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Old 01-30-2020, 07:54 AM
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Arrow Eye on Extremism - January 30, 2020

Eye on Extremism
January 30, 2020
Re: info@counterextremism.com

Updated as of: January 30, 2020

Voice Of America: US Officials Say They Know True Identity Of New IS Leader

“U.S. defense officials believe they have unmasked the Islamic State terror group’s current leader, until now known by his nom de guerre, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. IS announced the selection of Qurashi as its new caliph this past October, just days after the death of former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a U.S. raid, but his true identity has been a question. The chief of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, purportedly appears for the first time in five years in a propaganda video in an undisclosed location, in this undated TV grab taken from video released April 29 by Al-Furqan media. Now, the U.S. has determined with confidence Qurashi is actually Hajji ‘Abdallah, according to a defense official who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity. ‘Abdallah, who also went by the name Amir Muhammad Said Abdal Rahman al-Mawla, is religious scholar who rose through the ranks of IS’ predecessor organization, al-Qaida in Iraq to eventually become, one of Baghdadi’s top deputies. According to U.S. intelligence officials, ‘Abdallah was also a key architect of the Islamic State’s slaughter of the Yazidi religious minority and was charged with overseeing some of the terror group’s global operations.”

The Wall Street Journal: Syrian Government Captures Strategic Town In Last Opposition Stronghold

“Syrian government forces backed by Russian airstrikes captured a strategic town in the country’s northwest, as the Assad regime presses a monthslong military campaign to retake one of the last remaining opposition strongholds after nine years of conflict. Regime forces aided by Iran-allied militias seized Maarat al-Numan and 28 surrounding villages and towns after intensifying their offensive in recent weeks, the Syrian military said Wednesday. Rebel fighters withdrew from the town once their defenses crumbled. The shelling and airstrikes have forced more than 350,000 civilians to flee their homes and head to tents, schools and unfinished buildings in the midst of a frigid winter, according to the United Nations and aid workers on the ground. Syrian rebels took over Maarat al-Numan in Idlib province in 2012. It sits on an important highway linking the capital Damascus to Aleppo, two of Syria’s biggest cities that are under government control. President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has long vowed to retake every inch of Syria. His forces have carried out regular strikes since the end of April 2019 on Idlib province, the last large rebel-held territory in the country. The U.N. has warned that an offensive in Idlib would cause a major humanitarian disaster.”

The Washington Times: Pentagon's Push To Reduce U.S. Troops In Africa Met By Surge In Terror Attacks

“The Pentagon is facing a firestorm of opposition to plans to cut troop levels in Africa. Regional analysts and military insiders from Capitol Hill to the capitals of Europe are warning that any reductions could fuel a resurgent terrorist goal of making mincemeat out of the continent. Defense Secretary Mark Esper reiterated this week that he is considering a drawdown of the roughly 5,000 U.S. forces stationed across Africa as part of a broader fundamental shift of military resources toward the Pacific to contain China. Officials say the redeployment is still in the review phase. Meanwhile, terrorist attacks across Africa have shaken weak governments, and an assault by al-Shabab on a military base in Kenya recently killed three Americans. Attacks have been even deadlier in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and elsewhere across Africa’s impoverished Sahel region, which specialists say has become one of the world’s most fertile breeding grounds for terrorism. Al-Shabab operates mainly in eastern Africa, but the Sahel region has experienced a resurgence of violence from groups such as the Islamic State, al Qaeda and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM).”

United States

Voice Of America: Minnesota Men Who Joined Al-Shabab Now Remorseful

“More than a decade ago, some 20 young Somali-Americans shocked their families when they left behind jobs and schools and returned to their native Somalia to join jihadist group al-Shabab. Now at least two of them have defected, and say their deadly adventure ruined their future. Ahmed Ali Omar and Abdulkadir Ali Abdi left al-Shabab 16 months ago, but are now hiding in the Somali capital, afraid of being hunted down by the group's assassins. In an exclusive interview the two men gave to the VOA Somali program Investigative Dossier, Omar says he would have been killed or jailed if he stayed with the group. “They found out we were going against their extremist, rigid views and they were plotting to arrest us,” he said. Investigative Dossier confirmed Omar's and Abdi's defections with government officials and other defectors. The two men are now living in a house provided by the Somali government's National Intelligence and Security Agency. Omar sounded remorseful in the over one-hour phone interview conducted last week. He said their future is ruined but wants to warn others from joining jihadist groups.”

Syria

CNN: UN Report Warns ISIS Is Reasserting Under New Leader Believed To Be Behind Yazidi Genocide

“ISIS has begun reasserting itself in Iraq and Syria under a new leader assessed to be an Iraqi operative who was a driving force behind the terror group's genocide against the Yazidi people, according to a report submitted to the UN Security Council which was made public on Wednesday. The wide-ranging report, compiled by the UN Monitoring Team that tracks the global jihadi terror threat, refers to the group by its alternate name stating the “Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), following its loss of territory, has begun to reassert itself in both the Syrian Arab Republic and Iraq, mounting increasingly bold insurgent attacks, calling and planning for the breakout of ISIL fighters in detention facilities and exploiting weaknesses in the security environment of both countries.” It has been clear for some time that one reason for ISIS's resilience is its deep pockets, with overheads reduced now the group no longer administers a large state. The report said that according to one of the more conservative assessments by UN member states, ISIS still has $100 million in reserves. “The period from July to September 2019 saw an acceleration of the reconstitution of ISIS as a covert network in the Syrian Arab Republic, mirroring what had happened in Iraq since 2017.”

Iran

Business Insider: ISIS 'Sleeper Cells' Are Taking Advantage Of US-Iran Tensions To Make A Comeback

“The Islamic State group's self-styled “caliphate” across parts of Iraq and Syria seemed largely defeated last year, with the loss of its territory, the killing of its founder in a US raid and an unprecedented crackdown on its social media propaganda machine. But tensions between the United States and Iran and the resulting clash over the US military presence in the region provide a comeback opportunity for the extremist group, whose remnants have been gradually building up a guerrilla campaign over the past year, experts say. American troops in Iraq had to pause their operations against ISIS for nearly two weeks amid the tensions. From the other side, Iranian-backed Iraqi militiamen who once focused on fighting the militants have turned their attention to evicting US troops from the Middle East. In the meantime, Islamic State group sleeper cells intensified ambushes in Iraq and Syria in the past few weeks, killing and wounding dozens of their opponents in both countries. Activists and residents say the attacks have intensified since the US killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a January 3 drone strike at Baghdad's airport.”

Iraq

Voice Of America: UN: Islamic State Militants Not Getting Fair Trials In Iraq

“A U.N. report says Islamic State militants in Iraq are often not getting fair trials and the judicial processes in the country are not up to international standards. The report, jointly published by the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq and the U.N. Human Rights Office, is based on hundreds of trials monitored between May 2018 and October 2019. The report says those responsible for widespread atrocities in Iraq must be held accountable. At the same time, it says it is important that those accused of crimes be given a fair trial. It says justice must be seen to be done. U.N. human rights spokesman Jeremy Laurence says the report is based on independent monitoring of 794 criminal trials of suspected Islamic State militants who were prosecuted under Iraq’s anti-terrorism laws. “Prosecutions under the anti-terrorism legal framework mainly focused on membership of a terrorist organization, without distinguishing between those who participated in violence, committed international crimes, and those who joined ISIL [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] for survival and/or through coercion,” said Laurence.”

Kurdistan 24: ISIS Sleeper Cells Attack Iraqi Army In Disputed Kirkuk, Kill 2 Soldiers

“Islamic State sleeper cells launched an attack on an Iraqi army position in the southern outskirts of Kirkuk on Wednesday, killing at least two soldiers, according to security sources. The Islamic State militants launched their attack late on Wednesday night at an army post in Kirkuk on the road between Daquq and the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, security sources told Kurdistan 24. According to the sources, violent clashes erupted between the terrorists and members of the Iraqi army. At least two soldiers were killed in the altercation. Iraq’s security media cell later revealed in a statement that the Islamic State attack had targeted the fourth company in the first regiment of the 45th Army Brigade. The statement also confirmed the two deaths. Neither the security sources nor the media cell mentioned whether the clashes had caused casualties among the terror group. Another security source said the Islamic State sleeper cells had ambushed the army, which prompted the soldiers to respond by opening fire. This is the second attack by the so-called Islamic State against the Iraqi army in Kirkuk within a week.”

Afghanistan

The New York Times: Despite Calm In Afghan Cities, War In Villages Kills Dozens Daily

“Over the past couple of months, as American and Taliban negotiators have resumed talks to try to complete a peace deal, an unusual calm has settled over major Afghan cities. Deadly terrorism attacks, once frequent, have suddenly dropped in urban centers. But a series of bloody assaults in the countryside suggests that the calm in the cities could be misleading. The war continues to kill dozens daily. And the patterns of violence in recent months have been tied closely to how negotiations between the United States and the Taliban, held in the Gulf state of Qatar, have played out. With talks now seeming to bog down, some diplomats and political leaders fear that violence could grow deadlier — even if much of it plays out in the countryside, away from the headlines. The sticking point in the negotiations: What reduction in violence is needed to move the peace process forward? The negotiators’ ultimate goal is the gradual withdrawal of American troops, and the establishment of talks between the Taliban and other Afghans over power-sharing. The drop in urban attacks most likely stems from an unacknowledged understanding with the Taliban to reduce high-profile violence in order to pave the way for an agreement.”

The Washington Post: Afghan Forces Rescue More Than 60 Hostages From Taliban Prison In Night Raid

“Late Tuesday night, four helicopters carrying 50 Afghan special forces commandos touched down just outside a Taliban compound on Afghanistan’s western edge. Intelligence collected by U.S. and Afghan forces indicated the buildings were being used as a prison, holding dozens of Afghan security forces. The Afghan commandos were launching an attempt to rescue more than 60 hostages held by the Taliban. “We took positions on the hilltops and sealed off the area,” said Maj. Sayed Rahimullah, the Afghan special forces commando who led the raid. As his men moved down into the compound, he said, they caught the Taliban guards by surprise. “We didn’t give them enough time to use heavy weaponry. They were firing light weapons as they were fleeing the scene,” he said in an interview Wednesday. As Taliban fighters fled, American aircraft circling above the scene targeted the men with at least four airstrikes, he said. U.S. and Afghan officials hailed the operation as a major success for Afghanistan’s special forces, who have struggled to regularly conduct operations without close American support.”

Reuters: Taliban Kill At Least 29 Afghan Security Personnel In Renewed Clashes

“At least 29 members of the Afghan security forces have been killed in Taliban attacks that followed air and ground assaults by government forces on the Islamist group at the weekend. The surge in hostilities signals deadlock at stop-start peace talks involving U.S and Taliban negotiators in Doha. The Defense Ministry said on Sunday government forces had killed 51 Taliban fighters in the weekend assaults. But the Taliban hit back, carrying out attacks on security checkpoints in the northern province of Kunduz on Tuesday night in which a security official who declined to be identified said 15 members of the Afghan army were killed. The Taliban also attacked a police station on Monday night in Pul-e Khomri, capital of the neighboring Baghlan province, killing 14 policemen, said Safdar Muhseni, head of the provincial council. Taliban said it was responsible for both attacks. The group’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said 35 members of the Afghan security forces had been killed in the attack in Kunduz and 17 in Baghlan. Sources close to the talks in Doha said the Taliban had agreed internally to halt attacks against U.S. forces and “reduce” assaults against Afghan government interests, but clashes between the Taliban and Afghan forces have risen.”

Pakistan

Associated Press: Terror Attacks Drop, But Pakistan ‘Not Out Of The Woods’

“Terror attacks in Pakistan plummeted by more than 85% over the last decade. It’s a welcome statistic for the country, but one that risks being overshadowed by international concern over its efforts to curb terror funding and lingering militant activity that could test any future peace agreement in neighboring Afghanistan. The tally, put together by Pakistani think tanks, found terror attacks dropped from nearly 2,000 in 2009 to fewer than 250 in 2019, a steady decline that underscores the long-haul nature of fighting terror. But a Paris-based international watchdog said in October that Pakistan was not doing enough to stop terror financing. The group meets next month to decide whether the country should be downgraded from a “gray” status to “black,” alongside Iran and North Korea, a step that could pose a challenge to Pakistan’s economy. Pakistan’s militant groups are often interlinked with those across the border in Afghanistan, so its progress at reining in terror is critical, particularly as Washington seeks to secure a deal with the Afghan Taliban to bring an end to the 18-year war, America’s longest military engagement.”

Yahoo News: Police Say Gunmen Kill 2 Female Polio Workers In NW Pakistan

“Gunmen on motorcycles killed two polio vaccination workers in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, local police said. Police official Ijaz Khan said security forces in the town of Swabi were searching for the attackers. Both of the killed health workers were women, he added. Swabi is in the deeply conservative Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. Pakistan regularly carries out anti-polio drives, despite threats from the Taliban who claim the campaign is a Western conspiracy to sterilize children. The latest attack came hours after Pakistan launched a new drive against the disease. Militants have stepped up such attacks after it was revealed that a CIA fake hepatitis vaccination campaign was used as a ruse in the U.S. hunt for Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. In 2011, American commandos killed the al-Qaida leader in the country's northwest. Pakistan is one of three countries in the world where polio is still endemic. Pakistan was hoping to eradicate the disease in 2018 when only 12 cases were reported. But there was a sudden surge in polio cases the following year when 135 children tested positive for the disease, shocking health officials.”

Middle East

Fox News: Most Wanted Female Terrorist Lives In Freedom In Jordan Despite Extradition Request For Bombing That Killed Americans

“Ahlam Ahmad al-Tamimi is the most wanted woman in the world, with a $5 million bounty for information that leads to her arrest or conviction. Tamimi is accused by U.S. officials of conspiring to use--and using--a weapon of mass destruction, and masterminding a brazen Hamas terrorist attack that killed 15 – including eight children and two Americans, one of whom was pregnant. Despite being on the run from American authorities, Tamimi has been hiding in plain sight for years-- under the eye of one of the United States' longest and closest allies in the Middle East: Jordan. Despite requests from Washington, the Kingdom has been publicly steadfast in its refusal to extradite Tamimi, who at just 20 years old masterminded the suicide bombing on the Sbarro pizza restaurant in Jerusalem three weeks before planes struck the U.S on Sept. 11, 2001. The attack claimed the lives of two Americans, 15-year-old Malki Roth, and Shoshana Yehudit Greenbaum, who was five months pregnant with her first child at the time. In addition to the two murdered Americans and the unborn infant, four more U.S. nationals were among the some 122 injured. At least one of the victims remains in a vegetative state.”

Nigeria

The New York Times: Study: Smuggled Arms Aid Nigeria’s Farmer-Herder Conflict

“Weapons that have been used in intercommunal violence that has killed thousands of people in northern Nigeria have been trafficked from Ivory Coast, Libya and Turkey, according to a new report by the Conflict Armament Research group. Fighting between farmers and semi-nomadic herders over land has gone on for decades in Nigeria’s central belt and north. Attacks on civilians by armed groups aligned with the communities have killed more than 3,600 people and displaced 300,000 since 2014, according to the study. Armed groups involved in the fighting in Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara states possessed “significant numbers of factory-produced small arms manufactured in Europe, East Asia, the Middle East and North America,” according to the three-year study. Some of the weapons were from Turkey and were linked to a major organized trafficking network, the group said. Assault rifles from Iraq and similar to ones used by Islamic extremist groups in Mali and Niger also were found. However, the organization said that while weapons may have come from the same illicit source, that did not demonstrate a connection between the conflict in Nigeria and Islamic extremist groups.”

The Punch Nigeria: Boko Haram Kills Two, Steals Fish At Military Checkpoint

“Boko Haram on Tuesday night slaughtered two people sleeping at a military checkpoint on the outskirts of Maiduguri, carting away part of their frozen fish. According to a security source, the driver of the truck conveying frozen fish from Kano to the Borno State capital was forced to stop at the checkpoint a few minutes to the closure of the security gates as the vehicle developed a fault. The soldiers at the checkpoint were said to have advised the driver to leave the DAF truck proceed to town to sleep with the two other people with him. They were said to have rejected the advice and chose instead to sleep inside the vehicle. The source said they were attacked by insurgents, who killed two of them. The corpses of the deceased were deposited at the Borno State Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri, by the Rapid Response Squad, with their wounded colleague receiving treatment at the hospital. The source said, “The RRS were told about the Boko Haram attack about 7am on Wednesday. There was information that some armed men suspected to be insurgents had intercepted a DAF truck with number plate Yobe PKM 665 X driven by one Yusuf Mohammed, who was with his motorboy Abdullah Mohammed.”

Africa

Financial Times: Governments Are Failing In The Fight Against Jihadis In The Sahel

“It must be the least known epicentre of global terrorism. Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in west Africa, is now home to the world’s fastest-growing Islamist insurgency. Only last weekend, suspected militants attacked a market not far from the lightly patrolled border with Mali, killing some 50 people. That was merely the latest in a gruesome string of attacks on targets soft and hard. Thousands of people were killed last year and some 560,000 displaced in a country of 19m. On Christmas Eve, 35 civilians — 31 of them women — were slaughtered when dozens of militants on motorbikes rode into town in Soum province, where last weekend’s attack took place. A few days later, 11 soldiers were killed at a military base, again in Soum. As the crisis escalates, the Norwegian Refugee Council predicts the number of displaced people will rise to 900,000. Burkina Faso borders six countries. Two of them, Niger and especially Mali, are centres of Islamist insurgencies themselves. They are home to a potpourri of homegrown rebellions, foreign fighters linked to al-Qaeda and Isis, criminal gangs and weapons pouring out of Libya.”

Asharq Al-Awsat: Cameroon: Five Killed In Terror Attack By Boko Haram

“Boko Haram militants carried out overnight attack in north Cameron killing five people. The militants were hunting for soldiers in a village near Lake Chad. “Five civilians were killed by Boko Haram in Blaram,” a village in the Blangoua district of Cameroon's Far North region, a local official said. Two soldiers were also injured in the assault and a military base set on fire, the officer said, AFP reported. “Boko Haram fighters attacked the post around 1 am. Fighting erupted between them and the soldiers, but the troops made a strategic retreat because they were outnumbered,” a Blangoua district official said. The civilians were killed in their homes by attackers searching for soldiers, the official said. The village of Blaram is located on dry land near Lake Chad. Based in neighbouring Nigeria, Boko Haram has stepped up attacks from bases hidden in the Lake Chad area, where the borders of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria converge. Cameroon says the group has carried out nearly 13,000 attacks on its territory since 2014, with the loss of “several thousand” lives. The insurgency has forced more than 250,000 people to flee their homes and triggered an influx of 60,000 people from Nigeria.”

Institute For Security Studies: Time To Rethink The Prevention Of Violent Extremism In Africa

“The past year has seen an uptick in terrorism and efforts to counter it in Africa. On the last day of 2019, al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for an attack in Mogadishu, Somalia, that killed over 80 people. More recently, a violent extremist attack in Burkina Faso’s Sanmatenga province left 36 civilians dead. Southern Africa has also seen a rise in terrorism with more than 350 incidents carried out by extremist groups in Mozambique since 2017. So what have interventions to prevent and counter violent extremism achieved in the past decade, and how can they be improved for the next 10 years? Research by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) shows that West and Central African countries have received a total of US$144 228 644 and East African countries US$172 385 324 from local and international donor organisations to prevent violent extremism in the past five years. The most popular theory of change among those working to prevent violent extremism in these three regions is that raising awareness among communities about the problem and what makes people vulnerable to recruitment, will reduce the chance that they are exploited by groups such as Boko Haram and al-Shabaab.”

United Kingdom

BBC News: Men Admit Terrorism Charges After MI5 Surveillance

“Seven men have pleaded guilty to terrorist charges arising from a covert MI5 operation against the Continuity IRA (CIRA). The undercover bugging operation focused on a house in Newry, County Down, in 2014. The men were due to go on trial on 3 February 2020. They were re-arraigned at the request of their defence lawyers at Belfast Crown Court on Wednesday. Patrick Joseph 'Mooch' Blair, 64, of Lissara Heights, Warrenpoint, County Down; Liam Hannaway, 50, of White Rise, Dunmurry, Belfast; John Sheehy, 35, of Erskine Street, Newry, and Colin Patrick Winters, 48, of Ardcarn Park, Newry, admitted belonging or professing to belong to a proscribed organisation, providing weapons and explosives training, conspiring to possess explosives, firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life. They further admitted conspiracy to possess explosives, firearms and ammunition with intent, and preparing acts of terrorism. Blair, Hannaway and Winters also admitted collecting information likely to be of use to terrorists. Sheehy further pleaded guilty to attending a meeting at Ardcarn Park for terrorist training.”
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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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