ‘They were punished for refusing to have sex with IS militants.’” Associated Press: Islamic State Kills Dozens Of Its Own In Hunt For Spies “In March, a senior commander with the Islamic State group was driving through northern Syria on orders to lead militants in the fighting there when a drone blasted his vehicle to oblivion. The killing of Abu Hayjaa al-Tunsi, a Tunisian jihadi, sparked a panicked hunt within the group's ranks for spies who could have tipped off the U.S-led coalition about his closely guarded movements. By the time it was over, the group would kill 38 of its own members on suspicion of acting as informants. They were among dozens of IS members killed by their own leadership in recent months in a vicious purge after a string of airstrikes killed prominent figures.” BBC: Iraq Violence: Civilians 'Shot By IS As They Flee Falluja' “Civilians fleeing Falluja, an Iraqi stronghold of the so-called Islamic State (IS), are being shot as they leave, an aid agency says. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said families it had interviewed described people being shot dead by IS as they crossed the Euphrates River. The NRC, that runs refugee camps near Falluja, said up to 50,000 people remained in the city. Iraq's army began the fight to retake the city late last month. Falluja lies just 50km (30 miles) west of Baghdad and has been held by IS since 2014. It is one of two remaining IS strongholds in Iraq.” Reuters: U.S.-Backed Force Says Islamic State Fleeing Syrian City “Islamic State fighters have been fleeing the Syrian city of Manbij with their families as U.S.-backed groups advance to within 6 km (4 miles) in an attack that has killed more than 150 jihadists, a spokesman for the U.S.-backed forces said. Sharfan Darwish, spokesman for the Manbij Military Council, told Reuters on Monday more than 50 of their bodies were in the possession of the U.S.-backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) that is leading the campaign that got under way last week. He said there were a number of dead among the U.S.-backed forces and the number would be announced later.” CNN: NPR Photographer And Interpreter Killed In Afghanistan Attack “Two members of an NPR news crew, David Gilkey and Zabihullah Tamanna, were killed on Sunday while traveling in southern Afghanistan. ‘They were traveling with an Afghan army unit when the convoy came under fire. Their vehicle was struck by shell fire,’ according to a statement by NPR. Two other NPR crew members, correspondent Tom Bowman and producer Monika Evstatieva, ‘were in a following vehicle,’ NPR head of news Michael Oreskes told CNN. ‘Tom and Monika were not hurt.’ Sunday's attack marks the first time in the 46-year history of NPR that one of its journalists has been killed on assignment. Gilkey, 50, was an award-winning staff photographer and video editor for NPR. In the 15 years since the 9/11 attacks, he returned time and time again to Afghanistan and other conflict zones.” Reuters: Money From Afghanistan's 'Conflict Jewels' Fuels War: Activists “The illegal mining of some of Afghanistan's most important minerals is funneling millions of dollars into the hands of insurgents and corrupt warlords, according to activists and officials who say the money is fuelling the conflict. The mountains of Afghanistan hold as much as $1 trillion to $3 trillion in mineral resources, according to estimates by the U.S. and Afghan governments, including world-famous lapis lazuli, a deep blue, semi-precious stone that has been mined in northern Afghanistan's Badakhshan province for thousands of years. ‘In the current circumstances, where 50 percent of the mining revenue is going to the Taliban, and before that it was going to armed groups, by any reasonable definition lapis is a conflict mineral,’ said Stephen Carter, a researcher for Global Witness, a non-profit watchdog that investigates the links between natural resources, corruption and conflict.” Reuters: Libyan Brigades Capture Air Base From Islamic State South Of Sirte: Spokesman “Brigades aligned with Libya's U.N.-backed government said on Saturday they had captured Ghardabiya air base from Islamic State to the south of the militant group's stronghold of Sirte. Spokesman Mohamed al-Gasri said the capture of the base, about 20 km (12 miles) from the centre of Sirte, was strategically significant since it cut off supply routes for Islamic State and ‘trapped them further’ within the city. Three fighters from the government-backed brigades were killed and around five wounded in Saturday's fighting, he said. The brigades, mainly made up from fighters from the western city of Misrata, have driven Islamic State back to the outskirts of Sirte from the west over the past three weeks.” Newsweek: The Iraqi Ghost Town Where ISIS Massacred 5,000 “Sinjar in northern Iraq was home to more than 88,000 civilians in 2013. Today, there are none left living here. As The Daily Signal’s foreign correspondent, I visited Sinjar, where more than 5,000 civilians died at the hands of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS). This is my video report. The background: ISIS took over the town in August 2014. Most civilians fled, becoming refugees. ISIS militants rounded up those who remained, systematically murdering Yazidis, Christians and Shiite Muslims in what the United States has called a genocide. The ages of the dead ranged from 1 to 70. After two days of fighting in November 2015, Kurdish and Yazidi forces, backed by U.S. airstrikes, liberated Sinjar. Now the town is a wasteland. The physical destruction is nearly total.” The Wall Street Journal: ‘Niger Delta Avengers’ Sabotage Oil Output “A band of saboteurs that calls itself the Niger Delta Avengers has been prowling the swamps of Nigeria’s petroleum-rich south for four months, bombing pipelines and diving underwater to destroy equipment. The damage has helped tip Africa’s biggest economy toward recession, and has cost Nigeria its position as the continent’s top oil producer—a distinction inherited by Angola. The Avengers struck again before dawn on Friday. A group of militants sneaked through marshland to bomb two pipelines, one owned by Royal Dutch Shell PLC and the other owned by Italy’s Eni SpA, according to Nigeria’s navy. The brazen strikes were the latest demonstration of destructive proficiency by the Avengers, which has considerably cut the amount of oil in global markets. The strikes have led Nigeria to shift some of the forces who have been fighting an Islamist insurgency.” Washington Post: An Offshoot Of Al-Qaeda Is Regrouping In Pakistan “Five years after most senior al-Qaeda leaders are thought to have fled this port city, officials in Karachi worry that the organization is regrouping and finding new support here and in neighboring Afghanistan. They are especially concerned about the recruitment of potential foot soldiers for the next major terrorist attack. The resurgence has been managed by a South Asian offshoot called al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), created by al-Qaeda’s top leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in 2014 in order to slow advances by rival Islamic State militants in the region.” Daily Beast: France’s Infamous Undead Jihadist Recruiter “They all know him at the snack bar on the outskirts of Nice that Omar Diaby established between prison stints and before he left here for Syria in 2013 to become France’s number one recruiter of jihadists. Word got out last August that Diaby, the so-called “superjihadiste” also known as Omar Omsen, the prescient PR mastermind who began disseminating pro-jihad and anti-Western-imperialism videos in 2012, well before the rise of ISIS, had been killed. But last week it turned out that Diaby faked his own death—and took to French television to discuss it. When The Daily Beast reached him by Skype on Saturday, Diaby told us he lied about being dead so he could go to Turkey on the down-low for a needed medical operation.” United States International Business Times: North Korea Not On US State Sponsor Of Terrorism List “The United States decided to leave out North Korea from its state sponsor of terrorism list released Thursday. American lawmakers introduced a bill last month proposing that the reclusive state be relisted as a sponsor of terrorism. In its Country Reports on Terrorism 2015, the U.S. Department of State said North Korea ‘is not known to have sponsored any terrorist acts since the bombing of a Korean Airlines flight in 1987.’ The May 19 bill, submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives, detailed over 20 cases linking North Korea with possible terrorist acts.” PBS News Hour: Have U.S. Efforts To Train Iraq’s Army Fallen Short? “The Reuters news agency reports that the 17- month U.S. effort to train and build up the Iraqi army has fallen short. Current and former U.S. officers and officials told Reuters that despite U.S. efforts, the army’s combat capacity has barely improved, and that the government relies too heavily on Shiite militias to do the fighting. The problem is that the Iraqi army only has about five functioning divisions, according to U.S. officers. And those divisions are about 60 to 65 percent capacity. So on the ground now, when fighting happens, the Iraqi military has basically a shortage of labor. And the one good fighting force that’s there, that’s effective from the state, is the Iraqi Special Forces. And according to U.S. officers, those forces are in real danger of burning out because they are the only force the state has been able to rely upon time and time again over the last two years.” Syria Reuters: Syrian And Russian Aircraft Step Up Bombing Of Aleppo City: Monitor “Nearly 50 air strikes hit rebel-held areas in and around the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday in some of the heaviest recent raids by Russian and Syrian government aircraft, residents and a monitoring group said. The group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also said an unidentified war plane had crashed in countryside south of Aleppo, in an area where Islamist rebel fighters are battling the Syrian army and Iranian-backed forces. It had no information on what caused the crash. A civil defense worker said at least 32 people were killed in the rebel-held parts of the city during the air strikes, with 18 bodies pulled from flattened buildings in the Qatrji neighborhood, the worst hit. The monitor said dozens of barrel bombs - oil drums or cylinders packed with explosives and shrapnel- were dropped by helicopter on densely populated districts.” Iraq The New York Times: Iraqi Army Seen As Ill Equipped To Retake Mosul From ISIS, Despite U.S. Aid “An exhausted and ill-equipped Iraqi Army faces daunting obstacles on the battlefield that will most likely delay for months a long-planned major offensive on the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, American and allied officials say. The delay is expected despite American efforts to keep Iraq’s creaky war machine on track. Although President Obama vowed to end the United States’ role in the war in Iraq, in the last two years the American military has increasingly provided logistics to prop up the Iraqi military, which has struggled to move basics like food, water and ammunition to its troops. Without the help, Americans commanders said, the offensive against Mosul would most likely fail.” Turkey The New York Times: Protests In Turkey Against Lifting Of Lawmakers' Immunity “Thousands of people participated in rallies organized by a pro-Kurdish, opposition party on Sunday to protest against the abolition of immunity of some Turkish members of parliament. More than 1,000 demonstrators gathered in Istanbul and around 3,000 others convened in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir in protests organized by the People's Democratic Party, or HDP. Demonstrations in other cities were banned by authorities. Last month, Turkey's parliament approved amendments to the constitution that clear the way for the prosecution of nearly 140 legislators, many of them from the People's Democratic Party, or HDP.” Deutsche Welle: Erdogan: Turkey Will 'Never Accept' Genocide Charges “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday warned that his country's position on the Armenian deaths during World War I would never change. ‘I am addressing the whole world. You may like it, you may not. Our attitude on the Armenian issue has been clear from the beginning. We will never accept the accusations of genocide,’ Erdogan said in a televised speech. He also called for Ankara to be treated fairly when it comes to solving shared problems, otherwise ‘Turkey will stop being a barrier in front of the problems of Europe. We will leave you to your own worries,’ he said. Germany's Bundestag on Thursday backed a resolution labeling the massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of Ottoman forces in 1915 and 1916 as genocide.” Voice Of America News: Turkey's Military Says It Has Killed 27 Kurdish Rebels “Turkey's military says its forces have killed 27 Kurdish rebels in Hakkari province near the Turkish border with Iraq and Iran. In a statement issued Sunday, it said air strikes carried out Friday killed 20 fighters of the Kurdish Worker's Party, or PKK, in Semdinli district. Another seven PKK fighters were killed during clashes in the same area in southeastern Turkey on Saturday. Turkish war planes also deployed Saturday to hit PKK targets in the area of Gara in northern Iraq and in Diyarbakir province. The Turkish state has been locked in conflict with Kurdish fighters since last summer when a 2.5-year truce with the PKK collapsed.” Afghanistan CNN: Taliban Shoot Up Afghan Court, Kill 7 In Retaliatory Attack “A trio of Taliban gunmen attacked an Afghan court on Sunday, killing seven people including ‘a number of prosecutors and judges,’ the terror group said. The gunmen stormed a provincial court in Pul-i-Alam, said Saleem Saleh, spokesman for the governor of eastern Logar province. Pul-i-Alam is the capital of Logar province, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) south of Kabul. The attack triggered a shootout with Afghan security forces that lasted 1 1/2 hours. At least 23 people were wounded. The seven killed included the director of the provincial attorney general's office, Saleh said. Authorities did not specify how many other prosecutors and judges were killed.” Saudi Arabia Reuters: Saudi Arabia Expands Its Anti-Iran Strategy Beyond The Middle East “Under King Salman, Saudi Arabia is expanding its confrontation with Iran well beyond the Middle East, no longer relying heavily on Western allies to smother Tehran's ambitions outside the Arab world. Since Salman came to power early last year, and Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers, Riyadh has adjusted its strategy for countering the efforts of its Shi'ite Muslim rival to build influence in Africa, Asia and even Latin America. Most notably, the Sunni power has used Muslim networks to push states into cutting off contacts with Iran, including by creating an Islamic Coalition against terrorism without inviting Tehran to join.” Egypt Deutsche Welle: Egypt Puts Members Of Journalists' Union On Trial “The trial of union head Yahya Qalash and board members Khaled el-Balshy and Gamal Abdel-Rahim began on Saturday, although it was quickly adjourned until June 18. The three men were briefly arrested last week after Egyptian authorities raided the union's office where two opposition journalists were staging a sit-in. They are charged with spreding false news, as well as harboring the two wanted journalists. The union was once seen as one of the few organizations in which the government would tolerate freedom of speech, so analysts say the arrests represent an intensified crackdown on dissent.” Middle East Netanyahu: Deepening Ties With Russia Important For Israel’s Security “The deepening ties between Israel and Russia are important for the country’s security, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday as he addressed a Jerusalem Day ceremony on the eve of his Monday departure to Moscow. On Tuesday he will hold his fourth face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in less than a year to strengthen military cooperation between the two countries and to celebrate 25 years of diplomatic relations. On the day that marks the unification of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War, Netanyahu could not help but reflect on what an enormous difference time makes in the relationships between nations.” State Sentences Palestinian Terrorist Tackled By ‘Super’ Mayor Barkat To 18 Years “A 17-year-old Palestinian was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Sunday at the Jerusalem District Court for a terrorist attack that was cut short when Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat tackled him. The minor was videoed stabbing a 30-year-old haredi man at IDF Square in the capital on February 22, before being subdued by Barkat. The stabber was also ordered to pay NIS 100,000 in compensation to his victim as part of his sentence for attempted murder and several other crimes. The defendant was also indicted for separate counts of throwing Molotov cocktails, an improvised pipe bomb, firecrackers and stones at soldiers near the Kalandiya checkpoint, also known as the Atarot checkpoint, between Jerusalem and Ramallah, during the summer 2014 Gaza war.” Libya Associated Press: Libya's UN-Backed PM Says Victory Over IS Is Near “The prime minister of Libya's U.N.-backed government said in comments published Sunday that ‘total victory’ against the Islamic State group in its main Libyan stronghold is near, as forces close in on the coastal city of Sirte. Fayez al-Serraj told France's the Journal du Dimanche newspaper that his government needed international intelligence and technical assistance, but ‘not airstrikes.’ The comments came a day after a spokesman for forces allied with his government said they captured a military base about 30 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of Sirte. The spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Gosry, said ‘we are officially in Sirte and only days away from controlling the center of the city.’” USA Today: More Than 110 Bodies Recovered Off Libya Coast “The bodies of more than 110 migrants have been recovered after their boat capsized off the Libyan coast, a spokesman for the Libyan navy said Friday. Col. Ayoub Gassim told The Associated Press that at least 104 bodies were retrieved from waters near the city of Zwara in western Libya. He said the death toll is expected to rise. Libyan coast guards found the empty boat on Thursday, Gassim said. He blamed Europe for ‘doing nothing but counting bodies’ to stop people setting sail for its shores from Libya. Hundreds of migrants were rescued from a sinking boat in the Mediterranean Sea in a separate incident Friday.” Nigeria BBC: Boko Haram Attack Kills 32 In Niger “Thirty Nigerien troops and two Nigerian soldiers have been killed in clashes with Boko Haram militants in Niger, the country's defence ministry says. It says ‘hundreds of assailants’ attacked a military post in the south-eastern town of Bosso, on the Nigerian border, on Friday night. A counter-attack on Saturday morning allowed government troops to retake all positions in Bosso, the ministry says. It says there were several dead and injured ‘on the enemy's side’. Boko Haram has not commented on the Nigerien defence ministry's statement. The Islamist group is based in Nigeria but is being tackled by a multinational force, including soldiers from Niger.” The Huffington Post: Boko Haram Aren’t The Only Militants Causing Chaos In Nigeria “Nigeria, already battling Islamist militants Boko Haram in the north, faces a resurgent uprising in its oil-rich south. A shadowy militant group calling themselves the Niger Delta Avengers first emerged in February, when they blew up an underwater pipeline run by international oil giant Shell. The group vowed to ‘cripple Nigeria’s economy,’ and they already have. In the last three months, the Niger Delta Avengers claimed responsibility for pipeline attacks across the southern Delta region, and production dropped to 20-year lows. Nigeria was Africa’s biggest oil producer before the attacks shrunk production. The government depends on oil revenues for around 70 percent of its budget, which was already squeezed by plummeting oil prices. The unrest has also exacerbated gas shortages and power outages across the country.” United Kingdom Telegraph: British Special Forces 'Operating Inside Syria Alongside Rebels'  “British special forces are operating on the front line against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Syria, according to rebel commanders. The Times reports that they have been defending a rebel unit against Isil attacks, marking the first evidence of the troop's direct involvement involvement inside Syria rather than training fighters in neighbouring Jordan. First Lieutenant Mahmoud al-Saleh said British forces frequently crossed the border to help the New Syrian Army (NSA), comprised of former Syrian special forces, as it defends the south-eastern village of al-Tanf.” The Guardian: Brexit Would Be A 'Gamble' That Leaves Britain At Greater Risk Of Terror Attacks Warn SEVEN Former Police Chiefs “Seven former police chiefs have urged voters to reject Brexit because it would be a gamble with security that leaves security at risk. The officers, which include two former commissioners of the Met, said EU membership was good for security because of the access to systems such as the European Arrest Warrant. In an open letter, the group said quitting the trading bloc would 'put us at a disadvantage in tackling terrorism and organised crime'. Security and justice issues were cited by Home Secretary Theresa May when she announced she would be supporting the Remain campaign in February.” Germany The New York Times: Germany’s Military Expansion Met With Western Relief “You know times have changed when the Germans announce they are expanding their army for the first time in 25 years — and no one objects. Back when the Berlin Wall fell, Britain and France in particular feared the re-emergence of a German colossus in Europe. By contrast, Berlin’s pledge last month to add almost 7,000 soldiers to its military by 2023, and an earlier announcement to spend up to 130 billion euros, about $148 billion, on new equipment by 2030 were warmly welcomed by NATO allies. It has taken decades since the horrors of World War II, but Berlin’s modern-day allies and, it seems, German leaders themselves are finally growing more comfortable with the notion that Germany’s role as the European Union’s de facto leader requires a military dimension.” France Associated Press: Hollande: Euro 2016 Will Be Success Despite Extremism Threat “French President Francois Hollande says that the threat of extremism won't stop the European Championship soccer tournament from being successful. Hollande said in an interview on Sunday with France Inter radio that precautionary measures throughout the matches, including a 90,000-strong security force, will ensure the matches scattered in 10 French cities are safe. Hollande said France decided to go ahead with Euro 2016 despite two waves of attacks last year, and make it a ‘festival for people and for sports.’ But he said that spectators at the monthlong tournament, which starts on Friday, must accept security checks as they enter stadiums and fan zones.” Reuters: China Says It Hopes For Counter-Terror Intelligence Sharing With France “China hopes to establish counter-terrorism intelligence sharing with France as the Asian giant seeks greater international support for its anti-terror fight, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported citing an exchange between officials of the two countries. Hundreds of people have been killed in the past few years in China's western region of Xinjiang, home to the mainly Muslim Uighur people. The government blames the violence on Islamist militants who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan. Admiral Sun Jianguo, a deputy chief of staff of China's People's Liberation Army, told French Secretary-General of Defence and National Security Louis Gautier that China and France had model military-to-military ties.” Bangladesh Reuters: Wife Of Bangladeshi Anti-Terrorism Policeman Stabbed, Shot Dead “The wife of a senior Bangladeshi police official known for battling Islamist militants was stabbed and shot to death on Sunday, and machete-wielding assailants killed a Christian grocer in a separate incident. Both attacks appeared to be the work of Islamist militants who have killed at least 30 people, including religious minorities, liberal bloggers and academics, since February last year, police said. Three assailants riding a motorcycle stabbed and then shot Mahmuda Aktar, 33, while she was on her way to put her son onto a school bus near her home in the southeastern port city of Chittagong, police said.” Arabic Language Clips Financing of Terrorism Almoslim: Tight Controls In Kuwait On Donations During The Month Of Ramadan The Kuwaiti authorities have introduced tough controls on the work of charities during the holy month of Ramadan. The new measures prohibit collection of cash donations in mosques. Kuwait has been accused by US authorities of not doing enough to combat the financing of terrorism. However, the latest US State Department report on international terrorism stressed that Kuwait has intensified its fight against terrorism on both the domestic and international fronts. Muslim Brotherhood The Seventh Day: Dalia Ziada: Brotherhood Relies On Islamic Awqaf In Europe To Raise Funds For Their Supporters Dalia Ziada, Executive Director of the Cairo-based Ibn Khaldum Center for Democratic Studies, said that the Muslim Brotherhood relies heavily on Islamic Awqaf (endowments) in Europe, for two main reasons. The first is to provide social services to Muslim communities, thus gaining their trust, support and consequently forming a powerful bloc that gives them political legitimacy and influence within the countries they operate. Ziada added, "The other reason for the Brotherhood's reliance on the Islamic Awqaf in Europe is purely economic, since in Western countries endowments are exempt from taxes. This allows them to receive donations from inside the country or from abroad, thereby enabling them to raise huge donations from their allies across the globe. In this way, the Brotherhood gains the ability to channel these funds to their followers in other countries such as in the Middle East, for example, or to spend them on election campaigns. This is what happened in Egypt in the past." The Seventh Day: Documents (Reveal) Brotherhood Plot To Blow Up The Cairo International Airport Investigations initiated by the Supreme State Security Prosecution's First Attorney General, Tamer Al-Fergany, unveiled the details of a scheme by members of the military wing of the Muslim Brotherhood to attack the Cairo International Airport late in 2015. The same Brotherhood cell was allegedly involved in the assassination of Egypt's Attorney General last year. According to documents prepared by the General Department of Criminal Evidence, an examination of computers seized from the Muslim Brotherhood defendants in the case of the Attorney General found files related to a plot to launch a bombing attack in the Cairo International Airport on September 29th, 2015. Hezbollah LebanonDebate: Second US Blacklist May Include Ministers And Mps From Hezbollah Economist Dr. Jassim Ajaqah stated that the US Treasury Assistant Secretary came to Lebanon with a clear objective: to ensure that the Lebanese state cannot in any way evade the application of the American law (against Hezbollah's financing network). Otherwise, a hefty price will be paid by Lebanon in the form of comprehensive sanctions against the banking system. Ajaqah added, "There are two key points in the US Assistant Secretary's speech: the first is that in contrast to some commentaries, he stressed that the Shiite community in Lebanon is not being targeted, knowing full well that the American law in question indicates that Hezbollah and its environment are indeed the target; the second point is that the law will not touch the Lebanese financial system. He clearly confirmed this in his statements, and this is a good sign. The confrontation between the Americans and Hezbollah has its limits. It seems that this ceiling is a guarantee that the financial system will not collapse. However, this does not mean we will not face difficulties in this area, but the banking system will not collapse. There are also rumors of a new US blacklist due to appear soon." Houthi Alghad TV: Houthi Threatening Crisis In The Largest Oil Company In Yemen Mustafa Nasr, head of the Media and Economic Studies Center in Yemen, stated that the strike by the employees of Safer, the Republic of Yemen's leading national oil and gas company, threatens to generate a crisis in the cooking gas and derivatives market. He added that the company is the country's sole source of cooking gas. Nasr attributed the drop in the company's revenues to the Houthi group's misuse of its funds ever since taking over control of Safer Co. and channeling all of its resources to the group's interests.