Eye on Extremism September 15, 2016

Eye on Extremism September 15, 2016  Associated Press: US Official Says IS Has Lost Half Its Territory In Iraq “Iraqi forces aided by the U.S.-led coalition have retaken half the territory the Islamic State group once held in the country, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday during a visit to Baghdad. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken also announced $181 million to address a humanitarian crisis that has festered in Iraq despite progress on the battlefield. More than 3.3 million Iraqis remain displaced from their homes due to violence, according to the United Nations. Despite a series of major defeats in recent months, IS still controls Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. Iraq hopes to launch an operation to retake Mosul this year, which U.N. and U.S. officials say could displace another 1 million people. Blinken said the way authorities handle the potential displacement in Mosul will be an important ‘test case’ for lasting political reconciliation in the country. Iraq remains deeply divided, with many in the Sunni minority viewing the Shiite-led government with suspicion and ethnic Kurds in the north pursuing greater autonomy.” CNN: US, Russia Agree To Extend Ceasefire For Another 48 Hours “US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov agreed to extend the ceasefire in Syria for another 48 hours, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters Wednesday. Toner acknowledged the situation hasn't been perfect. ‘We've seen violations by both sides,’ he said, adding, ‘we're continuing to monitor this very closely.’ The move comes as the ceasefire in the brutal civil war appears to be holding into its second day, with one monitoring group reporting no deaths in the area covered by the US-Russia agreement. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Wednesday said no fatalities have occurred in Homs, Latakia, Hama, the Damascus suburbs, Idlib and the rest of the Syrian areas included in the deal that began Monday.” The Wall Street Journal: Syria Aid Deliveries Stall On Border “Truckloads of humanitarian supplies were waiting at the Turkish border on Wednesday while the United Nations sought to negotiate safe passage for the aid to the besieged half of the Syrian city of Aleppo. Security guarantees were needed for the 20 trucks and their drivers before moving into Syria at the Bab al-Hawa crossing, U.N. officials said. U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said both the government and some opposition forces were to blame for the standoff over aid deliveries to the rebel-held part of the city. Armed forces from several parties in the multisided war are present along the routes to Aleppo. Despite a sharp drop in violence since a nationwide cease-fire brokered by Russia and the U.S. went into effect on Monday, no aid has yet entered Syria.” Deutsche Welle: German Intelligence Agency Says Terror Perpetrators Are 'Controlled From Afar' “After the arrest of three Syrian terror suspects residing in northern German refugee shelters, Hans-Georg Maassen has sounded the alarm. ‘We are concerned about the new type of perpetrator who seems to be acting alone,’ the head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), told journalists in Berlin on Wednesday. Maassen said these potential attackers are presumably given orders by foreign terror leaders through encrypted instant messaging services. ‘This scenario is especially challenging for security authorities - as is the uncovering of sleeper cells,’ he stressed. Maassen said their case is an example of ‘hybrid warfare.’ Attacks are ordered through social networks like Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram, where ‘perpetrators themselves are safe and not recognized.’” Express: Twitter Accused Of Being 'Terrorist Recruiting Platform' By UK Parliament Amid ISIS Crisis “The social media site has been accused of being a ‘recruiting platform’ for terrorists in the Commons report. And the Home Affairs committee said it is ‘consciously failing’ to act and is even refusing to cooperate with police proactively. The report will make uncomfortable reading for House of Lords Baroness Martha Lane Fox who is sitting on its board. And it will only heap pressure from investors who are have been engaging in a sell off. The committee found that Twitter had suspended over 125,000 accounts globally that were linked to terrorists. The Commons report also looked at other internet giants however singled out the micro blogging site for the harshest critcism.” The New York Times: Refugees Pour Out Of Turkey Once More As Deal With Europe Falters “The number of Syrians and others fleeing Turkey for Greece is growing rapidly once again as an agreement reached months ago to curb the flood of refugees into Europe seems to be on the verge of collapse. Until recently, the deal between Turkey and the European Union, meant to contain the worst migrant crisis faced by the Continent since World War II, seemed to be working quite well. Departures plummeted, and the pressure on European leaders from far-right politicians opposed to migration appeared to ease. But that has started to change. More than a thousand migrants, including Syrians, Afghans, Pakistanis and Iraqis, arrived in Greece last week, nearly double the number the previous week, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. That is still far below the roughly 1,700 arriving in Greece every day at the height of the crisis last year, but far more than the 50 arrivals a day in the relatively placid months after the deal was reached.” BBC: Why Al-Qaeda's Star Is Rising ‘It is a pretty astonishing story of rebirth. Ten years ago al-Qaeda was on the run. It had lost training camps, money and men - crushed by American and Pakistani operations. And then, to make matters worse, its local franchise in Iraq went off the rails, becoming so barbaric that al-Qaeda's own supporters turned against it. So how did al-Qaeda turn things around? In a word: strategy. It learnt from its mistakes and went on a charm offensive - delivering gas and water to people, taking over bakeries and selling cut-price bread. And it seems to be working. Al-Qaeda and its affiliates are known to operate in Syria and Iraq, in Afghanistan and in Yemen, and in several African countries including Mali, Somalia and Niger. While IS is losing support all over the Middle East, al-Qaeda's star is rising. In fact, it is now so popular that, in the long run, al-Qaeda may pose the greater threat.” CNS News: Yazidi Girl On ISIS Genocide: 'Everyone Was Dead,' I Looked At The Dead Bodies Of My Father, Brother, And 4 Uncles “In a video about the Islamic State’s genocidal attacks on the Yazidi people in Sinjar, Iraq, a girl who survived said that after the invasion “everyone was dead,” and she found herself looking at the dead bodies of her father, brother, and four uncles. When her brother and sister saw their dead father, they fainted. The Islamic State, or ISIS, invaded Sinjar in northern Iraq in August 2014. According to the U.N. Human Rights Council, more than 3,200 Yazidi women and children are still held by ISIS, many of them bought and sold as sex slaves, and “thousands of Yazidi men and boys are missing. The genocide of the Yazidis is ongoing.” Passengers On Board Russian Jet Blown Up Over Egypt Were Killed By 'Extreme Decompression' Says Report “The majority of the 224 Russian passengers and crew on a tourist flight hit by a bomb attack over Egypt died in mid-air from 'severe barotrauma' after the tail of the A321 airbus was blown off. An explosion in the oversized baggage compartment led to the loss of the plane 11 months ago over the Sinai peninsula, according to an international commission into the crash. A small bomb was hidden amongst children's pushchairs and cane chairs, bought by tourists as souvenirs, which detonated 22 minutes after take-off blowing the tail off the Kogalymavia aircraft leading to an 'uncontrolled dive'. Most passengers on the flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg 'died in the air from severe barotrauma' - rapidly changing air pressure after decompression, reported Moscow newspaper Kommersant.” ARA News: ISIS Survivor To Become UN Goodwill Ambassador “Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Nadia Murad Basee Taha from Shingal, who survived enslavement by ISIS, will be appointed UNODC Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. The appointment marks the first time a survivor of atrocities is bestowed with this distinction, according to the UNOD (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime).  The induction ceremony will take place upcoming Friday in the New York United Nations Headquarters, on the occasion of the International Day of Peace.” Haaretz: 29-Year-Old Male Seriously Wounded In Stabbing In Central Israeli City Of Ra'anana “A 29-year-old male was stabbed and seriously wounded in the central Israeli city of Ra'anana on Wednesday, according to Israel Police and emergency responders. Police believe the stabbing was criminally motivated. A Magen David Adom paramedic who treated the wounded man said that he found the wounded man fully conscious with several stab wounds to his body. He added that he has since been taken to a nearby hospital and is in serious but stable condition.” Fox News: Indiana Teen Indicted On Terrorism Charge, Accused Of Attempting To Join ISIS “An Indiana teen who allegedly tried to flee the country and join ISIS has been indicted on a terrorism charge. A federal grand jury issued the indictment on Wednesday afternoon. He’s been charged with one count of attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist. Officials stopped Akram Musleh, 18, on June 21, 2016 as he attempted to board a bus from Indianapolis to New York, where they say he planned to fly to Morocco on his way to territory controlled by ISIS. Court documents say he then planned to join the group.” NPR: How Boko Haram Is Keeping Polio Alive In Nigeria “Nigeria has to get rid of polio — again. Last year, the World Health Organization declared the country to be ‘polio-free.’ That milestone meant the disease was gone from the entire continent of Africa, a major triumph in the multibillion-dollar global effort to eradicate the disease. But that declaration of ‘polio-free’ turned out to be premature. Three new cases of polio have been confirmed in areas liberated from Boko Haram militants, prompting health officials to launch a massive campaign to vaccinate millions of children across four countries in West and Central Africa. Before the cases were found, the world appeared extremely close to making polio the second human disease after smallpox to be eradicated. There had been fewer than two dozen polio cases in 2016, clustered in Pakistan and Afghanistan.” Washington Times: U.S. Embassy Turns To 'Cafe Talk' To Counter Islamic State Recruitment In Arab World “From afar, it looks like any gathering of old friends engaged in a time-honored ritual, sipping coffee while the hours slip by in one of this North African city’s many cafes. But something more serious is going on. The young people around the table are actually participants in a program discreetly backed by the U.S. Embassy to spur serious discussions here on such topics as how groups like the Islamic State exploit social media — and what can be done to stop it.The program is called “Cafe Talk,” and it may well be the tip of the spear in the Obama administration’s much touted attempt to make so-called “Countering Violent Extremism” (CVE) initiatives more central to the world’s long-term fight against the terror group also known as ISIS and ISIL.” ARA News: Top Islamic State Officials Under Fire “The Islamic State’s (ISIS) official spokesman in Mosul was reported dead after gunfire raked his car in Iraq’s northwestern Nineveh Governorate, activists reported on Tuesday. Abu Isaac, the ISIS spokesman, was driving his car through central Mosul when a group of gunmen ambushed him and opened fire on his car. “Abu Isaac and two of his escorts were killed in the attack,” Raafat al-Zarari, head of Nineveh Media Centre, told ARA News. “At least three gunmen were involved in the operation. The gunmen remained unknown.” United States Reuters: Aligned With Russia In Syria, Pentagon Awkwardly Treads On New Terrain “For Pentagon officers who cut their teeth during the Cold War, the prospect of U.S. battlefield cooperation with Russia in Syria is not only uncomfortable. It's also unprecedented. Against that background, the reactions of U.S. military officials range from caution to outright skepticism over a Geneva-based ‘joint integration center’ that may soon bring together American and Russian militaries to discuss shared targets for the first time since World War Two. ‘There are challenges with this. There is a trust deficit with the Russians,’ acknowledged General Joseph Votel, head of the U.S. military's Central Command, even as he voiced support for the initiative at a forum on Wednesday. U.S. officials past and present voiced concerns about the initiative, underscoring the Pentagon's long-public criticism about the way Russia had been waging war in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and over Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.” Voice Of America: US Offers Humanitarian Aid As Iraq Prepares Mosul Offensive “The United States said on Wednesday it would give Iraq $181 million in humanitarian aid, anticipating a wave of displaced people when Iraqi forces launch a drive to recapture the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State. The advance on Mosul, the biggest city held by the militant group also known as ISIL, could begin as soon as next month. ‘We are now in a position where ISIL here in Iraq is increasingly on the run and on the ropes, and the urgent work ahead is to complete that effort. And Mosul, of course, is the big piece ahead of Iraq and ahead of us,’ Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Baghdad. On a visit to discuss planning for the offensive with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and other officials, he said the money would be used to pre-position emergency food and relief supplies.” The Jerusalem Post: US General: Israel Is Key To Fighting World’s Terrorism Problem “‘Israel is a key piece in the puzzle’ to solving the world’s growing terrorism problem, US Brig. Gen. (ret.) Russell Howard said Wednesday at the IDC Herzliya Conference on Counter-Terrorism on the university’s campus. Howard made the comment as part of a panel on learning lessons from recent major terror attacks around the world. He expressed confidence about the US ability’s to cope with the ongoing terror threat, but serious concern that Europe was not up to the job.  The retired general also said that Europe has a bigger problem as in 2015 it had around 5,000 European citizens fighting in Iraq and Syria, meaning it could have 5,000 battle-hardened terrorists returning back to its shores. In contrast, he put the number of US citizens fighting in the same area at a much more manageable 200.” Daily Caller: Report: US Gov’t Aid ‘Fueling’ The Taliban In Afghanistan “U.S. government aid intended to help rebuild Afghanistan has inadvertently supported the Taliban insurgency for years, according to a new report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). Corruption in Afghanistan has been a primary source ‘fueling’ the Taliban insurgency since the U.S. invasion in 2001, and a significant amount of that corruption involved U.S. aid, stated the report. SIGAR found that the U.S. government contributed to the problem by ‘injecting tens of billions of dollars’ into Afghanistan’s economy through flawed contracting and partnerships with ‘malign powerbrokers.’ The Afghan Threat Finance Cell (ATFC) found that U.S. aid was funding the Taliban insurgency after tracing the group’s funding sources. Assembled in 2008, the ATFC is tasked with identifying and disrupting any funding streams aiding the Taliban and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan.” Newsweek: U.S.-Led Coalition Destroys ISIS Chemical Weapons Factory Near Mosul “The U.S.-led coalition has destroyed a complex of buildings that housed an Islamic State militant group (ISIS) chemical weapons factory, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Air Force Lieutenant General Jeffrey Harrigian, who is in charge of the U.S. military’s air operations in the coalition, said that the elimination of the Iraq factory Monday had removed a ‘significant chemical threat’ to civilians. The factory, located near the northern city of Mosul, had been converted from pharmaceutical use to chemical weapons use. Forces battling ISIS on the ground in Syria and Iraq, such as the Syrian Kurds and the Kurdish Peshmerga, have accused the radical Islamist group of using chemical weapons and the Pentagon has confirmed that ISIS has used mustard gas and chlorine devices in its battle to expand its self-proclaimed caliphate.” USA Today: U.S. $38B Military Aid Package To Israel Sends A Message “The United States agreed Wednesday to provide Israel a record $38 billion in new military aid over the next decade. The pact is a sign of the two nations' close alliance despite major differences over Iran's nuclear program and other policies. The agreement, which equates to $3.8 billion a year, is the largest bilateral military aid package ever and includes $5 billion for missile defense, additional F-35 joint strike fighters and increased mobility for its ground forces. The aid package ‘is just the most recent reflection of my steadfast commitment to the security of the state of Israel,’ President Obama said in a statement.” Syria BBC: Syria Ceasefire: UN's Ban Ki-Moon Makes Aid Plea “UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged Russia and the US to push all warring sides in Syria to allow safe passage for desperately needed aid. Lorries with a month's food supply for 40,000 people are stuck at the Turkish border, 48 hours into a ceasefire. Getting aid to civilians in besieged areas like the rebel-held eastern half of the city of Aleppo is a priority. But disagreements between warring sides and concerns about safety are delaying emergency deliveries, the UN says. Criticism has also been levelled at President Bashar al-Assad's government for trying to control aid flows. ‘It's crucially important [that] the necessary security arrangements’ are made so the convoy can travel, Mr Ban said.” Turkey Associated Press: German Embassy, Consular Offices Temporarily Close In Turkey “Germany has temporarily closed its embassy, all other consular offices and a school in Turkey, reportedly due to fears of a possible attack. Germany's Bild newspaper reported Wednesday that the move was taken as a precaution after the Foreign Ministry learned of rumored attacks on consular facilities in Turkey during the Eid al-Adha holiday week. The Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the Bild report, but confirmed that its embassy in Ankara and other consular offices were closed to the public during the holiday week of Sept. 12-16.” The New York Times: Turkey’s Intelligentsia Kneels To Erdogan “The coup attempt was despicable and, despite the huge dragnet of arrests, has not been properly investigated — yet within hours, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called it ‘a gift of God.’ No wonder: It gave him a perfect pretext to root out anyone not completely loyal to him. Turkey now seems to me on an irreversible path toward dictatorship. Once Mr. Erdogan had named Fethullah Gulen, the Muslim cleric who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, as the coup’s mastermind, the demonization of the Gulen movement went out of control. Politicians from across the spectrum jumped on the bandwagon to label the movement the Fethullah Terrorist Organization, or FETO, despite the absence of any credible proof of terrorist activity. They were joined by numerous commentators and newspaper columnists, even self-described liberals, who uncritically adopted and legitimized this evidence-less label.” Afghanistan Sputnik: Afghanistan Taliban Opens New Propaganda Offensive Against Kabul “As the Afghan government continues to battle against the encroaching Taliban insurgency along with various terrorist groups seeking to gain a foothold in the country, it appears that Kabul’s enemies have now resorted to psychological warfare tactics. Apparently unable to defeat the Afghan government with conventional tactics alone, Taliban and terrorist groups operating in the country now try to sway the hearts and minds of the local population in their favor, seeking to drive a wedge between civilians and security forces. Second Vice President of Afghanistan Sarwar Danish told Sputnik that terrorist groups operating in the country now actively spread anti-government propaganda, aided by some unspecified foreign factions.” Yemen Reuters: Exclusive: Tankers Seized In Yemen Port, Risking Deeper Import Crisis “Authorities in a port controlled by Yemen's Houthi movement have seized two oil tankers from international traders in a payment dispute, according to the ships' owners, an incident which could make it more difficult for the country to import vital supplies. Ocean Tankers, the Singapore-based owner of the two 74,000 tonne ships, the Chao Hu and the Hong Ze Hu, confirmed that the vessels were being denied permission to leave the Red Sea port of Hodeida, Yemen's second-biggest port, which is controlled by the Houthi movement that also holds the capital Sanaa. Importing goods into Yemen became a major challenge since civil war broke out in the country and a Saudi-led coalition imposed a maritime blockade in its fight against the Houthi group that drove President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi from Sanaa in 2014.” Middle East The Times Of Israel: Man Stabbed, Moderately Wounded In Town Near Haifa “A man was moderately wounded Wednesday morning after being stabbed in Or Akiva, south of Haifa. The victim, around 50 years of age, was attacked in an industrial zone north of the working class town, according to Walla News. He was evacuated to a Hadera hospital by Magen David Adom paramedics. The circumstances of the stabbing — including whether it was criminal or nationalistic in nature — were not immediately clear. Israel has in the past year been plagued by a wave of so-called ‘lone wolf’ Palestinian terror attacks. The attacks have claimed the lives of 35 Israelis and four foreign nationals since October in a spate of car-ramming, stabbing, shooting, and bombing attacks.” The Jerusalem Post: Israel Strikes Gaza Terror Sites In Response To Rocket “The Israel Air Force struck three Hamas terror infrastructure sites in the Gaza Strip in response to an earlier rocket fired at Israel, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said Thursday morning. The northern Gaza sites reportedly belonged to the Hamas terror group. The IDF said that they hold Hamas responsible for anything that happens in the Gaza Strip and will ‘do its utmost to preserve the calm in Israel's southern cities.’ Late on Wednesday night, a mortar shell landed in Israel in an open field in the Eshkol Regional Council, near the security fence with Gaza.” The Washington Post: Israel, U.S. Sign Massive Military Aid Package, In Low-Key Ceremony At The State Department “The United States signed an unprecedented pact with Israel that will provide the Jewish state with the largest amount of military aid ever awarded, $38 billion over 10 years, with promises of the latest in fighter jets, missile defense systems and cutting-edge technology. The signing did not take place between President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — or their defense secretaries — but occurred in a quiet ceremony on a top floor of the State Department, and neither of the men who signed the pact was a household name. Instead, Israel’s acting national security adviser, Jacob Nagel, and State Department undersecretary of state for political affairs, Thomas Shannon, inked the deal. The low-level optics for an aid package that both countries heralded as proof of the unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel were remarkable.” Daily Caller: Iran Calls For Eliminating Saudi Arabia’s National Religion “Saudi Arabia’s brand of Islam, known as ‘Wahhabism,’ is facing calls for global elimination by Iranian political leaders. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif — the same man who negotiated the Iran nuclear deal — referred to Wahhabism as a ‘death cult’ and accused Saudi Arabia of purposefully inspiring a bevy of terrorist groups, ranging from ISIS to the Nusra Front, in an op-ed for the New York Times Tuesday. Zarif also accused the Saudis of a laundry-list of conspiracies, including attempting to revive the ‘regional status quo’ of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. ‘This is, in Twitter parlance, ‘epic trolling’,’ Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Treasury Department and current vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.” Reuters: 'Lack Of Options' Force 4 Million To Flee From One Conflict To Another: Report “For Ahmad al-Rashid, fleeing from his home in Aleppo, northern Syria, to Iraq in 2013 was the safest choice he had. But after two years as an aid worker there, and watching the situation deteriorate, al-Rashid decided to leave for Britain. ‘[Iraq] itself was in a crisis, it got worse and worse. Syria and Iraq were the same - so being a refugee in Iraq was just like being in Aleppo,’ he said at a media briefing organized by aid group Oxfam UK. Around 3.8 million refugees and asylum seekers fled from one conflict zone to another last year, according to an Oxfam report published on Thursday. Using data from the United Nation's refugee agency (UNHCR), Oxfam found that around 16 percent of the world's refugee and asylum seeker population had fled to countries also in conflict, such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Mexico, Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen.” Nigeria Associated Press: New Boko Haram Video Threatens To Kill Nigeria's President “A new video by Boko Haram threatens to kill Nigeria's president and army chief and warns of further destruction, though the Islamic extremists have not mounted a major attack in Nigeria in months. A preacher in the video says Boko Haram is ‘even stronger now’ and ‘will destroy what we never destroyed before,’ according to a translation from the Hausa by Premium Times newspaper. The video posted on YouTube on Wednesday says it was shot Monday in Nigeria's northeastern Sambisa Forest at prayers marking Eid al-Adha festival. It shows scores of worshipping men, many armed, in a mosque and at an outdoor ceremony. Boko Haram is in the midst of a power struggle and the video declares allegiance to long-time leader Abubakar Shekau.” Associated Press: Fighting In Niger Kills 5 Soldiers, 30 Boko Haram Militants “Niger's defense ministry says at least five soldiers and 30 Boko Haram militants have been killed after an ambush by the Nigeria-based Islamic extremists led to fighting. Col. Moustapha Michel Ledru said the attack on soldiers Monday near Toumour, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of the town of Diffa, also injured six soldiers. He spoke Tuesday night on national television, saying the army captured two extremists along with a large quantity of arms and ammunition. Ledru also said two soldiers were killed Sept. 8 when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device during a patrol near Barwa locality in the Diffa region.” United Kingdom BBC: MPs Attack Cameron Over Libya 'Collapse' “A UK parliamentary report has severely criticised the intervention by Britain and France that led to the overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The foreign affairs committee accused the then PM David Cameron of lacking a coherent strategy for the air campaign. It said the intervention had not been ‘informed by accurate intelligence’, and that it led to the rise of so-called Islamic State in North Africa. The UK government said it had been an international decision to intervene. The action had been called for by the Arab League and authorised by the UN Security Council, the Foreign Office added. An international coalition led by Britain and France launched a campaign of air and missile strikes against Muammar Gaddafi's forces in March 2011 after the regime threatened to attack the rebel-held city of Benghazi.” CNN: Britain's Libya Intervention Led To Growth Of ISIS, Inquiry Finds “Britain's military intervention in Libya was based on ‘inaccurate intelligence’ and ‘erroneous assumptions,’ a report released Wednesday found, pointing the finger at former Prime Minister David Cameron for failing to develop a sound Libya strategy. The United Kingdom and France led the international intervention in Libya in 2011 with the aim of protecting civilians from forces loyal to then-leader Moammar Gadhafi. But Britain's Foreign Affairs Committee found that the Cameron-led government ‘failed to identify that the threat to civilians was overstated and that the rebels included a significant Islamist element.’” Germany The New York Times: Overcoming Cruelty In Today’s Germany “The Berlin Wall has now been down for almost 27 years, nearly as long as it was up. For some Germans, the experience of a cruelly divided country has shaped their response as European democracies struggle with Islamic terrorism and a flood of refugees from wars and misery in the Middle East and beyond. Germany’s exceptional status in Europe has become more pronounced, both through its continuing economic strength and its acceptance of more than one million asylum seekers, many of them Muslim. The policy has baffled and angered critics at home and abroad who fear democracy is imperiled by precisely the kind of culture clash that welcoming Germans say they hope to avoid.” France The Washington Post: France To Open First Of 12 ‘Deradicalization’ Centers For At-Risk Youths “As it confronts the threat of home-grown jihadist violence, the French government unveiled on Tuesday its latest security initiative: a ‘deradicalization center’ aimed at the young people most susceptible to terrorist calls for domestic violence. After three major attacks in the past two years — as well as the Brussels attack in March, allegedly perpetrated by the same terrorist cell that orchestrated the November 2015 attack on Paris — French authorities are confronting what many here consider the most confounding reality of this new wave of domestic terrorism. In each case, the vast majority of the suspects involved have held French or European passports and have targeted their fellow citizens. More than 230 people have died in terrorist violence in France since the January 2015 attack on the office of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper. The French government estimates that terrorist networks have radicalized approximately 9,300 young people in France.” The Jerusalem Post: Will France Adopt Controversial Israeli Practice To Deter Terrorism? “A top anti-terror French opposition parliament member dropped a political bombshell on Wednesday saying of his country, ‘we need to have administrative detention,’ and that he will visit Israel’s detention center at Ofer Prison as a possible model. The official, MP Georges Fenech, head of the French Parliamentary Special Commission into terror attacks in France, made the surprising comments at the IDC Herzliya Conference on Counter-Terrorism on the university’s campus.” The Huffington Post: A Scary Number Of Minors Are Being Arrested For Planning Terror Attacks In France “A 15-year-old boy was arrested in Paris on Wednesday after authorities discovered his plans to carry out an act of terrorism, making him the third minor in less than a week to be apprehended. Judicial sources said the boy appears to be part of the same network of radicalized individuals as two other adolescents arrested and jailed over the weekend, one in Paris and one just west of the city. He was placed under watch and questioned about possibly belonging to a ‘group of delinquents with ties to a terrorist group,’ French TV station BFMTV said. The teen was arrested in Paris’ 20th arrondissement, or district, a neighborhood known to be one of the city’s least affluent, and home to large immigrant communities.” BBC: French Police Arrest Teenager Over 'IS Terror Plot' “French police have arrested a 15-year-old boy suspected of plotting to carry out terror attacks in the country. The teenager was detained in Paris and is believed to have links with a French member of so-called Islamic State (IS), Rashid Kassim. Investigators say the boy was under surveillance since April and had contacted IS through social media. Another boy, also 15 and also suspected of links to Kassim, was arrested in Paris on Saturday. Kassim targets vulnerable youngsters through their mobile phones. French officials say he is a key instigator who uses encrypted forums to direct recruits on how and where to carry out attacks in Europe.” Europe CNN: EU Faces 'Existential Crisis,' Warns European Commission Head “The European Union is facing ‘an existential crisis’ as it confronts the twin challenges of rising nationalism and Islamist terrorism, the head of the European Commission warned Wednesday. And the bloc should establish an EU military headquarters, and work toward creating a common military force, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in Strasbourg Wednesday. Delivering his annual State of the Union address before Members of the European Parliament, Juncker said that the bloc faced a critical 12 months ahead ‘if we want to reunite our union.’” Financing Of Terrorism Annahar: Trial Of Syrian National Accused Of Financing Terrorism In Arsal “Syrian detainee, Omar al-Homsi, in a joint case with Palestinian national, Naim Abbas, was questioned yesterday by the {Lebanese} Permanent Military Court under the chairmanship of Brigadier General Khalil Ibrahim. The session took place in the presence of a representative of the Military Prosecutor Judge Hani Helmy al-Hajjar. Al-Homsi is the Executive Director of "Al-Taqwa Social and Welfare Association" and is accused together with Mustafa al-Hujairi nicknamed "Abu Taqiyya" and his son Baraa of providing an armed terrorist organization with cash, which was transferred from Beirut to Arsal. Al-Homsi claimed the Society has allocated a sum of $6,400 to Arsal every four months since 2008. He added that the Qatar-based Eid Charitable Association together with another Qatari society as well as other associations outside of Qatar had been funding "Al-Taqwa Association.” Almashareq: Yemen: War Undermined Anti-Terrorist Financing Efforts “The war in Yemen has significantly and purposely weakened the national effort to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The ongoing war has made it difficult for state institutions to monitor business activities and the movement of funds. The head of the National Committee for Combating Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing, Ahmed Jaber Alsnabani, said that extremist groups seek to exploit the current conditions for money laundering and the financing of their operations. He added that the areas in southern and eastern Yemen where organizations like al-Qaeda and "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant" are active, are particularly vulnerable to this type of activity.” Muslim Brotherhood 24: Egypt: 40 Billion Pounds – Value Of Seized Muslim Brotherhood Funds “In the first publication of the official inventory of seized Muslim Brotherhood funds, following the decision to ban the group, the Brotherhood Asset Freeze Committee revealed, for the first time since it was formed three years ago, that the value of these funds comes to 40 billion pounds ($4.5 billion dollars). This figure includes the appropriation of funds owned by 1213 leaders, 1133 associations, 110 schools, and 53 hospitals. The committee indicated in its report that it had also seized 552 offices related to the Freedom and Justice Party, as well as 415 acres of land. In addition, the Committee appropriated 35 money exchange companies. The sources noted that this figure encompasses the seizure of 97% of the funds and properties owned by the Brotherhood. Some of these properties are owned jointly with other entities, the sources noted.” Hamrin News: Egyptian Expert Explains Harm Done To The Economy Through Trafficking Of Foreign Currency A "satanic scheme" has been executed by emperors of foreign currency trading, in collaboration with the Muslim Brotherhood, to harm Egypt's economy. They collect hard currency from the domestic market and abroad, so as to inflict huge losses on the Egyptian economy, rejuvenate the inflation gap and stir up the citizens' anger. General Farouk Elmakrahy, Egypt's former assistant to the interior minister, stated that harming the economy by means of foreign currency trafficking is an old issue. This activity, he claimed, began in the seventies and eighties, but a law was issued to ban it. However, it resurfaced after 2012 with the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood's regime. They {traders} began collecting all kinds of foreign currency at home and abroad, which ultimately brought about the current crisis. The former Egyptian official stressed that Brotherhood-affiliated merchants operate in all economic fields, whether gold, medicine or rice. They are all involved in collecting foreign currencies through their agents and loyalists in foreign countries and in Egypt. The collection of the foreign currencies is done at an attractive price to harm Egypt's economy by blocking the flow of hard currency, foreign and domestic alike, into the Egyptian treasury. Houthi Kbr Press: Internal Discord Between Houthi Militia Leaders And Ex-President's Loyalists Over Royalties Imposed On Ibb Merchants “Local sources within the Industry and Trade Ministry in Ibb reported that Mohammed Ahmed Al Syaghy, Director-General of the Ministry's Office, resigned from his post amid disputes over royalties imposed on merchants in Ibb. The disputes between local Houthi leaders and loyalists of former president {Ali} Saleh were described as "profound". Informed sources disclosed that Al Syaghy imposed financial royalties on Ibb merchants under the banner of the so-called "war effort" since the start of the invasion of the Houthis and Saleh's loyalists into the province of Taiz and Yemen's southern provinces. The sources disclosed that Al Syaghy and his associates were accused by prominent militia leaders of Saleh and the Houthis of not transferring funds for what they call the "war effort" to the accounts which were opened for that purpose. It was also alleged that the sums of money he provided were not the actual sums collected from merchants.”