Friday, August 19, 2016

Eye on Extremism August 19, 2016

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Eye on Extremism

August 19, 2016

Counter Extremism Project

MSNBC: CEP Spokesperson Tara Maller Discussed The Nature Of Intelligence Briefings That Presidential Candidates Receive And How They Differ From The Daily Intelligence Briefings Presented To The President Each Morning.
Haaretz: Report: U.S. Transfers Nukes From Turkish Airbase To Romania
“The U.S. has started transferring American nuclear weapons stationed at an airbase in southeastern Turkey to Romania, the independent Euractiv website reported on Thursday. The reported move comes after a U.S.-based think tank said on Monday that the stockpile at Incirlik airbase, which consists of some 50 nuclear bombs, was at risk of being captured by ‘terrorists or other hostile forces.’ The Romanian Foreign Ministry strongly denied that any U.S. nuclear weapons were transferred to Romania.  While critics have long been alarmed about the nuclear stockpile at Incirlik airbase, the aftermath of the failed military coup in Turkey on July 15 has sparked renewed fear.”
BBC: Terror Deaths In Western Europe At Highest Level Since 2004
“The start of 2016 saw the highest number of terrorism deaths in Western Europe since 2004, BBC research has revealed. The first seven months of the year saw 143 deaths, which is also the second worst seven-month period since 1980. The Madrid train bombings in March 2004 left 191 people dead. However, researchers pointed out that the 1970s saw several years with higher terrorism death tolls, so Western Europe is not ‘in a downward spiral’. And only 6% of worldwide terrorism deaths in the first seven months of 2016 happened in Western Europe, with many more attacks in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Nigeria.”
Reuters: Islamic State Suicide Bombings Hit Libyan Forces In Sirte
“Suicide bombings against Libyan forces battling to oust Islamic State from their former North African stronghold of Sirte killed at least 12 fighters and wounded about 60 there on Thursday, a hospital spokesman said. Forces, mainly composed of fighters aligned with a U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, have been closing in on the center of Sirte, where militants now control a shrinking residential area. Since Aug. 1 the United States has been conducting air strikes to support them. As of Wednesday it had carried out 62 strikes, most recently against fighting positions and a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, the U.S. Africa Command said.”
BBC: Syria Conflict: Government Jets 'Bombs Kurds In Hassakeh'
“Syrian government jets have reportedly bombed Kurdish-held areas of the north-eastern city of Hassakeh for the first time since the civil war began in 2011. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Kurdish security forces had been targeted. The Syrian military has not commented, but sources said the Kurds had seized government buildings in Hassakeh and nearby Qamishli. Both sides were later reported to have agreed a ceasefire. However, the Kurdish Democratic Union Party's Popular Protection Units (YPG) militia said it would ‘not be silent’ over what it called an act of flagrant aggression.”
NPR: Bombings In Turkey Kill At Least 10, Wound More Than 200
“A series of bombings in eastern Turkey left at least 10 people dead and more than 200 wounded. Two car bombings targeted law enforcement; a third attack struck a military vehicle carrying soldiers, The Associated Press reports. The first car bomb hit near a police station in the city of Van, near the border with Iran. It left at least two officers and one civilian dead and at least 70 people — mostly civilians — wounded, the AP reports. State-run media reports one suspect is in custody, NPR's Peter Kenyon reports. He says officials are suggesting Kurdish militants were behind the attack.”
New York Times: When Women Fight ISIS
“Two years ago this month, the Islamic State attacked the Yazidis, a Kurdish religious minority who live around Sinjar Mountain in Iraq. The militants came down on unprotected villages like Byron’s wolf on the fold, slaughtering the men and taking away thousands of women and children to be sold as sex slaves. Any Yazidis who could escape fled higher into the mountains without food, adequate clothing or even, in some cases, shoes. They remained trapped there for days, in harsh conditions and with little international support. Those who had originally promised to protect them, the pesh merga soldiers of Masoud Barzani’s political party in Iraqi Kurdistan, had melted away in their hour of need.”
Charlotte Observer: Documents Link Young Charlotte-Area Suspect To Top ISIS Leader In Syria
“A new indictment alleges that a Charlotte-area teenager communicated directly with a notorious Syria-based terrorist while planning his first act of violence on behalf of the “Islamic State of North America.” According to the court document, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says that Justin Sullivan of Morganton promised ISIS member Junaid Hussain that he would make a video of his terrorist attacks that ISIS could use as propaganda.”
Reuters: Germany Treads Cautiously In Court Case To Ban Far-Right Party
“The NPD denies that it is behind violence, and says it is being unfairly targeted as a group over the behavior of some individuals. Reuters was not able to verify independently any relationship between the party and Bauer's former groups. The upper house of parliament is trying to impose just such a ban. It has lodged a court case which alleges the NPD is inspired by the Third Reich, believes in ethnic German supremacy and incites people to torch refugee hostels. The Constitutional Court is expected to rule in coming months. Germany recorded 1,408 violent acts carried out by right wing supporters last year, a more than 42 percent rise from the previous year, and 75 arson attacks on refugee shelters, up from five a year earlier, according to an annual report by the BfV domestic intelligence agency published in June.”
The Wall Street Journal: Hezbollah’s Conundrum: Fighting Other Jihadists, Not Israel
“Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last weekend addressed a rally to celebrate the group’s 2006 ‘divine victory’ against Israel, thundering for more than an hour about the impending demise of the Zionist enemy. But it’s not against Israel that young men in the audience here have been fighting of late. The predicament for Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militia that used to command widespread admiration in the region for confronting Israel, is that its battle today is almost exclusively against fellow jihadists, albeit of a Sunni kind, and increasingly further away from home turf in Syria’s foreign battlefields.”
The New York Times: Nigeria Is Freeing Children From Boko Haram, Then Locking Them Up
“Here in northeastern Nigeria, soldiers are fighting a brutal battle with Boko Haram, the Islamist extremist group that has terrorized the region for years with its campaign of murder, kidnapping, rape and thievery. But in its aggressive hunt for Boko Haram fighters, the Nigerian military has ensnared and detained scores of civilians, including toddlers and infants, for weeks or months. And sometimes, activists say, innocent people are never heard from again. Nearly 150 people have died this year in just one of the detention centers, Giwa barracks, where Ms. Ali was held with her family, according to Amnesty International.”
The Guardian: Twitter Suspends 235,000 Accounts In Six Months For Promoting Terrorism
“Twitter has suspended 235,000 accounts in the last six months for violation of its policies regarding the promotion of terrorism and violent threat, the company said Thursday, adding to 125,000 suspensions in the six months before that. In a blog post on Thursday, the company said that ‘there is no one ‘magic algorithm’ for identifying terrorist content on the Internet. But’, the post continued, ‘we continue to utilize other forms of technology, like proprietary spam-fighting tools, to supplement reports from our users and help identify repeat account abuse’. Salaam Bhatti, the national spokesperson for True Islam, a group which has partnered with Twitter in identifying extremist content, said: ‘This is a great step in the right direction.’”

Syria

Commentary: In Syria, Russia And The United States Fight For The Middle East
“Two years into Washington’s war against Islamic State, it may finally be winning. At the same time, however, its influence over events in the broader Middle East seems perhaps terminally in decline. What happens in the coming months and years in Syria will be key to the future shape of the region. No country has challenged U.S. policymakers more – and the Obama administration has faced heavy criticism. This month, however, has seen what feels like the first good news for the United States from Syria since the uprising began. But the battle for the future of Syria – and, indeed, the Middle East – is much more complex than the fight against Islamic State. And there are powerful forces – particularly Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Iran and what remains of Bashar al-Assad’s government – that also want to call the shots.”
The Washington Post: Russia Proposes 48-Hour Cease-Fire In Syria To Allow Delivery Of Humanitarian Aid
“Russia said Thursday it would stop attacks on Aleppo for 48 hours next week to allow delivery of humanitarian aid, indicating it would also prevent the Syrian government from bombing there, provided the United States could guarantee a similar pause by the ‘so-called moderate opposition.’ The Russian Defense Ministry’s spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said Russia’s other ‘condition’ for implementing the temporary cease-fire was that separate routes would be established for U.N. convoys to bring aid to rebel-controlled eastern Aleppo and to the western side, held by the government. The Obama administration, which has been pushing for a more widespread cease-fire, said it would not ‘turn up our nose’ at the 48-hour offer.”
CNN: Little Boy In Aleppo A Vivid Reminder Of War's Horror
“His name is Omran Daqneesh. The image of him, bloodied and covered with dust, sitting silently in an ambulance awaiting help, is another stark reminder of the toll of the war in Syria. He is young -- one witness puts him at five years old, as old as the Syrian war itself. But his chubby arms and legs and the way he clings to the man who pulled him from the rubble of his bombed-out home suggest he is younger, maybe still a toddler. Aleppo, in northern Syria, has been besieged for years during that country's civil war. Thousands of people have been killed there, including 4,500 children, and many lives have been upended. Omran's family is among them.”

Iraq

The Wall Street Journal: America Leaves Its Allies To Battle Each Other In Iraq
“U.S. allies in the Middle East are training their guns on each other, and this could unravel the fragile global coalition against Islamic State. Iraqi Kurdistan has been a longstanding and reliable ally of the U.S. The friendship began in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War after the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone in the region. Washington was short on friends in Baghdad, Damascus and Tehran, but Iraqi Kurds, grateful for their rescue from Saddam Hussein ’s genocidal intentions, readily embraced America. Since then, the Iraqi Kurds have proved themselves to be staunch allies and a stabilizing force in their neighborhood, helping to defuse conflicts. Now, however, the Kurds are locked between American allies unfriendly toward Kurdish aspirations of independence and their growing ties with the U.S. military.”

Turkey

Reuters: Turkey's Erdogan Links Coup Suspects, PKK To Bomb Attacks
“Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday accused followers of a U.S.-based Islamic cleric he blames for last month's coup attempt of being complicit in attacks by Kurdish militants in Turkey's southeast which killed 10 people. His linking of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants to those suspected of being behind the July 15 coup attempt came as Turkish authorities arrest or dismiss tens of thousands in a post-coup purge that some Western allies worry that Erdogan is using to target broader dissent. Erdogan has blamed a network led by Fethullah Gulen, a cleric in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, for the failed rebellion launched by rogue soldiers.”

Afghanistan

RT: Taliban Active In More Parts Of Afghanistan Than Before US Invasion – Intel Agency
“Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan are now operating in more territories than they were prior to the 2001 US campaign, a report by private intelligence agency Stratfor cautions. The paper also warns of the Taliban’s closer ties with Islamic State. Despite partial success by the Afghan military, their action is being ‘overshadowed by the Taliban's much larger gains elsewhere,’ Stratfor says in its latest assessment. The agency warns that the ‘Taliban now operates in more territories in Afghanistan than it has in 2001’ when the US started its military campaign in the country to drive the group out. A major point of concern is Afghanistan’s largest province of Helmand, which is almost completely under the control of insurgents.”

Middle East

The Times Of Israel: Co-Founder Of Hamas Military Wing Issues Startling Apology To Palestinians
“A Palestinian terrorist who co-founded Hamas’s notorious military wing in 1991 and was directly involved in the killing of Israeli soldiers, published a startling Facebook post in which he apologized to fellow Palestinians for his activities. He also indicated that he now considers the Islamist terror group, which he did not mention by name, to be ‘the devil,’ sowing hatred and bringing destruction to the Palestinian people. He made no apology for terrorism and violence directed against Israel. Muhammad Nazami Nasser was one of the founders of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, which has been responsible for years of terrorism against Israel and is headed by terror chief Mohammed Deif. In 1989, Nasser was one of the Hamas team that kidnapped and murdered Israeli soldiers Avi Sasportas and Ilan Saadon. Those attacks marked the first time Hamas had kidnapped and killed Israeli soldiers.”

Libya

Time: Inside ISIS’ Last Bastion In Libya
“‘They are like ghosts.’ That’s how a Libyan sniper described ISIS fighters in Sirt to Lorenzo Meloni. The Italian photographer recently returned from the front in the group’s last stronghold in Libya, as pro-government forces battle for control. Meloni arrived in Misrata in mid-June and was on the outskirts of Sirt the next day. Many buildings there had been destroyed by mortars or airstrikes over the years, perhaps never restored after the fighting in 2011. The photographer, who is represented by Magnum Photos, has spent significant time in Libya in recent years. He documented the revolution that ousted the ex-dictator Muammar Gaddafi, the civil war that followed and the migrant-smuggling crisis. He has no parallels for what he experienced in Sirt. Not with an enemy like ISIS."

United Kingdom

BBC: Going Undercover Against Extremism
“A long-running undercover police operation in the Bedfordshire town of Luton, which has contributed evidence to two recent counter-terrorism trials, helped build up an incredibly detailed picture of the depths of loathing for Britain felt by the men at the heart of the investigation. With a fake name, fake wife, fake home and fake business in Luton, he was on a high-risk mission to record hundreds of encounters with supporters of a banned jihadist network that can be linked to dozens of counter-terrorism cases over more than a decade. Over the course of two major trials, Kamal's evidence from Luton has contributed to the conviction of a man who planned to kidnap and kill a US serviceman outside his air force base in Suffolk. In the follow-up trial, three men were convicted at the Old Bailey this week for inviting support for the self-styled Islamic State group.”

Germany

The Washington Post: Angela Merkel Says Germany’s Terror Problem Predates The Refugee Crisis
“Speaking at a campaign event late Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel pushed back against those who linked recent extremist-inspired terrorist attacks in Europe with refugees who have reached the continent. ‘The phenomenon of the Islamist terrorism of ISIS is not a phenomenon that has come to us through refugees but rather one which we've already had here before,’ Merkel told a crowd in her home state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, using an acronym to refer to the Islamic State extremist group. It's a bold statement from a leader whose refugee policies have been hit hard by terrorist attacks in recent months.”

Europe

BBC: Islamic State Group Claims Responsibility For Moscow Police Attack
“The so-called Islamic State group has said it was behind an attack carried out on traffic police outside Moscow on Wednesday. Both attackers, reportedly from Central Asia, were shot dead after wounding two policemen. The gunmen were wielding firearms and axes and attacked police in Balashikha, east of Moscow. IS made the claim via Amaq, a news agency linked to the group. Also on Wednesday Russian special forces killed four suspected militants in a shoot-out forces during a raid on an apartment block in St Petersburg. Russia has long been battling extremism in the North Caucasus. Most Russians who have gone to fight for IS in Syria come from this area.”

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