Eye on Extremism - September 12, 2016

Eye on Extremism September 12, 2016 Counter Extremism Project Dallas Morning News: Safer Or Not, Living With Terror Is Now An American Pastime “Tyler Carson moved from Arlington to New York in May to pursue a career in acting. Since then, he's become more paranoid about his safety. He eyes people with suspicion, especially on the subway or in other public places. Security measures at airports seem helpful, he said, but he believes it's difficult for authorities to thwart "mass shootings and mass stabbings and mass whateverings" in other areas. "If I wanted to kill a thousand people in a day, all I would have to do is walk into a subway station where there's not a damn lick of security, with a bomb on me," said Carson, 22, a recent University of Texas at Arlington graduate. "And all of the sudden, everybody's dead." CNN: At Least 90 Killed In Syria, Including 28 Children, After Ceasefire Plan Announced “At least 90 people were killed in airstrikes that rained down on northwestern Syria on Saturday and Sunday, a rights group said. The surge in violence came just hours after the US and Russia announced a new ceasefire plan. The airstrikes landed in the rebel-held areas of Idlib in the northwest and Aleppo in the north of the country, according to the monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The worst strikes were in Idlib, where at least 61 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in an attack that targeted a crowded market, an activist who witnessed the bombing and its aftermath told CNN.” The Wall Street Journal: New Tricks Make ISIS, Once Easily Tracked, A Sophisticated Opponent “Terror attacks in Europe, which have killed more than 200 people in the past 20 months, reflect new operational discipline and technical savvy by the Islamic State terrorists who carried them out, security officials said. The extremist group’s communications, once commonly conducted on phones and social media accounts easily tracked by authorities, have evolved into a mix of encrypted chat-app messages over WhatsApp and Telegram, face-to-face meetings, written notes, stretches of silence and misdirection. These techniques helped protect attackers from Western intelligence agencies by leaving few electronic clues in a sea of intercepted data. Some were committed by people who appear to have received little direct training from Islamic State. Officials worry such attacks could be a way to distract intelligence services while militants prepare more complex plots.” Daily Mail: British ISIS Recruiter Sally Jones Is 'Training An All-Female Unite Of Foreign Jihadis To Carry Out Attacks In English Speaking Countries' “Sally Jones, the British woman who fled to ISIS-held territory with her young son, is training foreign fighters to execute attacks in English-speaking countries, it was claimed last night. Jones, a former punk rocker, has become one of the world's most wanted female terrorists after leaving Kent in 2013 to marry late ISIS fighter Junaid Hussain. In a new development, she has been entrusted with leading the secretive female wing of the Anwar al-Awlaki battalion which is composed of English speaking fighters, sources told the Daily Telegraph.” Daily Beast: Now ISIS Turning Women Into Cannon Fodder In France “Whether out of desperation or by design, the so-called Islamic State has turned to women and children to try to carry out a new wave of attacks in France, and possibly elsewhere. The first disturbing hint of the conspiracy came Sunday a week ago, when a car was found abandoned early in the morning near Notre Dame Cathedral, a prime tourist destination at the historical and religious heart of Paris. In the trunk were five large canisters of cooking gas, and three bottles of diesel fuel. From the beginning, it looked like the kind of low-grade soft-target terror plot that the self-proclaimed ISIS caliphate has made a key part of its strategy to demoralize the West, and especially France.” Reuters: Islamic State Twin Suicide Bombings At Baghdad Mall Kill 12 “Twelve people were killed late on Friday in two suicide bombings claimed by Islamic State at a shopping mall in eastern Baghdad, police and hospital sources said. More than 40 people were wounded in the attack at Nakheel Mall across from the oil ministry, the sources said. One bomb went off at the entrance to the mall, the other in the parking lot. Unconfirmed amateur video published on Facebook showed what appeared to be four separate fires, including two cars engulfed in flames, under a highway overpass near the mall amid the wailing sirens of first responders.” The Huffington Post: Islamic State Receiving Weapons From Eastern Europe In ‘Rapid’ New Supply Chain Says Arms Expert “Islamic State fighters are illegally using guns and other weapons made in Eastern European factories, in a newly-discovered supply chain that is ‘almost direct’, a weapons expert has claimed. James Bevan, the director of Conflict Armament Research (CAR), told The Huffington Post UK that investigations this summer have seen a rapid, frightening change in the source of weapons used by the so-called Islamic State to fight other groups and carry out massacres. These weapons are moving from Eastern Europe to Islamic State in Iraq and Syria within weeks through a ‘very rapid’ transfer through several countries, according to Bevan, whose company tracks the movement of illegal weapons. Up until now, IS’s weapons were mainly guns formerly used by the Iraqi army, including some American-made weapons given to it by the US army when they withdrew from Iraq between 2007 and 2011.” New York Post: Sniper Takes Out ISIS Executioner From A Mile Away “A sharpshooter killed a top ISIS executioner and three other jihadists with a single bullet from nearly a mile away — just seconds before the fiend was set to burn 12 hostages alive with a flamethrower, according to a new report. The British Special Air Service marksman turned one of the most hated terrorists in Syria into a fireball by using a Barett .50-caliber rifle to strike a fuel tank affixed to the jihadi’s back, the UK’s Daily Star reported Sunday. The pack exploded, killing the sadistic terrorist and three of his flunkies, who were supposed to film the execution, last month, the paper said.” The Indian Express: Fifteen Years After 9/11 Al-Qaeda Is Back, More Powerful Than Ever “The day that would change the world was drawing inexorably closer. And as it did, explosives expert Muhammad Salah al-Din al-Zaidan sent furious messages from his home in Kabul’s Kart-i Parwan to Osama Bin Laden, calling the 9/11 plot a rash act that would endanger al-Qaeda’s infrastructure inside Afghanistan, and choke Islamist groups worldwide. The head of al-Qaeda’s shari’a committee, Mahfouz Ould al-Walid, joined this dissent. The US would level the Taliban’s Emirate, and the loss of the world’s one Islamic state would cripple jihadist movements everywhere, he argued. 9/11 proved them right: the destruction was a vanity, not a strategic act. Inside six months, the group’s infrastructure in Afghanistan had been levelled, and much of its cutting-edge leadership killed or arrested.” Deutsche Welle: German Interior Minister: Germany Has 520 Potential Attackers “In addition to the 520 ‘potential attackers’ de Maiziere cited in his interview with German daily ‘Bild’ on Saturday, he said there were a further 360 ‘relevant’ people, known to police for their proximity to the potential attackers. ‘The troublemakers are persons where certain facts suggest that they will commit politically motivated crimes of considerable importance,’ he added, in an interview ahead of the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the US, which takes place on Sunday. De Maiziere appealed to all Muslims to distance themselves from Islamist terrorism, saying it was important that they recognized any radicalization patterns within their communities and intervened in good time.” International Business Times: ISIS Vows To Kill Christians With Chainsaws: Islamic State Fighters Plot Massacre At Belgium Shopping Mall “Islamic State group supporters are reportedly plotting to kill Christians with chainsaws at a shopping center in Belgium, according to a teenage boy under investigation in Belgium for threatening to murder Christians. The terror plot underscores the militant group's ongoing war on Christians and other people of faith, including Muslims who do not accept its violent beliefs. Supporters of the militant group also known as ISIS have carried out lone wolf attacks in the United States, France, Belgium and other nations in recent months, but it's unclear whether the chainsaw massacre plot is a serious threat. British tabloids reported Friday that the teenager boy is the son of a radical Imam in the eastern Belgian city of Verviers. He was reportedly arrested after he called for the murder of Christians while down the street. He told police about the chainsaw plot while being questioned.” BBC: 'IS-Inspired' Australian Man Charged With Terrorism “Police in Australia have charged a 22-year-old man with committing a terrorist act and attempted murder in southwest Sydney. They say he was inspired by the Islamic State (IS) group. Officers say the attacker repeatedly stabbed a 59-year-old man in a suburban park and then tried to stab a policeman. A large knife has been seized from the accused, who will appear in court later on Sunday. The victim, who was reportedly walking his dog in the park, suffered injuries to his body and hands, and remains in hospital in a serious condition. Although the authorities say they believe the attacker was inspired by IS, they do not think he has close ties to any extremist organisation.” United States CNN: Kerry Announces US-Russia Deal On Syrian Ceasefire “The United States and Russia have announced a plan to bring about a ceasefire in Syria, US Secretary of State John Kerry said. ‘Today we are announcing an arrangement that we think has the capability of sticking, but it's dependent on people's choices,’ Kerry said Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, appearing alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Kerry said the pact calls for the Syrian government and the opposition to respect a nationwide ceasefire scheduled to take effect at sundown Monday. The Syrian regime announced its support of the ceasefire deal Saturday, according to the state-run al-Ikhbariya TV.” Fox News: On 9-11 Anniversary, Homeland's Johnson Says Advanced Plots Unknown To Public Foiled 'All The Time' “As the United States on Sunday prepares to mark the 15th anniversary of the 9-11 terror attacks, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says terror plots, unbeknownst to the public, have been disrupted ‘all of the time’ since he started running the agency. ‘We have prevented a number of actors from carrying out their intent at the very latest stages of their plotting and planning,’ Johnson told Fox News on Friday. Nearly 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001, when al Qaeda high-jackers took down four U.S. commercial jets, including two flown into the twin World Trade Center towers. Johnson also said the new wave of potential terror strikes is coming with little warning and in more undetectable ways.” Bloomberg: U.S.-Russian Syria Deal Lacks A Key Element: Trust “This time is different, or so U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would have us believe. A new Russian-U.S. agreement to ensure a cessation of hostilities in Syria, indeed, goes further than previous efforts, but the lack of mutual trust between the negotiators has the potential to turn the deal into a clone of the less-than-successful Minsk cease-fire agreements for Ukraine. The agreements, five separate documents, won’t be published, ostensibly to prevent Islamist groups from disrupting the humanitarian effort that should follow the deal. That in itself is a good sign: It means the sides are really going to try to implement it rather than argue publicly about who’s to blame for renewed violence. But it also means only the general outlines of the deal are available.” Syria Reuters: Jets Hit Rebel-Held Syrian City Of Idlib, Kill At Least 25 - Witnesses “Jets struck a busy market place in the rebel-held Syrian city of Idlib on Saturday, killing at least twenty five people, including children and women, and injuring dozens, rescue workers and residents said. Two civil defence workers told Reuters via internet that bodies were still being pulled out of the rubble of collapsed buildings in a market place in the city that is the provincial capital of the northwestern province of Idlib. One resident and rescue workers say they thought that the jets were Russian, which they said can be identified by their high altitude flying in sorties, unlike Syrian helicopters that hit at lower altitudes.” BBC: Syria War: Cessation Of Hostilities Due To Start At Sunset “A cessation of hostilities is due to start in Syria at sunset on Monday, after a weekend of air strikes. The 10-day truce is due to be followed by co-ordinated US-Russian air strikes against jihadist militants. Syrian state media reported that President Bashar al-Assad welcomed the deal, which was reached late on Friday in Geneva after months of talks between Russia and the US. But it is unclear whether rebel factions will abide by it. The Free Syrian Army group has written to the United States administration saying that while it would ‘co-operate positively’ with the ceasefire, it was concerned it would benefit the government.” Bloomberg: Powerful Syrian Rebel Group Says It Won’t Respect Cease-Fire “A powerful Syrian rebel group allied to al-Qaeda’s wing in Syria said it won’t respect a cease-fire due to start Monday, putting in jeopardy a Russian and U.S. plan meant to ease the country’s humanitarian crisis and pave the way to peace talks. Ahrar Al Sham ‘is not bound by the truce and won’t abide by it’ because that would benefit the forces of President Bashar al-Assad, spokesman Abu Yousef Al-Muhajir said in comments posted Sunday on an opposition website, Enab Baladi. The Islamist rebel group signed on to an earlier cease-fire brokered by Russia and the U.S. in February, though it didn’t take part in peace negotiations in Geneva that collapsed under resurgent violence. The latest U.S.-Russian agreement, unveiled Friday after marathon talks in the Swiss city, reflects only those two countries’ intentions, the rebel official said.” The Wall street Journal: Syria Rebels Press Fight Against Assad “A dominant Syrian rebel group is seeking to rally other factions to continue a drive to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, potentially complicating a U.S.-Russia brokered cease-fire deal slated to start Monday. The U.S.-Russia agreement, reached over the weekend, envisions a seven-day cease-fire starting Monday evening, during which time rebels must separate themselves from Syria Conquest Front or risk being targeted by Moscow and Washington in airstrikes. The Front, formerly al Qaeda’s local branch and previously known as Nusra Front, is viewed by the U.S. and Russia as a terrorist group. The ultimatum highlights one of the most challenging aspects of the five-year Syrian conflict and the fresh U.S.-Russia efforts to end it: How to hive off those viewed as extremist from more mainstream groups.” Iraq Radio Free Europe: Islamic State Has Suffered Its Worst Defeat Yet: A Moral One “What a difference a month makes. At the start of August, the extremist group that calls itself Islamic State (IS) controlled a large part of the border between Syria and Turkey, while the U.S.-backed Syrian Defense Forces (SDF), a multiethnic group made up primarily of Kurdish YPG fighters, raced to recapture as much of that territory as they could, as quickly as they could. On August 24, Turkish tanks and soldiers crossed the border near Jarablus and have since driven IS out of the entire border area. The Turkish military and the Syrian rebel groups it directly supports have advanced approximately 20 kilometers south and 50 kilometers west from Jarablus in just two weeks.” Turkey BBC: Turkey 'Has Duty' To Defeat Islamic State Group In Syria “Turkey has a duty to defeat the so-called Islamic State (IS) in neighbouring Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said. He called it a ‘binding duty’, to ensure the militants were ‘unable to carry out actions inside our country’. Turkey's military said its warplanes killed 20 IS fighters during air raids over Syria on Saturday. A 10-day truce is due to start in Syria on Monday, followed by co-ordinated air strikes against jihadist militants. The cessation of hostilities was agreed on Friday between the US and Russia, which is an ally of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.” The Guardian: Turkey Says It Foiled 'Graveside Bomb Plot' Against AKP Deputy Chairman “Turkish authorities on Saturday said they had foiled a plot to blow up the deputy chairman of the ruling party with hundreds of kilos of explosives buried under a graveyard close to his family cemetery plot. The governorate in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakır said that 640 kilos of explosives had been discovered at five different points in the cemetery in the Bismil district, close to the grave of the mother of the Justice and Development party (AKP) deputy chairman, Mehdi Eker. Reports said that Eker was preparing to travel to the cemetery on Sunday for a customary annual visit to pay his respects to deceased relatives ahead of the Eid al-Adha Islamic holiday.” Reuters: Prominent Journalist, Academic Held In Turkey Coup Probe: Reports “Turkish authorities detained a prominent journalist and his brother, a well-known academic, on Saturday as part of investigations into a failed coup attempt in July they blame on followers of a U.S.-based Turkish cleric. Ahmet Altan, a writer and former editor-in-chief of the Taraf newspaper, and his brother Mehmet were detained for questioning over their comments on a TV show a day before the putsch, according to local media reports and P24, an Istanbul-based association supporting independent journalism. Taraf, one of dozens of media outlets closed since the coup attempt, was seen as close to the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Turkey for orchestrating the failed putsch. The cleric denies any involvement. Turkish prosecutors and police could not immediately be reached for comment.” Reuters: Erdogan Says PKK Trying To Disrupt Turkey's Operation In Syria “Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that Kurdish militants had been trying to step up their attacks since a failed coup attempt in July and that they had a clear aim of disrupting Turkey's military operations in Syria. ‘We see that the PKK terrorist organization has been trying to intensify its activities in our border areas after July 15. These attacks, which have the clear objective of disrupting Turkey's Syria operation, are still ongoing,’ Erdogan said in a message to mark the Muslim Eid al Adha holiday. He also said that Turkey had a duty to ‘finish off’ Islamic State in Syria and prevent it from carrying out attacks in Turkey, and that the Turkish military incursion launched two and a half weeks ago was a first step in that ambition.” CNN: Turkey Replaces 28 Mayors, Sparking Outcry, Protests “Turkey's government replaced 28 mayors, whom the Interior Ministry accuses of terrorist ties, with trustees, sparking demonstrations and international concern. The mayors are the latest to find themselves targeted in President Recep Erdogan's post-coup state of emergency, enacted in July. According to the 10-day-old Decree Law No. 674, the government is allowed to replace mayors and city council members who ‘have been actively engaged in acts of terrorism and openly providing support to terrorism,’ an Interior Ministry statement said.” Afghanistan Voice Of America: Afghanistan, Hekmatyar On Verge Of Signing Long-Delayed Peace Deal “Top Afghan officials and representatives of an anti-government armed group, led by former warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, have reported major progress in their protracted peace negotiations and both sides are expected to sign a deal, possibly sometime on Saturday. President Ashraf Ghani’s national unity government for months has been engaged in talks with Hekmatyar’s Hezb-i-Islami (HIA) faction, with disagreements repeatedly stalling the much-touted peace process. Renewed hopes for the long-delayed agreement stem from late Friday’s announcement made by the fugitive warlord’s son, Habibur Rehman Hekmatyar, on his official Facebook page. He said that HIA and the Afghan government have agreed on all the articles of the draft peace document ‘and God willing, it will be announced on Saturday.’” Reuters: Afghan Security Forces Plan Push To Relieve Besieged Provincial Capital “Afghan forces backed by air strikes are preparing a new offensive to clear Taliban militants encircling the capital of Afghanistan's province of Uruzgan, where the two sides have fought bitter clashes, officials said on Saturday. Street-to-street fighting in Tarin Kot, the provincial capital, where Taliban fighters rampaged to within a few meters (yards) of the government center on Thursday, has quieted as the frontline has moved 15 to 20 km (9 to 12 miles) away, said Dost Mohammed Nayab, the provincial governor's spokesman.  The Taliban attack, in one of Afghanistan's top opium-producing areas, reveals how thinly stretched Afghan security forces have become as they try to contain Islamist insurgents fighting to overthrow the Western-backed government in Kabul.” Reuters: Ethnic Tensions, Taliban Attacks Pose Traps For Afghan Leader “Taliban advances and a shootout between gunmen from rival ethnic groups in Kabul that carried echoes of Afghanistan's 1990s civil war have underlined the threats facing President Ashraf Ghani two years after he came to power. The skirmish earlier this month in the capital, sparked by a row over plans to re-bury a former Tajik king, was relatively minor by Afghan standards, but also a rare open display of hostility between ethnic groups that often simmers under the surface yet defines decades of conflict. At the same time, the Taliban have stepped up operations only weeks before a major conference of international donors to Afghanistan in Brussels.” The New York Times: Afghan Police Chief Is Killed As He Tries To Turn Tide Against Taliban “A hard-charging Afghan police chief with deep experience in Afghanistan’s long conflict with the Taliban was killed in a blast on Sunday in the country’s eastern Nangarhar Province, which has been under threat from the Taliban and affiliates of the Islamic State.The police chief, Gen. Zarawar Zahid, was visiting an outpost in the Hisarak district when explosives placed near the outpost detonated, according to Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar. One of General Zahid’s bodyguards was wounded, Mr. Khogyani said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the killing, according to a statement by the insurgency’s spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid. The attack came a week after twin bombings outside Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense killed at least 40 people, including several senior security officials.” Voice Of America: Students, Young Professionals Increasingly Targeted In Afghanistan “Militants are increasingly targeting young professionals, schools, and educated members of society in Afghanistan and neighboring Pashtun areas in Pakistan. Experts say the tactic is aimed at increasing the number of uneducated youth – a prime demographic targeted by militant group recruiters. Hundreds of educated Afghans have died in terrorist attacks, and dozens of schools have been bombed, burned, or closed by the Taliban and other insurgent groups. Militants last month stormed the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, killing several students and faculty members. The university attack took place not long after two university professors, an American and an Australian, were kidnapped while on their way to work. Attacks on the educational elite have been stepped up too in neighboring Pakhtunkhwa and northern Balochistan in Pakistan.” Egypt BBC: Giulio Regeni: Egypt Says It Investigated Murdered Student “Egyptian police investigated Italian student Giulio Regeni shortly before his abduction, torture and murder, Egyptian and Italian prosecutors say. But the inquiry was dropped after concluding he posed no threat, the prosecutors add. It is the first official Egyptian acknowledgement that Regeni was being monitored by the security services, correspondents say. His body, showing signs of torture, was found dumped near Cairo on 3 February. The 28-year-old Cambridge University student had been researching trade unions, a politically sensitive subject in Egypt, when he went missing in Cairo on 25 January.” Middle East Haaretz: After FBI Tip-Off, Israel Arrests Two For $600,000 Cybercrime Operation “Two 18-year-old Israeli men who are believed to have earned over $600,000 running a massive cybercrime operation were arrested Thursday, after the FBI alerted Israel Police of their activities. Itay Huri and Yarden Bidani were released on bail with conditions. U.S. cybercrime investigator Brian Krebs, a former Washington Post staffer and among the best-known writers on data security in the world, reported last week on his blog about a major cybercrime operation in which Huri and Bidani were implicated. The Israelis are allegedly behind vDOS, a web service that helps customers carry out so-called distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) for the purpose of knocking websites offline. Such DDoS attacks work by flooding the targeted website from multiple computers until it crashes.” CNN: Israel Targets Syrian Artillery After Projectile Lands In Golan Heights “Israeli aircraft struck Syrian artillery positions Saturday after a projectile fired from its northern war-torn neighbor struck the Golan Heights, the Israel Defense Forces said. The IDF said it was the third projectile to have crossed from Syria into the Golan this week, including one Sunday and another Wednesday. No injuries were reported in any of the incidents. The Israeli military said it holds the Syrian government ‘accountable for this blatant breach of Israeli sovereignty. The IDF will continue to act in order to safeguard Israel and its civilians.’ The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency on Saturday said an Israeli rocket struck ‘a site in Quneitra in support of the terrorist groups.’” Libya Reuters: Eastern Libyan Commander's Forces Seize Key Oil Ports “Forces loyal to east Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar on Sunday seized at least two key oil ports from a rival force loyal to the U.N.-backed government, risking a new conflict over the OPEC nation's resources. Ahmed al-Mismari, a spokesman for Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), said its fighters had full control of Es Sider, Ras Lanuf, Brega and Zueitina after launching an early morning military operation on the eve of the Muslim holiday of Eid. The attacks on Libya's major oil ports by Haftar, who opposes the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), could derail efforts to restart production.” Germany Sputnik: Germany Warns Daesh Foreign Fighters To Return To Europe By Thousands “German security agencies estimate that thousands of EU-born Islamist militants may be on their way home soon after fighting intensified in Syria and Iraq, German media reported Sunday. Daesh terrorist group has been losing ground in the Middle East. Out of some 6,000 foreigners fighting in its ranks, a third could be back home before long, officials told German newspaper Die Welt. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in an interview with the Bild newspaper on Saturday that over 500 potential Islamist attackers were estimated to live in Germany, and cautioned about the threat coming from small strike groups and lone-wolf terrorists.” France CNN: Woman Charged In Plot To Attack Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral “French authorities have charged a woman in relation to an alleged ISIS plot to attack this city's famous Notre Dame Cathedral last week, the Paris prosecutor's office said. The woman, whose name was given as Ornella G., was charged Saturday night with ‘terrorist criminal association to commit crimes against people’ and ‘attempted assassinations as an organized gang in connection with a terrorist enterprise,’ the office said. The prosecutor, Francois Molins, whose office handles terrorism investigations, said Friday that the woman's fingerprints were found last Sunday in a car containing a half-dozen gas cylinders and left parked in front of Notre Dame, in the heart of Paris. Five of the cylinders were reportedly full. No detonator or firing device was found.” BBC: France Foiling Terror Plots 'Daily' - Prime Minister Manuel Valls “The French prime minister has said the country's security services are foiling terror plots and dismantling militant networks ‘every day’. Manual Valls said about 15,000 people were being monitored for radicalisation as the country continues its drive against jihadist militants. Previously the authorities said about 10,000 were identified as high-risk. A boy of 15 was arrested at his home in Paris on Saturday on suspicion of planning an attack over the weekend. Investigators said he had been under surveillance since April and he had been in touch with a French member of so-called Islamic State (IS), Rachid Kassim. Financing of Terrorism ONA News Agency: Egypt: Army Succeeds In Drying Up Financing Of Terrorism “Major General Mahmoud Elshahawy, College Command and Staff Advisor, claimed on Sunday that Egyptian armed forces have carried out 500 high-quality operations against terrorists in Sinai. He added that armed forces have developed a strategy focusing on the offensive. Elshahawy asserted that "Operation Martyr's Right", launched by the armed forces in the Sinai more than a year ago, is aimed at eliminating the terrorist groups. He also stressed that armed forces have succeeded in drying up the financing of terrorists.” Alwasat: The Use Of 'Skins Of Sacrificial Animals Economy' By Terrorist Organizations “Existing between the spiritual practice of slaughtering sacrificial animals and the financing of terrorist activities are multiple stories and facts about the so-called "skins of sacrificial animals economy" and related habits during the most important holiday celebrated by Muslims around the world. This neglected portion of sacrificed animals translates into billions of dollars, divided between charities and militant groups. In Pakistan, Eid al-Adha is witnessing massive competition each year in the collection and selling of sacrificial animals skins. Economists insist that trade in these skins bring in millions of dollars of income to militant groups. The slaughter of cattle and sources of terrorism constitute hot issues each year during Eid al-Adha celebrations in Pakistan, even though the government has taken strict measures to dry up such sources of funding for militant entities.” Annahar: Lebanese Minister: Corruption Is Main Source Of Terrorist Financing “The Fifth Conference of the "Arab Anti-Corruption and Integrity Network", which was held in Tunisia, culminated with a speech delivered by outgoing Lebanese Minister of Justice Ashraf Rifi, who stressed that "terrorism and corruption are two sides of the same coin." Rifi also hailed the work of the Arabic Network and the efforts of the participants, "who are pioneers in promoting integrity and combating corruption, because it is one of the main sources of the global financing of terrorism.” ISIS RTV: Documents Proving 'Marriage' Between ISIS Terrorists And Underage Girls In Exchange For Money “Iraqi forces in Anbar Province uncovered documents proving the "marriage" of ISIS terrorists to underage girls. The documents were found in the vicinity of Al-Khaldiya, a town which was recently liberated from ISIS. They include so-called "marriage certificates" dating back to 2015, as well as information on "wives" of terrorists belonging to the organization and data on children who were born from these marriages. One of the documents showed that the amount received by a terrorist in exchange for his marriage to a 'minor girl' was 45,000 Iraqi dinars, equivalent to $38. He received an additional 15,000 Iraqi dinars, the equivalent of $12, for every child born from such a marriage.” Muslim Brotherhood Moheet: News Concerning Defection Of Mahmoud Ezzat From The Muslim Brotherhood. “Media reports have dropped a bombshell—claiming Mahmoud Ezzat, acting Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, will declare his defection from the group in the upcoming days. The reports say this move comes after he suffered heavy criticism, including accusations by youth leaders in the group that he took control over funds gathered through donations. Media reports revealed that leaders of the Brotherhood's international organization are pressuring Ezzat to announce his resignation in order to protect the group from divisions, which have recently began to hit it.” 24: Egypt: Severance Of "Kafr El-Sheikh Brotherhood" From The International Organization Of The Group “In a new crisis mounting within the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the group's leaders in the province of Kafr El-Sheikh announced their complete separation from the group's veteran leadership faction headed by Mahmoud Ezzat. Instead, they declare their loyalty to the Young Faction led by Dr. Mohamed Kamal who is fugitive in Turkey. Sources disclosed that Brotherhood members dismissed the outcome of recent elections after Mahmoud Ezzat's loyalists took power in the province. For his part, Mohammed Kamel, a researcher in affairs of Islamic movements, stressed that the crisis within the Muslim Brotherhood stems from Mahmoud Ezzat's tightening control over the group's affairs, especially after taking control of funds coming to the organization from the inside {Egypt} and abroad. He blocked {any money transfers} to all offices that have not pledged allegiance to his faction.” Almesryoon: Egypt: Establishment Of New Committee To Seize, Manage And Dispose Of Funds Belonging To Terrorist Groups “The {Egyptian} Council of Ministers approved a draft law for establishment of a new committee for appropriation, management and disposition of funds belonging to terrorist groups and entities and those associated with them. Under this law, the new committee will replace the current Muslim Brotherhood Asset Freeze Committee. Its legal status will be reinforced by an article prohibiting its disbanding. The law will also prevent the administrative courts, which over the past two years have issued hundreds of rulings to invalidate the seizure of Brotherhood funds, from reviewing appeals on the decisions of the new committee.” The Seventh Day: Secretary General Of The International Organization Of The Muslim Brotherhood Admits Misusing Funds “Ibrahim Munir, Secretary General of the Muslim Brotherhood's International Organization, admitted to misappropriating the group's funds. He said in a statement, published through the media center of the Muslim Brotherhood in London, that the current internal dispute is undesirable but is nothing new. It is not the first in the history of the group, nor will it be the last, and though there have been many reasons {for the dispute}, it always ends the same. Munir added, "We are a humane society, but what is painful this time is the use of the media and spending Allah's money on things it should not be spent on, because there are {people} who need it.” Veto: Expert Accuses Muslim Brotherhood Of Stealing 350 Gold Bars “Sheikh Nabil Naim, former leader of the Islamic Jihadist movement in Egypt, said that the admission by Ibrahim Munir, Secretary of the International Organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, of misusing the group's funds is nothing new. He claimed that the leaders of the group are "a bunch of thieves", and Ibrahim Munir himself leads them. Naim accused the Brotherhood of stealing 350 gold bars designated for financing food supplies to Jihadists in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Gaza.” Houthi Treckat: Houthi Militiamen Assault Merchant In Yarim And Steal His Car And Money “The Houthi militia assaulted the owner of petrol filling station in the district of Yarim in central Yemen's Ibb Governorate. This is part of a continuing series of violations of rights as well as of private and public freedoms carried out by Houthis in the governorate. Local sources reported that two days ago, Houthi militias assaulted businessman Khaled Al Obeidi, the owner of al-Obeidi station at the entrance of the city of Yarim. The incident took place while al-Obeidi was driving his car with his family. Militiamen took over al-Obeidi's car and the money in his possession, meant to pay his dues to the oil company. The Houthis also confiscated his personal weapon.”