Eye on Extremism December 9, 2016

Eye on Extremism December 9, 2016 Reuters: U.S. Estimates 50,000 Islamic State Fighters Killed So Far: U.S. Official “The U.S. military believes that some 50,000 Islamic State fighters have been killed since the United States started battling the group more than two years ago, a senior U.S. military official said on Thursday, calling it a "conservative estimate." The official, who spoke to Pentagon reporters on condition of anonymity, said the figure showed how the United States was effectively combating the group with U.S.-led coalition airpower and limited U.S. troop deployments in support of local forces.” CBS News: As Aleppo Falls, Diplomats Foresee Iran And ISIS Rise “Aleppo’s fall will not end the brutal Syrian war, but now diplomats are haggling over ‘which direction it falls,’ according to a Western diplomat. That is, will it be a bloodbath? Or can Secretary of State John Kerry negotiate a pathway out for the civilians trapped alongside the besieged U.S.-backed rebels in the eastern portion of the city? And could there be a way to call the surrender of that city something other than ‘defeat’ for the rebels? ‘We are witnessing talks that are trying to manage Syrian and Russian victory,’ a European diplomat said on the condition of anonymity due to sensitivity of the ongoing diplomacy. Kerry spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Wednesday and again Thursday about one potential arrangement. Technical advisers are set to meet this weekend in Geneva on the matter, while Kerry convenes with a number of high-ranking diplomats in Paris this weekend.” Reuters: Iraqi Troops Pull Out From Mosul Hospital After Fierce Battle “Iraqi troops who briefly seized a Mosul hospital believed to be used as an Islamic State base were forced to withdraw from the site, but managed to establish a base for army tanks nearby after days of fierce back-and-forth fighting, residents said. The rapid advance into the Wahda neighborhood where the hospital is located marked a change of tactic after a month of fighting in east Mosul in which the army has sought to capture and clear neighborhoods block by block. The ferocity of the fighting reflects the importance of the army's push from southeast Mosul towards the center, their deepest advance in a grueling seven-week offensive to crush Islamic State in Iraq's largest northern city.” Associated Press: Iraq Prepares For New Fight Against Post-Mosul IS “With the Islamic State group's ‘caliphate’ seemingly nearing its downfall in Iraq, the country's security agencies are preparing for a different fight against the militants, shifting away from ground offensives to a focus on intelligence work, surgical airstrikes and a higher level of cooperation with the West. The new strategy is designed to counter an expected move by the Islamic State group away from holding territory and back to a more classic role as a dispersed, underground terror organization after it loses Mosul, its last major urban center in Iraq. Already, the militants are laying the groundwork for a strategy of hiding in remote areas, carrying out attacks in Iraq and abroad and resorting to organized crime to bankroll operations, intelligence and counterterrorism officials said.” The New York Times: ISIS Remains Threat In Libya Despite Defeat In Surt, U.S. Officials Say “The Islamic State, though driven from its coastal stronghold in Surt this week, still has several hundred fighters who have dispersed across Libya and pose a threat to the country, its neighbors and, potentially, Europe, according to American officials and the Pentagon’s Africa Command. The government’s top counterterrorism official, Nicholas J. Rasmussen, said the Islamic State’s defeat in Surt had dealt a major setback to the militancy’s ambitions to expand its caliphate in North Africa. But he said he remained ‘very concerned’ about the ability of surviving fighters to exploit the country’s economic and political vacuum.” The Atlantic: ISIS In The Caribbean “This summer, the so-called Islamic State published issue 15 of its online magazine Dabiq. In what has become a standard feature, it ran an interview with an ISIS foreign fighter. ‘When I was around twenty years old I would come to accept the religion of truth, Islam,’ said Abu Sa’d at-Trinidadi, recalling how he had turned away from the Christian faith he was born into. At-Trinidadi, as his nom de guerre suggests, is from the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), a country more readily associated with calypso and carnival than the ‘caliphate.’ Asked if he had a message for ‘the Muslims of Trinidad,’ he condemned his co-religionists at home for remaining in ‘a place where you have no honor and are forced to live in humiliation, subjugated by the disbelievers.’ More chillingly, he urged Muslims in T&T to wage jihad against their fellow citizens: ‘Terrify the disbelievers in their own homes and make their streets run with their blood.’” Voice Of America: Taliban Seeks Recognition For Qatar Office, Direct Talks With US “Afghanistan's Taliban has demanded official recognition for its political office in Qatar, direct talks with the United States and removal of senior members from a U.N. blacklist, describing these as preliminary steps to peacefully ending its insurgency. A Qatar-based Taliban spokesman, Sohail Shaheen, has asserted the presence of U.S.-led foreign troops in Afghanistan is the ‘root cause’ of war and its continuation. The ‘foreign occupation forces’ are undermining the country’s sovereignty and freedom of its politics as well as the government, he added.” Associated Press: Effort To Stem Homegrown US Extremism Launches “A federally backed effort to stem the rise of homegrown extremists is underway in Massachusetts, nearly three years after the White House announced the initiative on the first anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three people and injured hundreds. The state last week selected three local organizations to use $210,000 in federal money earmarked for the pilot effort, The Associated Press learned through a request of public records. The organizations propose a variety of initiatives meant to improve the prospects of youths so they aren't drawn to the violent messages of extremist groups.” The Guardian: Chechen Leader Claims His Troops Eager To Fight 'Scum' In Syria “Chechnya’s strongman leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has said that troops in the Russian province would be happy to fight the ‘scum’ in Syria if they receive the Kremlin order. Kadyrov’s comments were made after Russian media reported that two battalions of military police from Chechnya were preparing to leave for Syria to protect the Russian air base there. Kadyrov wouldn’t confirm the reports, but posted on Instagram that the troops stationed in Chechnya would be happy to deploy to Syria, if they are sent there. He added that he would be eager to personally join the fight against ‘international terrorism … I would be happy and proud to immediately go to Syria to fight the scum’ on President Vladimir Putin’s orders, Kadyrov said. ‘The enemy must be destroyed in his den before his tentacles reach your land.’” BBC: Yemen Conflict: The View From The Saudi Side “Tall, bearded and wearing a pained expression, an elderly Saudi man called Jaber stands before the ruins of his family house in the town of Najran, just north of the border with war-torn Yemen. The whitewashed walls of his house are pockmarked with blast marks and jagged holes gouged by flying shrapnel. ‘Yesterday at 5.15 in the afternoon,’ he told me, ‘came an explosion from Yemen. My family were sitting just over there,’ he pointed to an abandoned mattress on the ground.” The Jerusalem Post: Israel Foils Terror Cell's Kinapping, Attack Plot To Free Hamas Prisoner “The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced on Thursday that security forces have foiled a Hamas plan to carry out terrorist attacks and kidnappings in order to negotiate a prisoner swap. Operatives from several Hamas cells from Tzurif and Hebron in the West Bank were arrested in a joint operation by the IDF, police and the Shin Bet in October after it was discovered that they were planning to carry out terrorist attacks, including shooting and kidnapping Israelis, the agency said. The cell members are said to have observed the movement of IDF soldiers stationed near Tzurif with the intent of kidnapping one in order to bargain for the release of Palestinian prisoners.” Daily Mail: Iran Opens Theme Park Where Children Get To Dress Up As Soldiers And Pretend To Attack Israel And Other Western Enemies “A new theme park has been opened by the Iranian government, where young children learn to be revolutionaries and fight against the country's enemies. Youngsters as young as eight are able to don military uniforms and fight 'battles' against the US and Israel at the new attraction in the city of Mashad. The park is named The City of Games for Revolutionary Children. Visitors are split into 'squads' of up to 10, the World Tribune reports, and go through 12 stages - including sections dedicated to the Iran-Iraq war, defending holy shrines, and walking through minefields. They also learn about the battle in Syria against ISIS, and throw balls at effigies of the terror group.  And The Sun reports that they are encouraged to fire plastic bullets at an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” United States CNN: Carter Visits Afghanistan As Obama Plans Handoff Of 15-Year War “Secretary of Defense Ash Carter made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan Friday, a trip that comes amid major questions regarding the future of America's 15-year-long mission there. Carter is set to consult with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the presidential palace in Kabul and meet with US military commanders and thank the troops at Bagram Air Base. The Obama administration had originally intended to remove nearly all US troops from the country before leaving office. But faced with a lingering Taliban insurgency, the emergence of a local ISIS affiliate and the continued presence of al Qaeda terrorists, Obama revised the plan several times, eventually opting to hand-off the issue to his successor.” CBS News: U.S.: ISIS Fighters Killed In Iraq, Syria Reaches 50,000 “A senior U.S. military official for the first time says the U.S.-led coalition has killed 50,000 militants with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, in the last two years in Iraq and Syria. The official said it was a conservative estimate, but it’s a bit more than what others have stated before. U.S. leaders have expressed reluctance to disclose specific numbers, and note that ISIS has been able to replace fighters rapidly, particularly early on. In August, Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland said about 45,000 combatants have been taken off the battlefields.” Voice Of America: US Army Opens Criminal Investigation Of Death Of Unarmed Taliban Detainee “The U.S. Army has opened a criminal investigation of a soldier who confessed on national television to killing an unarmed Taliban detainee, a senior Army official told VOA Thursday. The investigation of former Major Mathew Golsteyn, first reported by The Washington Post, began earlier this month, according to the senior Army official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. In an October interview, Golsteyn admitted to Fox News Channel that he had killed the alleged bomb maker while in Marja in 2010. ‘This is a criminal case that was opened up because of a public confession,’ a U.S. official told VOA. ‘It is incumbent upon the Army to investigate that.’” The Guardian: U.S. Lawmakers Okay Five-Year Action Against Boko Haram “The United States’ House of Representatives has passed a legislation directing the country’s Secretaries of State and Defence to jointly develop a five-year strategy to assist Nigeria’s government in its fight against Boko Haram. The measure is also aimed at providing assistance to members of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) and international partners, who had offered support to counter the regional threat of the Boko Haram insurgency. The legislation, passed by a voice vote, was entitled H.R. 3833/S.1632 and introduced by Congresswoman Frederica Wilson (D-Florida) and Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) to help combat Boko Haram specifically. The strategy is also aimed at addressing the crushing humanitarian and educational crises that Boko Haram had created.” Syria The Washington Post: Syria Suspends Offensive In Aleppo To Allow Evacuations, Russia Says “Russia said late Thursday that the Syrian military has suspended its combat operations in eastern Aleppo to allow civilians to leave the city and that it had reached agreement with the United States to negotiate the safe departure of rebel fighters. A senior U.S. State Department official here traveling with Secretary of State John F. Kerry said that neither of those assertions could yet be confirmed but that Kerry was in contact with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. There were conflicting reports from inside Aleppo, where some residents reported a sudden quiet, but others said neighborhoods were still under fire. On Wednesday, as many as 150 elderly residents of Aleppo’s Old City were evacuated by the government in a joint operation with the International Red Cross.” Turkey Reuters: Dozens In Student Dormitories Held In Turkish Post-Coup Probe: Agency “Turkish police detained dozens of people on Thursday in an investigation of student dormitories suspected of ties to the network of a U.S.-based cleric accused by Ankara of masterminding July's failed coup, state-run Anadolu agency said. Turkey has jailed some 36,000 people pending trial and has suspended or dismissed more than 100,000 state personnel over links to the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States. He denies involvement in the putsch. Arrest warrants were issued for 136 people in the dormitories' operation across 20 provinces, Anadolu said.It said 35 people had so far been held and 70 suspects were found to have used Bylock, a smartphone messaging app which Ankara says was used by Gulen adherents as a communication tool.” Reuters: Turkey Sending 300 Troops To Reinforce Syria Operation - State Media “Turkey is sending 300 more troops to northern Syria to reinforce an operation aimed at pushing Islamic State and Syrian Kurdish fighters away from its southern border, state media reported on Thursday. Some 300 commandos are being sent to reinforce the ‘Euphrates Shield’ operation, Anadolu Agency reported. It was not clear where in northern Syria they would be deployed and Reuters was not immediately able to reach the military for comment. Turkey launched the operation in August, sending tanks, airplanes and troops to back Syrian Arab and Turkmen rebels.” Reuters: Turkey Seeks Arrest Of University Academics In Gulen-Related Probe: Media “Turkish prosecutors ordered the arrest of 87 people linked to Istanbul University in an investigation targeting followers of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of being behind July's attempted coup, media reported on Friday. Broadcaster CNN Turk said police carried out simultaneous raids across 12 provinces, targeting suspects including someone it said was the head of a minor political party and many professors from the university. Some 36,000 people have been jailed pending trial and more than 100,000 sacked or suspended in the civil service, army, judiciary and other institutions under investigations linked to the July 15 putsch, in which more than 240 people were killed.” Middle East Haaretz: Israel To Withhold Bodies Of Hamas-Linked Terrorists, Return Others To Families “Israel will withhold the bodies of Palestinian assailants affiliated with Hamas and return the bodies of other assailants to their families, according to a new policy formulated by the security cabinet on Thursday. The policy was reached following a disagreement on the issue between Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who thoroughly opposed the handing over of bodies, and the Israeli army representative to the meeting, who said the IDF supports returning the bodies to families.” Libya Associated Press: UN Concerned About Upswing In Libya Violence “The U.N. Security Council says it is concerned by the recent escalation of violence between armed groups in Tripoli. The clashes have raised fears of another mini-civil war erupting around the oil fields and in a statement issued Thursday, the council called on the parties to cease fighting. The council also welcomed progress in the fight against the Islamic State group, al-Qaida and their affiliates, particularly in Sirte and Benghazi, but warned that IS fighters may have dispersed to other parts of the country and urged Libyans across the political divide to unite in the fight against extremists. Libya is split into two governments, with a parliament in the east that has refused to approve the U.N.-brokered government in the capital, Tripoli.” Nigeria The Guardian: Substantial Successes Recorded Against Boko Haram “Substantial successes have been recorded against the Boko Haram insurgency by the Multinational Joint Task Force, Mr François Fall, the acting Head of UN Regional Office for Central Africa, has said. Farhan Haq, Deputy spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, said Fall made the remarks while briefing the UN Security Council on Wednesday. He said the Regional Officer told the Security Council that Government had made progress engaging with the armed groups through a formal framework. He said Fall added that Lake Chad Basin countries had achieved substantial military and security successes against Boko Haram. Mr Lounceny Fall also said that the collective efforts of the Lake Chad Basin countries against Boko Haram had resulted in substantial military and security successes.” United Kingdom Voice Of America: British Spy Chief Accuses Russia Of Seeking To Undermine Western Security, Politics “Britain and Western nations are facing grave threats to their security and political systems from the hostile propaganda output and cyber attacks by rival states, the head of Britain's espionage service MI6 warned Thursday. Alex Younger, in his first major public speech as ‘C,’ the designation given the head of the Secret Intelligence Service, singled out Russia for its high-tech subversion. Speaking to reporters at MI6's headquarters on the River Thames in central London, Younger warned that ‘the risks at stake are profound and represent a fundamental threat to our sovereignty.’” The Wall Street Journal: Cyberattacks, Terrorism Pose Grave Threats To The U.K., Spy Chief Says “The head of the U.K.’s foreign intelligence agency warned Thursday that cyberattacks and the militant group Islamic State pose grave dangers to Britain and its allies. In rare public comments, MI6 chief Alex Younger said that to protect itself and friendly nations from these threats, the U.K. must expose the magnitude of cyberwarfare and propaganda operations that subvert democracy. ‘The risks at stake are profound and represent a fundamental threat to our sovereignty. They should be a concern to all those who share democratic values,’ Mr. Younger said in his first major speech since his appointment as spy chief two years ago.” Germany BBC: German Refugee Murder Arrest In Freiburg Heightens Tensions “For days now photographs of a smiling young woman have haunted newspaper headlines and online news sites. Maria L was 19 when she was murdered in October. The circumstances of her death are horrifying enough. But Germans have been sickened by revelations that a teenage Afghan asylum seeker may have been responsible for the rape and drowning of the young medical student, who volunteered for a charity that helped refugees. The news has reignited a harrowing national debate over whether Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to open Germany's doors to hundreds of thousands of refugees has put her citizens in danger.” Europe Daily Caller: EU Report: Up To 1,750 Jihadis Have Returned To Europe “About one-third of the 5,000 European jihadis who have travelled to Syria and Iraq have returned to Europe, according to a new report from the European Union. Up to 1,750 terrorists may have returned to Europe, while 2,500 European fighters remain on the battlefields. The remaining 15 to 20 percent are believed to be dead. EU counter-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove will present the findings to EU interior ministers Friday. An undisclosed number of fighters have been sentenced to prison terms upon their return while others are under surveillance by authorities.”