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Old 08-17-2018, 08:02 AM
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Arrow Eye on Extremism - Update: August 17

Eye on Extremism: August 17, 2018
RE: https://www.counterextremism.com/rou...sm-august-17-2

The Wall Street Journal: Laser Beam Attacks Bedevil U.S. Military Pilots In Mideast

“Hostile forces in the Middle East are targeting American pilots with laser pointers at a growing rate, imperiling aircrews and reflecting a problem more widespread and longstanding than the Pentagon has previously acknowledged. American pilots operating in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, the three most prominent conflict zones for American troops, experienced most of the more than 350 lasing incidents reported over the last seven months by aircrews operating across the Middle East, officials at U.S. Air Forces Central Command in Qatar said. That is a significant increase from the approximately 400 lasing incidents reported for the region during all of 2017, according to officials, and marks an upswing after a decline in recent years. Lasing attacks appear to be an easy way for enemy combatants to harass and try to distract military pilots, both in planes and helicopters.”

CNN: First On CNN:

Al Qaeda's Master Bomb Maker May Be Dead, UN Says

“The al Qaeda bomb master behind a 2009 attempt to blow up an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day may have been killed, according to a UN team that tracks terrorist groups. The UN report says that Ibrahim al-Asiri, long regarded as one of the most dangerous terrorist operatives in circulation, may have been killed in Yemen last year. "Since mid-2017, the organization has suffered losses of leadership and field commanders owing to extensive Yemeni and international counter-terrorist operations," said a June report by the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team. "Some Member States report that explosives expert Ibrahim al-Asiri ... may have been killed during the second half of 2017. Given al-Asiri's past role in plots against aviation, this would represent a serious blow to operational capability." The UN report gave no indication of how al-Asiri died or who may have been responsible and is the only public indication of his possible death. But multiple US officials in different parts of the government tell CNN they are weighing evidence that al-Asiri is dead. The US military and CIA, in addition to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, have conducted counterterrorism strikes to root out al Qaeda and other terrorists in Yemen. None of these countries have publicly declared that they struck the bombmaker.”

Associated Press:

IS Deadly New Front In Pakistan’s Decades-Old Terror War

“Hafeez Nawaz was 20 years old when he left his religious school in southern Karachi to join the Islamic State group in Afghanistan. Three years later he was back in Pakistan to carry out a deadly mission: with explosives strapped to his body, he blew himself up in the middle of an election rally last month, killing 149 people and wounding 300 others. The attack in southwestern Baluchistan province near the Afghan border just days before Pakistan’s July 25 parliamentary elections has cast an unwelcome spotlight on Nawaz’s tiny village of Dhabeji, where the presence of an IS cell in their midst has brought the full weight of Pakistan’s security apparatus down on its residents. “Now we are all under suspicion,” said Nawaz’s neighbor, who gave only his first name, Nadeem, for fear of the local police. “The security agencies now consider Dhabeji a security threat area.” Nawaz’s trajectory from religiously devout student to jihadi and suicide bomber is an all too familiar one in Pakistan. Since battlefield successes routed the Islamic State group from its strongholds in Syria and Iraq, hundreds of Pakistanis who traveled to join the extremists’ so-called “caliphate” are unaccounted for and Pakistan’s security personnel worry that they, like Nawaz, have gone underground waiting to strike. Sitting in his office in a compound surrounded by high walls and heavily armed guards, Karachi’s counterterrorism department chief, Pervez Ahmed Chandio, said IS is the newest and deadliest front in

Pakistan’s decades-old war on terror.”

The Wall Street Journal: Islamic State’s Elusive Leader Held Secret Meeting As Iraqi Stronghold Crumbled

“The meeting with the world’s most wanted man took place at a secret location in the barren hinterland of eastern Syria, at the heart of Islamic State’s shrinking realm. The gaunt, ailing figure who entered the long hall with bricked-up windows in May 2017 was a shadow of the man hailed as a modern-day caliph by his thousands of followers as they waged war in Iraq and Syria, fracturing those two nations and drawing the U.S. and its allies into protracted Middle East conflicts. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the then 45-year-old leader of Islamic State, raised a hand and greeted his confidants. Among them was an Iraqi named Ismail al-Eithawi.”

The New York Times:

Google Employees Protest Secret Work On Censored Search Engine For China

“Hundreds of Google employees, upset at the company’s decision to secretly build a censored version of its search engine for China, have signed a letter demanding more transparency to understand the ethical consequences of their work. In the letter, which was obtained by The New York Times, employees wrote that the project and Google’s apparent willingness to abide by China’s censorship requirements “raise urgent moral and ethical issues.” They added, “Currently we do not have the information required to make ethically-informed decisions about our work, our projects, and our employment.” The letter is circulating on Google’s internal communication systems and is signed by about 1,400 employees, according to three people familiar with the document, who were not authorized to speak publicly.”

United States

CBS News:

CEP President Fran Townsend Discusses The Decision To Revoke The Security Clearance Of Former CIA Director John Brennan.

The Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Signals It Could Sanction China Over Iran Oil Imports

“The new U.S. special representative for Iran said Thursday the Trump administration is prepared to impose sanctions on all countries that buy oil from Iran after a deadline in November, including China, the top importer of Iranian crude. Brian Hook, who has been appointed as special representative and chief of a new Iran Action Group at the State Department, said the U.S. would issue waivers from sanctions to countries that have made efforts to reduce their Iranian oil purchases. India and South Korea are among Iran’s top oil customers. Both countries already have started to scale back imports and are hoping to obtain waivers to buy more time to replace Iranian crude. But China repeatedly has said it has no plans to comply with a wave of U.S. sanctions that are due to be reimposed on Iran’s energy sector on Nov. 4. Some oil analysts expect China to increase Iranian imports instead, potentially undermining U.S. efforts to isolate Iran.”

CNN:

ISIS Remains A Regional And Global Threat Despite Battlefield Losses, Pentagon Says

“ISIS very much remains a threat and is "well positioned" to rebuild, despite being driven to only a few small towns on the banks of the Euphrates River in Syria, the Pentagon said Wednesday. The Pentagon was responding to a recently published inspector general report, which said the US military estimates that ISIS still commands up to 30,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq. "ISIS remains a threat, and even one ISIS fighter is one too many," Pentagon spokesman Navy Cmdr. Sean Robertson told CNN. "I will let the report stand on its own," he said, adding that "manpower is not a good metric to assess the volatility of this terror group." "What really matters is the capability and intent of ISIS members worldwide, and that's why the fight is not done," Robertson said. 'Out of Syria' The inspector general's assessment was followed by a separate UN report by a division charged with monitoring terrorist groups that also put the number of remaining ISIS fighters in the tens of thousands. At its height, in 2014-2015, the group had declared that it had established a caliphate, or Islamic state, which stretched across large swaths of Syria and Iraq, an area the size of Ohio. President Donald Trump has trumpeted his administration's success in ejecting ISIS from most of Syria and Iraq, asserting earlier this year that the US would "be coming out of Syria like very soon." But the new estimates suggest that the US military may have to stay in the region for some time to counter the ISIS threat.”

Bloomberg:

The U.S. Should Keep Talking With The Taliban

“It’s been nearly a year since U.S. President Donald Trump dispatched more troops to Afghanistan and announced his “new strategy” for the 17-year-old conflict there. Last weekend’s attempt by the Taliban to seize the key city of Ghazni is a reminder that Trump’s approach, like that of both his predecessors, has produced, at best, a stalemate. The government controls barely half of Afghanistan’s districts. Pressure on Pakistan hasn’t seriously threatened the insurgents’ safe havens across the border or their ability to conduct high-profile attacks. There’s little reason to think that more time or more U.S. troops will materially change the situation. But a diplomatic strategy, including direct talks with the Taliban, might — if the administration can conceive it broadly enough. It’s been nearly a year since U.S. President Donald Trump dispatched more troops to Afghanistan and announced his “new strategy” for the 17-year-old conflict there. Last weekend’s attempt by the Taliban to seize the key city of Ghazni is a reminder that Trump’s approach, like that of both his predecessors, has produced, at best, a stalemate. The government controls barely half of Afghanistan’s districts. Pressure on Pakistan hasn’t seriously threatened the insurgents’ safe havens across the border or their ability to conduct high-profile attacks. There’s little reason to think that more time or more U.S. troops will materially change the situation. But a diplomatic strategy, including direct talks with the Taliban, might — if the administration can conceive it broadly enough.”

Associated Press: US Officials:

Ex-ISIS Fighter Entered US As Refugee

“An Iraqi man accused of killing for the Islamic State entered the U.S. as a refugee after claiming to be a victim of terrorism, in a case drawing attention amid the Trump administration's criticism of the resettlement program's vetting process. Omar Abdulsattar Ameen, 45, was arrested in California on Wednesday and will be extradited to Iraq under a treaty with that nation, U.S. officials said. He made his first appearance in federal court in Sacramento after his arrest at an apartment building in the state capital. Ameen left Iraq and fled in 2012 to Turkey, where he applied to be accepted as a refugee to the U.S., according to court documents. He was granted that status in June 2014. That same month, prosecutors say he returned to Iraq, where he killed a police officer in the town of Rawah after it fell to the Islamic State. Five months later, Ameen traveled to the United States to be resettled as a refugee. Ameen was arrested by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force based on a warrant issued in May by an Iraqi federal court in Baghdad. Ameen could face execution for the "organized killing by an armed group," according to Iraqi documents filed in U.S. federal court. Benjamin Galloway, one of Ameen's public defenders, said he had just 10 minutes to meet with his client prior to his initial court appearance, and attorneys hadn't decided whether to contest that Ameen is the man wanted by Iraqi authorities.”

Syria
Reuters:

Iraq Bombs Islamic State 'Operations Room' In Syria

“Iraq launched an air strike on a gathering of Islamic State fighters in neighboring Syria, killing members of the hardline militant group who planned cross-border attacks, its military said on Thursday. F-16 fighter jets bombed and destroyed an “operations room” where the militants were meeting. Islamic State, which once occupied a third of Iraq’s territory, has been largely defeated in the country but still poses a threat along its border with Syria. “According to intelligence, those terrorists who were killed were planning criminal operations using suicide vests and intended to target innocents in the next few days inside Iraq,” the military said in a statement. The Iraqi military has carried out several air strikes against Islamic State in Syria since last year, with the approval of President Bashar al-Assad and the U.S.-led coalition fighting the militants. Iraq has good relations with Iran and Russia, Assad’s main backers in the Syrian war, and also enjoys strong support from the U.S.-led coalition. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared final victory over Islamic State in December but the group still operates from pockets along the border with Syria and in a rugged mountainous area in northeastern Iraq. It has continued to carry out ambushes, killings, and bombings across Iraq since it abandoned its goal of creating a self-sufficient caliphate straddling Iraq and Syria.”

The Express:

The Social Media Warning System Saving Lives In Syria

“The warning sent to Abdulkarim al-Ismail’s Facebook came just before the warplanes would fly overhead and dropped their load. He knew he had eight minutes at most to move his wife and two children down the basement. When the thud came, it was close, closer than he had calculated. The building rattled and the windows shattered. His neighbour down the road had not seen the message and was killed in the front room of his home. Mr Ismail, a teacher in the city of Saraqeb in the northern Syrian province of Idlib - the last-remaining rebel-held territory in the country - has for years relied on the warning system to stay alive. The technology, developed by the start-up Hala Systems, works by detecting aircraft using remote sensors on the ground in Idlib and machine-learning algorithms, which look at the speed of an aircraft and its usual flight pattern.”

Time:

Idlib Could Be The Last Major Battlefield Of The Syrian Civil War. But Assad Won’t Take It Easily

“On Aug. 9, the Syrian army dropped leaflets on the province of Idlib telling residents that “the war is nearing its end” and urging them to cooperate with government forces. One showed grainy pre-war images of an old woman embracing a soldier; a young man studying; and a leafy, peaceful Damascus street: This is how we were before terrorism, it read. Then came photos of a destroyed neighborhood, a young boy carrying an unexploded shell, and women covered in niqabs and chained together. It’s time to stop the bloodshed and destruction, another flyer said. For years, Syria’s defeated rebels have fled to the northern territory of Idlib, which was established as a “de-escalation zone” guaranteed by Turkey, Russia and Iran. As the government retook areas like Aleppo and eastern Ghouta, surrendering fighters and their families were sent to Idlib under a deal negotiated by the regime’s ally Russia. Now it is the last major opposition-held region in the country–and the last major obstacle to President Bashar Assad declaring victory. His regime is sending tanks north and has scaled up air attacks in preparation for what could be the final battle in this seven-year-long civil war.”

Associated Press:

The Latest: War Monitor Says IS Attack On Syria Base Kills 7

“A Syrian war monitoring group says at least seven soldiers were killed when the Islamic State group attacked an army position near the eastern city of Deir el-Zour. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says it was the closest the militants' closest approach to the Deir el-Zour air base since the government recaptured it from the group last year. The Observatory reported the attack Thursday, saying it took place Wednesday near the Taim oil field. Mohammad Hassan, a media coordinator for the activist-run Deir Ezzor 24, says at least 12 soldiers and five IS militants were killed in the clashes.”
Al-Monitor: Hezbollah's Role Evolving In Syria As Assad Nears Victory

“As President Bashar al-Assad's regime consolidates its control over much of Syria — appearing ready to launch an offensive against Idlib, the last major insurgency stronghold — observers are wondering what the end to the war will mean for Hezbollah's involvement there in the wake of Assad’s seemingly impending victory? The Iran-supported, Lebanon-based Shiite militant group became heavily involved in the civil war in 2015, backing and beefing up Assad's previously beleaguered forces. Russia’s support of Assad appears to be yielding significant results with the passing of days. The July 16 summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki was followed by a deal between Moscow and Tel Aviv under which Iranian forces would retreat 53 miles from Israel. Planned talks involving Russia, France and Germany in Turkey appear to be working toward an understanding on the conflict. These geopolitical changes will have significant repercussions for the various players in Syria, including Hezbollah. “Hezbollah will continue its combat role until the end of the civil war, with the group maintaining its usual [offensive] point-of-the-spear role,” Hezbollah expert Nicholas Blanford, author of “Warriors of God: Inside Hezbollah’s Thirty-Year Struggle Against Israel,” told Al-Monitor.”

Iran

ABC News Radio: Pompeo Launches Iran Task Force As US Tries To Shore Up Support For Its Pressure Campaign

“The Trump administration is launching a new task force to focus on Iran, highlighting the threat from the country as a top foreign policy priority. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced his team would spearhead the Iran Action Group to coordinate all “Iran-related activity” across his department and the federal government. The group, led by the new Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook, “will drive daily progress” toward the administration’s goal of changing Iran’s behavior, from support for groups like Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels to pursuit of ballistic missiles and nuclear capabilities, Pompeo said. But critics charge the change does little to boost the administration’s Iran policy, which has isolated it from European allies and done little to alter Iran’s activity in the Middle East. In May, President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers that restricted its nuclear pursuit in exchange for sanctions relief. The Trump administration said the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, was insufficient because it did not deal with Iran’s other “malign activities,” or ultimately stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.”

Business Insider:

The US Navy Faces 'A Huge Liability' In Countering One Of Iran's Favorite And Most Dangerous Weapons

“In the wake of President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the nuclear deal signed with Iran and five other countries in 2015, Tehran has responded with one of its most frequent threats: Closing the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow channel in the Persian Gulf through which roughly 30% of world's oil flows. "If Iran's oil exports are to be prevented, we will not give permission for oil to be exported to the world through the Strait of Hormuz," a Revolutionary Guards commander said in July. Coastal defenses and naval vessels would have a big role in that effort, but it would likely revolve around one of Iran's favorite military assets, sea mines — a vicious weapon that presents an acute challenge for the US Navy, which is in the process of shifting between old and new mine-countermeasure systems.”

Voice Of America: New US Iran Policy Chief Lays Out Agenda

“The Trump administration's new special representative for Iran says his team will focus most of its work on changing Tehran's behavior on issues of nuclear weapons, terrorism and detention of Americans. Brian Hook was speaking Thursday at the State Department, where U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Hook's appointment to the role that heads a new U.S. team known as the Iran Action Group. Hook said the group would work to pursue changes in 12 aspects of Iran's behavior as outlined by Pompeo in May. He said the issues of Iran's alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons, its perceived support for terrorism and what he called its arbitrary detention of Americans would get most of his team's attention. Iran denies pursuing nuclear weapons or supporting terrorism and has said its recent detentions of Americans occurred in response to national security offenses — allegations that Washington says have been fabricated. Hook, who had been the State Department's director of policy planning since February 2017, said the Iran group would begin with several permanent personnel, and that additional experts would be detailed to it later. In introducing Hook, Pompeo told reporters the Trump administration hoped it could reach a new agreement with Iran "one day soon." "But we must see major changes in the [Iranian] regime's behavior, both inside and outside of its borders," Pompeo said.”

Turkey

Voice Of America: US To Begin Training Turkish Forces For Joint Patrols In Syria

“U.S. service members will begin training Turkish forces for joint patrols near the volatile Syrian city of Manbij within the next three days, according to U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. “I would say within 72 hours actually. Very soon, could be sooner,” Mattis told reporters aboard a U.S. aircraft Thursday. Mattis said U.S. training gear and equipment, along with the training officers, were now in Turkey. The training is needed before U.S. and Turkish forces operating near Manbij can combine their patrols. Right now, the two forces are conducting “coordinated but independent” patrols, according to the Pentagon. It is unclear when U.S. and Turkish forces would start conducting the joint patrols in Syria once training of Turkey’s troops is complete.”

The New York Times: Turkish Airstrike In Iraqi Territory Kills A Kurdish Militant Leader

“A Turkish airstrike this week killed a senior leader of an organization banned in Turkey as his convoy was leaving a village in northern Iraq, officials said. The airstrike was the latest of many that Turkey has carried out in Iraqi territory, with the permission of the Iraqi government, in an effort to weaken the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization. But the target in Wednesday’s strike, a man known as Zaki Shingali, is considered a hero to many members of the embattled Yazidi minority in northern Iraq, whose women and girls were forced into sexual enslavement by the Islamic State and whose men were killed by the thousands. When the Islamic State overran the area in 2014, government troops fled and left civilians to fend for themselves. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which maintains bases in the Sinjar mountains of northern Iraq, came to the aid of stranded Yazidis. The organization, also known as the P.K.K., the initials of its Kurdish name, created a security corridor that allowed civilians to flee, say survivors of the massacre and regional experts. Zaki Shingali, an ethnic Yazidi and a Turkish citizen, was leaving a service commemorating the fourth anniversary of the killings on Wednesday in Kojo, the Yazidi village that suffered the greatest losses. He died from his wounds early Thursday, said Mahmoud Shingali, the coordinator for civil affairs between Sinjar and the federal government in Baghdad.”

Fox News: Trump On US Pastor Jailed In Turkey: 'We Will Pay Nothing For The Release Of

An Innocent Man'

“The American pastor jailed in Turkey on espionage and terrorism-related charges was praised by President Trump on Thursday who called him “a great patriot hostage” -- and said the U.S. would “pay nothing for the release of an innocent man.” Trump, in a tweet, condemned the Turkish government for taking “advantage” of the U.S. and added that while the administration would not pay for Pastor Andrew Brunson's release, the U.S. is “cutting back on Turkey.” Trump likely was referring to the increase in tariffs and sanctions he authorized last week -- after which the Turkish economy took a tumble. “I have just authorized a doubling of Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum with respect to Turkey as their currency, the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar! Aluminum will now be 20% and Steel 50%,” Trump tweeted Friday. “Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!” The Turkish lira weakened in value from 4.7 on the dollar to 6.4 on the dollar Friday, for the first time in history breaking the 6 mark. The Trump administration has threatened more sanctions if Turkey does not release Brunson. The pastor has been detained in Turkey for 21 months on “terrorism” charges – suspected of having ties to the outlawed Gulenist movement – along with espionage accusations.”
Afghanistan

The New York Times: Dream Of A Better Life In Afghanistan Ends In A Hilltop Grave For

Students

“The teenage students were lowered into a mass grave one after another, shoulder to shoulder — just as they had sat at their lecture hall the day before. A suicide bomber, perhaps no older than they, had walked in as their algebra class ended and physics was about to begin, detonating his explosive vest and turning the university prep center into a scene of carnage. On the whiteboard, basic algebraic equations were covered in blood. A nearby blackboard, where “Valentine day” was written in faded chalk, was riddled with holes from the ball bearings that were packed into the bomber’s vest. The lecture hall had been so packed, and the explosion so powerful that nearly half the 230 students were among the casualties. Health officials said at least 40 were killed and 67 others wounded. The mangled bodies were hard to identify.”

BBC: Islamic State Claims Kabul's Latest Deadly Attacks

“On Wednesday, 48 people were killed in the bombing of an education centre. Most of them were students studying for university entrance exams. On Thursday, a training centre for the intelligence services was attacked. IS said it carried out the "commando" operation and claimed to have caused high casualties. Afghan officials said at least two militants were killed but did not mention any other deaths or injuries. Also on Wednesday, Taliban militants said they could no longer guarantee safe passage for Red Cross staff working in Afghanistan, amid a row over the treatment of Taliban prisoners in a jail in Kabul. What is known about the two attacks? IS claimed the attacks via its media outlet Amaq. The militants said about 110 people were either killed or wounded in Thursday's attack that began in the morning. Meanwhile, Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai said the attackers had fired rocket-propelled grenades as well as automatic rifles, and that security forces had held back from assaulting the building where the gunmen had taken position,
Reuters reports.”

Associated Press: Mattis Says Further Taliban Assaults Likely In Weeks Ahead

“The Taliban is likely to keep up its recent surge of violence in advance of scheduled parliamentary elections in October but Western-backed Afghan defenses will not break, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Thursday. In his most detailed comments on the Taliban's assault on the eastern city of Ghazni since it began Aug. 10, Mattis said the Taliban had six objectives in and around the city and failed to seize any of them. He would not specify the six sites. In Ghazni, provincial police chief Farid Mashal said Thursday that roads were being cleared of mines planted by Taliban who temporarily held entire neighborhoods of the city that they had besieged. The fighting continued for five days with more than 100 members of the Afghan National Security forces killed and 20 civilians. Scores of Taliban were also killed, according to Afghan officials. Mattis said some Taliban fighters were still holed up in houses in the city "trying to get resupplied." He said businesses are reopening, and overall, "it's much more stable" in Ghazni, showing that the Taliban have fallen short. "They have not endeared themselves, obviously, to the population of Ghazni," Mattis said. "They use terror. They use bombs because they can't win with ballots." The Taliban operation followed a familiar pattern, Mattis said in remarks to reporters flying with him Thursday evening to Bogota, Colombia, where he was winding up a weeklong tour of South America.”

Yemen

Arab News: Yemeni Government And Houthi Movement Invited To September 6 Peace Talks — UN

“The United Nations has invited the Yemeni government and the Houthi movement that controls most of the north to peace talks in Geneva on September 6, a UN spokeswoman said on Friday. UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths is trying to negotiate an end to the three-year conflict, which has killed more than 10,000 people and pushed Yemen to the verge of starvation. “I can confirm the office of Special Envoy has sent invitations to the government of Yemen and to Ansarullah,” UN spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci told a Geneva news briefing.”

Amnesty International: Yemen: Human Rights Activist Abducted By The Huthi Armed

Group Must Be Released

“Yemen’s Huthi armed group must reveal the fate and whereabouts of an activist abducted by two of its militants in apparent retaliation for his human rights work, Amnesty International said. Kamal al-Shawish, a field research assistant with Mwatana Organization for Human Rights in the city of Hodeidah, was seized on the street by two Huthi armed men on Tuesday. He was blindfolded and taken to an unknown location. His whereabouts remain unknown. The activist had documented human rights violations against civilians in Hodeidah prior to his arrest. “The worrying abduction of Kamal al-Shawish seems to be part of a sinister pattern of harassment and repression of human rights work in Yemen, committed by all sides to the conflict,” said Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Deputy

Director for Research for the Middle East and North Africa.”

Asharq Al-Awsat: Yemen: Houthis Forcibly Displace Citizens In Hajjah

“Houthi militias have forced residents of al-Sadah village in Hajjah to leave their homes and flee the area, National Army forces said on Wednesday. In a statement published by the German Press Agency (DPA), the media center for the fifth military region indicated that it documented the displacement of the people after Houthis used them as human shields and forced them to leave their homes at gunpoint. The statement added that two children from the village were injured after a mortar shell was fired by the Houthis on their home. For the third day in a row, the army, backed by the Saudi-led Coalition to Support Legitimacy, continued to advance in Hiran Directorate as it purged Durayhimi district, south of Hodeidah, of Houthi elements. Taiz military axis announced it will continue its joint security and military campaign to track down and arrest wanted militants and outlaws. The army also bombed several Houthi military targets and sites in al-Masloob front, in Jouf, and Serwah front, in Marib. Al-Amaleqa brigades, backed by the Coalition, stormed the center of Durayhimi directorate, engaging in fierce battles with Houthi militias and cutting off their supply lines.”

Al Arabiya: Khalid Bin Salman: We Won’t Allow Houthis To Become Another Hezbollah

“Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US Prince Khalid bin Salman said on Thursday that the Kingdom won’t allow the Houthi militias to be another Hezbollah, in reference to Lebanese pro-Iranian militia, stressing that this is what the Islamic Republic of Iran is seeking. Prince Khalid said, in a series of tweets with videos showing evidence about Hezbollah support for the Houthis, that the Iranian regime, in addition to providing the Houthis with weapons and missiles, is also supporting them with experts from Hezbollah to train them in order to continue their war against the Yemeni people.The Ambassador further added that “Their presence in Yemen confirms the Iranian regime has subcontracted the Houthi militia to be another one of its proxies; Hezbollah. It proves the regime’s proxies work in tandem to undermine regional stability and prolong the suffering of the Yemeni people.”

Saudi Arabia

The Wall Street Journal: Saudi Arabia To Contribute $100 Million To U.S.-Backed Efforts In Syria

“Saudi Arabia has agreed to contribute $100 million in aid to U.S.-backed coalition efforts in Syria, the State Department said Thursday, following attempts by the Trump administration to push Arab allies to play a greater role in the war. The sum appeared to fall short of U.S. requests for Arab money and troops earlier this year, but represented a step in Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the Syrian conflict that has drawn in rival powers, including Iran and Russia, and displaced millions of people. “This contribution follows the request from President Trump for partners to share the burden of promoting stability in Syria to safeguard the military gains achieved against ISIS,” the statement said. Mr. Trump has repeatedly expressed impatience with the cost and duration of the effort to oust Islamic State forces from Syria and restore order.”

Egypt

CGTN: Al-Shabaab Militants Blamed For Wave Of Killings In Somalia

“Insecurity has once again gripped Somalia after recent attacks perpetrated by Islamist militant group al-Shabaab. According to the United Nations Human Rights Council, 44 individuals who took part in the country’s last general elections were killed for their role in the formation of the current Somali government. Those targeted include clan elders and electoral delegates who picked representatives of the current 275-member parliament. Fifteen of them were targeted in the run to the presidential poll in February last year, with 29 other targeted after the election of the Somali president. Al-Shabaab has been named as the main culprit in most killings – with the UN Human Rights Council now calling on state and non-state actors to ensure the protection of human rights. Due to that threat, an electoral college was constituted made up of 14,000 delegates. 51 representatives picked by clan elders helped elect each of the 275 federal parliamentarians who later voted for a president last year – in one of the most competitive polls in Somalia history. Al-Shabaab has waged war in the horn of African region for over a decade, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions others. The displacements have created a refugee and humanitarian crisis in Somalia, causing suffering to millions of Somalis. This was even made worse by a drought that hit the country in 2016/17, causing famine and malnutrition across the country. The UN however hopes that regional and international efforts to pacify Somalia will bear fruits before the next election, which will be conducted in three years. The country’s electoral commission has registered more than a dozen political parties since president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo came to office last year vowing of a return to democracy.”

Nigeria

Africanews: Nigerian Troops Battling Boko Haram Assured Of Welfare After Revolt

“Days after staging a revolt in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno State, troops engaged in Boko Haram combat have been tasked to remain discipline and to channel their grievances via the right quarters. The call was made by current Theater Commander for the anti-insurgency combat ‘Operation Lafiya Doole.’ According to Major General Abba Dikko, the Boko Haram combat could easily scuttle in the face of indiscipline. General Dikko gave the charge today in his address to troops during an operational visit to Forward Operational Base at Delwa in Konduga Local Government Area of Borno State, the Army said in a statement. ”Your welfare in this operation is paramount to me as your Theatre Commander,” he added. He also assured the troops of their rotation, soon as they are due. Last weekend, troops fired shots into the air on Sunday evening at the Maiduguri international airport, moments before their redeployment to Marte in Borno State. Most said they had been deployed to the frontlines for years now without any sign of rotation as was promised them. The Army says it has largely contained Boko Haram terrorists who hitherto held local government areas in Borno State. The group, however, continues to launch attacks on the army and also using suicide bombers to target civilian populations in the state. Security was a key plank of President Buhari’s promises that won him the presidency in 2015.”

Sahara Reporters: Lai Mohammed Lied — UN Report Reveals Fg Made ‘Large Ransom

Payment’ To Boko Haram For Dapchi Girls

“The Nigerian government made a “large ransom payment” to Boko Haram in exchange for more than 100 schoolgirls kidnapped from a secondary school in Dapchi, Yobe State in February, the 22nd report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team of the United Nations’ Security Council has revealed. Boko Haram abducted 110 Dapchi girls on February 18, 2018, but 104 were released on March 21, five having died in captivity, and one, Leah Sharibu, remaining in captivity for clinging on to her Christian faith. There were multiple reports at the time that the freedom of the girls was secured with cash and the release of Boko Haram commanders. However, Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, denied, claiming the girls were released following “back-channel” negotiations brokered with the help of some “friends of the country”. He maintained that no ransom was paid for their release, and also denied that any Boko Haram prisoner was swapped as part of the negotiations. “It is not true that we paid ransom for the release of the Dapchi girls, neither was there a prisoner swap to secure their release,” Mohammed had said. “What happened was that the abduction itself was a breach of the ceasefire talks between the insurgents and the government, hence it became a moral burden on the abductors. Any report that we paid ransom or engaged in prisoner swap is false.” But the UN Security Council report presented before the council on July 23, now available online, revealed that a ransom was indeed paid.”

United Kingdom

BBC: Sheffield Dental Student Guilty Of Terror Funding

“A dental student has been found guilty of sending money to Syria to fund a terrorist group fighting to establish an Islamic state. Abdurahman Kaabar, 23, sent money to his brother Mohammed after he left the UK to join Jabhat al Fateh al Sham. Sheffield Crown Court heard Kaabar had told friends the Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi should be rewarded and "we need an Islamic state". Kaabar, from Sheffield, was convicted of two counts of funding terrorism. The student, who was in his first year of a dentistry degree at Plymouth University, pleaded guilty before the trial to three counts of possessing terrorist material and 12 counts of disseminating a terrorist publication. He admitted distributing documents, including to Mohammed Awan, who was jailed for 10 years in December for preparing to commit an act of terrorism in the UK.”
The Guardian: Far-Right Terrorist Caught With Bomb-Making Kit Is Jailed

“A far-right terrorist who was caught with bomb-making equipment and neo-Nazi material has been jailed by a Scottish court for 12 years. Peter Morgan, 35, from Edinburgh, had already begun assembling an improvised bomb from ball bearings, which an expert said could have caused catastrophic injuries, and had a cache of bomb-making manuals at his home. The police found a collection of neo-Nazi, racist and Islamophobic literature at his flat amassed over a five-year period, along with fuses, ball bearings, nail gun cartridges, a model rocket initiator, a large quantity of fireworks and propellants. He was photographed at one neo-Nazi rally with a poster bearing the letters NF, for National Front, and the slogan “white pride worldwide” and holding a Scottish saltire flag.”

Germany

Newsweek: Teenager Who Escaped Isis Slavery Says Her Captor Found Her In Germany And Police Didn’t Do Anything

“A Kurdish Yazidi teenager who fled Islamic State militant group (ISIS) slavery in Iraq has said her jihadi captor has found her in Germany, forcing her to flee back to her homeland. Four years after ISIS fighters swept through northern Iraq and seized her along with her family and thousands of other Kurdish and Yazidi minorities in August 2014, young Ashwaq Ta’lo has revealed that she was approached by a Syrian man known to her only as Abu Hamam. The man reportedly bought her, along with a number of other young women and girls from ISIS, and held them near Mosul, abusing them on a daily basis for about 10 months. After executing an elaborate escape plot, she eventually settled as a refugee in Stuttgart, Germany, as part of a humanitarian program that provides post-traumatic services. In 2016, she said she felt she was being followed, but nothing came out of it until earlier this year, when her past reportedly caught up with her one day, as she was walking home to the camp in which she was living at the time. "Someone stopped me, on 21st February this year. I froze when I looked at his face carefully. It was Abu Humam, with the same scary beard and ugly face. I was speechless when he started speaking in German, asking, 'You’re Ashwaq, aren’t you?'" Ta'lo told Kurdish outlet Bas News in an exclusive interview Wednesday.”

Technology

Reuters: Why Facebook Is Losing The War On Hate Speech In Myanmar

“In April, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg told U.S. senators that the social media site was hiring dozens more Burmese speakers to review hate speech posted in Myanmar. The situation was dire. Some 700,000 members of the Rohingya community had recently fled the country amid a military crackdown and ethnic violence. In March, a United Nations investigator said Facebook was used to incite violence and hatred against the Muslim minority group. The platform, she said, had “turned into a beast.” Four months after Zuckerberg’s pledge to act, here is a sampling of posts from Myanmar that were viewable this month on Facebook: One user posted a restaurant advertisement featuring Rohingya-style food. “We must fight them the way Hitler did the Jews, damn kalars!” the person wrote, using a pejorative for the Rohingya. That post went up in December 2013. Another post showed a news article from an army-controlled publication about attacks on police stations by Rohingya militants. “These non-human kalar dogs, the Bengalis, are killing and destroying our land, our water and our ethnic people,” the user wrote. “We need to destroy their race.” That post went up last September, as the violence against the Rohingya peaked.”

The Guardian: Facebook's Failure In Myanmar Is The Work Of A Blundering Toddler

“When Facebook invited journalists for a phone briefing on Tuesday evening to talk about its progress in tackling hate speech in Myanmar, it seemed like a proactive, well-intentioned move from a company that is typically fighting PR fires on several fronts. But the publication of a bombshell Reuters investigation on Wednesday morning suggested otherwise: the press briefing was an ass-covering exercise. This is the latest in a series of strategic mishaps as the social network blunders its way through the world like a giant, uncoordinated toddler that repeatedly soils its diaper and then wonders where the stench is coming from. It enters markets with wide-eyed innocence and a mission to “build [and monetise] communities”, but ends up tripping over democracies and landing in a pile of ethnic cleansing. Oopsie!”

Think Progress: Here Are The Tech Companies That Help Keep Hate Groups’ Online Operations Running

“A year ago, Americans watched on in horror as the extremism and hate of the so-called “alt-right”, which had long been festering online, materialized in a very real and terrifying form on the streets of Charlottesville. In response to the violence, which left counter-demonstrator Heather Heyer dead and dozens of others injured, tech companies belatedly woke up to the fact that they were effectively providing safe spaces for far-right hate. These companies made promises to the public that they would take action, and soon cracked down on some of the far-right’s most prominent figures and organizations. Far-right figures were booted off Twitter, domain-hosting companies shut down neo-Nazi forums like Stormfront, and Richard B. Spencer, one of the most immediately recognizable figures in the latest rebirth of the racist white identitarian movement that branded itself an alternative to the likes of the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Confederate groups, has been repeatedly kicked from fundraising platforms.”
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O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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