Eye on Extremism - March 26, 2019

[Boats]

Eye on Extremism
Date: March 26, 2019
Re: info@counterextremism.com

Eye on Extremism - March 26, 2019

By: The Wall Street Journal: With End Of Islamic State Caliphate, U.S. Shifts To Long New Fight Ahead

“The final defeat of the Islamic State extremist group’s self-declared caliphate marked an important battlefield victory in the fight against the terrorist network, but it also signaled a shift to a more difficult fight to come, U.S. military officials and experts said. For U.S. counterterrorism strategy, the focus will move from years of armed conflict as the group held parts of Iraq and Syria to confrontation with a more dispersed and furtive insurgency, officials and analysts said. It also will mean devising ways to undercut its recruitment efforts and its appeal to opportunity-starved regions. “There will still be an insurgent element out there that has intentionally gone into hiding and will try to reemerge,” said a U.S. military official. “It will be a difficult effort to find them and prevent their resurgence—in some ways as difficult as the elimination of the physical caliphate.” Military officials and experts credit President Trump’s 2017 giving field commanders more leeway in executing operations with accelerating the fight begun by former President Obama against Islamic State and helping lead to the final elimination of the group’s land holdings.”

U.S. News & World Report: After ISIS' Defeat: Where Is Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi?

“Confirmation this weekend that U.S.-backed fighters cleared the remaining Syrian territory controlled by the Islamic State group prompts a burning question: Where is the terrorist network's founder, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi? Western officials have long downplayed the importance of capturing or killing the elusive leader as the U.S.-led coalition focused on ridding Syria and Iraq of the insurgent network's so-called caliphate, which at its height spanned an area the size of Portugal. However, the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, now enters a new phase of broad insurgency as it tries to retain relevance and recruitment without an established homeland, making its symbolic leaders all the more significant in the network's increasingly global campaign. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence assessed earlier this year that, with the fall of its territory all but inevitable, the threats the Islamic State group poses will morph: “We assess that ISIS will seek to exploit Sunni grievances, societal instability, and stretched security forces to regain territory in Iraq and Syria in the long term.” The Foundation Defense of Democracies warned in 2017 about the potency of the group's apocalyptic ideology even without formally controlling territory.”

The Wall Street Journal: Israel Strikes Hamas Targets In Gaza After Rocket Attack Near Tel Aviv

“Israel’s military said it struck dozens of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip and the Islamist group launched numerous rockets into its territory, raising the risk of a wide-scale conflict two weeks before an Israeli election. The latest exchange of fire comes after the Israeli military blamed Gaza-ruler Hamas for an attack earlier Monday that hit a home in the small town of Mishmeret north of Israel’s commercial capital of Tel Aviv, injuring seven people. In retaliatory strikes, the Israeli military said its aircraft hit three main targets in Gaza City: the office of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, a separate three-story building that serves as Hamas’s secret headquarters, including its military intelligence, general intelligence and general security and a five-story building used by the Gaza Interior Ministry. The Gaza Health Ministry said five people had been injured by the Israeli strikes.”

The New York Times: Once Jailed In Guantánamo, 5 Taliban Now Face U.S. At The Negotiating Table

“When the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and toppled the Taliban government, even those who surrendered were treated as terrorists: handcuffed, hooded and shipped to the American detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Now, in a stark demonstration of the twists and contradictions of the long American involvement in Afghanistan, five of those men are sitting across a negotiating table from their former captors, part of the Taliban team discussing the terms of an American troop withdrawal. “During our time in Guantánamo, the feeling was with us that we had been brought there unjustly and that we would be freed,” said one of the former detainees, Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa. “But it never occurred to me that one day there would be negotiations with them, and I would be sitting there with them on one side and us on the other.”

Inquisitr: Neo-Nazi Groups Still Allowed On Facebook Because They ‘Do Not Violate Community Standards’

“According to researchers at the Counter Extremism Project who compiled the exhaustive report on the proliferation of neo-Nazi pages on Facebook, after submitting multiple reports to the Facebook moderators over the offensive pages, they were told they should just unfollow the pages if they found them to be offensive. Facebook maintained that said pages wouldn’t be taken down. That was the response the researchers got when they reported pages maintained by groups like Be Active Front USA, a racist skinhead group, as well as British Movement, a neo-Nazi group. A number of the pages that were reported — but have yet to be blocked or taken down — promote imagery of Adolf Hitler and fascist symbols, and refer to people of color as “vermin” and LGBTQ people as “degenerates.” Senior director of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), Hans-Jakob Schindler, noted that Facebook and other platforms are permitting hate groups to “network and build echo chambers worldwide” without obstruction, simply due to the bottom line. The CEP report came out just days after Facebook was widely criticized for failing to quickly take down the Christchurch shooter’s live video of the attack.”

France 24: Australia Threatens Social Media Execs With Jail Over Terror Images

“Australia warned social media giants Tuesday that executives could be jailed if they fail to quickly remove extremist material from their platforms. Prime Minister Scott Morrison met with a number of tech firms Tuesday -- including Facebook, Twitter and Google -- to ask how they planned to keep their platforms from being “weaponised” by terrorists, as Canberra considers new laws in the wake of the New Zealand massacre. Social media platforms “can get an ad to you in half a second,” Morrison told reporters ahead of the meeting. “They should be able to pull down this sort of terrorist material and other types of very dangerous material in the same sort of time frame and apply their great capacities to the real challenges to keep Australians safe,” he added. Facebook said it “quickly” removed a staggering 1.5 million videos of the harrowing viral Christchurch mosque attacks, which accused white supremacist gunman Brenton Tarrant livestreamed on the social media platform. A 17-minute video of the March 15 rampage that claimed the lives of 50 people was widely available online and experts said was easily retrievable several hours after the attack. Attorney-General Christian Porter said the response from firms during Tuesday's meeting was “thoroughly underwhelming.”

United States

Global News: From Colombia To Lebanon To Toronto: How A DEA Probe Uncovered Hezbollah’s Canadian Money Laundering Ops

“Professional money laundering networks are growing in Canada, washing vast sums of cocaine and fentanyl cash, and helping to drive up prices in Vancouver and Toronto real estate. Canada’s federal government proposed a new federal anti-money laundering task force last week, specifically to tackle these concerns. But according to U.S. law enforcement sources, Canada has been aware of this for over a decade. This story explains untold international details behind recent RCMP investigations, missed early warnings, and lessons from Australian police, that could jump-start Canada’s late response to these growing risks, sources say. In January 2008, a team of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents travelled to Ottawa to meet with RCMP leaders. They had stunning news. The DEA said an elite group of Middle East narco-terrorists in Colombia was using Canada as a key money laundering hub. According to a former senior U.S. official with knowledge of the meeting, the DEA had “dirty calls” — meaning calls providing criminal evidence of cocaine shipments and cash movements in Canada — from narco-kingpins in Colombia to a network of operatives in Halifax, Vancouver, Calgary, and London, Ont.”

The New York Times: U.S. Said To Have Tapes Of Alleged 9/11 Mastermind Plotting With Co-Conspirators

“Military prosecutors say they have tapes of telephone calls between the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and three of his accused co-conspirators talking in code about the plot months before it took place, a defense lawyer disclosed on Monday. The lawyer, Jay Connell, revealed the existence of the tapes as part of a protest over plans to use them as evidence at the death penalty trial of the alleged conspirators. More than 17 and a half years after the attacks — in which 19 hijackers commandeered four commercial airplanes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, killing nearly 3,000 people — there is still no date set for the trial in the proceedings at Guantánamo Bay. Prosecutors gave defense lawyers the original audio and transcripts of their translation on Sept. 30, 2016, Mr. Connell said, and made clear they planned to use them at trial. Defense lawyers sought to investigate their origins and later discovered that the original trial judge, Army Col. James L. Pohl, had issued a secret order preventing them from knowing about the phone call collection system or asking questions about it.”

The Washington Post: A California Mosque Was Set Ablaze In ‘Clear Homage’ To The New Zealand Terrorist Attack

“The Muslim community in Escondido, Calif., gathered a week ago for an interfaith prayer vigil, insisting that a distance of nearly 7,000 miles did not ease the pain they felt for the 50 victims of a pair of mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand. They assembled again on Sunday evening, uttering prayers that echoed like a grim refrain. This time, they turned their attention to one of their own mosques, whose walls had been blackened in an apparent act of arson announcing its intentions with graffiti citing the March 15 attack in New Zealand. With rapid velocity, the violence visited on the Pacific island nation appears to have traversed the globe, choosing as one of its first American targets an unassuming, beige-colored place of Islamic worship, flanked by palm trees. “I never could have expected that this would happen here, two blocks from my house,” Yusef Miller, the point person for interfaith initiatives and a board member at the Islamic Society of North County, said in an interview with The Washington Post. “The connection was chilling. It was a clear homage to what happened in New Zealand.” In the wee hours of Sunday, seven people were inside the Dar-ul-Arqam mosque in Escondido, about 30 miles north of downtown San Diego, when someone outside tried to set the building ablaze, according to city police.”

The Washington Post: Would Trump Label Mexican Cartels Terrorist Organizations?

“In a recent interview, President Trump said he is ”very seriously” considering labeling Mexican drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). Some other politicians and activist groups support the move. This would be an extreme policy shift — and might not result in the intended consequences. Does this approach make sense for dealing with criminal organizations in Mexico? Here’s what you need to know: Since 1997, the State Department has named dozens of militant groups as FTOs. This makes them subject to U.S. economic and other sanctions. FTO designation is a powerful tool. It’s an influential global symbol, identifying certain militant groups as threats. When the State Department designates a group a “terrorist organization,” other countries are more likely to follow suit. My research suggests that when the State Department designates militant groups in U.S.-aligned countries as FTOs, there is a substantial reduction in violence. FTO designation also has drawbacks — it can complicate peace processes. Proscribing militant groups can also adversely affect humanitarian aid, charities and broader communities. Here’s why: people and groups fear they could unwittingly provide “material support” for a listed group, potentially resulting in prosecution. Mexican cartels use horrifying violence — my research suggests this amounts to what are, arguably, terrorist tactics.”

The Washington Post: What The U.S. Can Learn From The Fight Against The Islamic State

“The capture of the last territory controlled by the Islamic State on Saturday was far from a final victory over the movement, as U.S. commanders and diplomats were careful to emphasize. The jihadists retain thousands of fighters in clandestine cells scattered across Syria and Iraq, as well as affiliates in Afghanistan, Egypt, the Philippines, Libya, Burkina Faso and elsewhere. Nevertheless, the final elimination of a self-declared caliphate that once controlled a territory the size of Britain and ruled over as many as 12 million people is worth celebrating. It represents a victory not just for moderate forces in Syria and Iraq, which did most of the fighting, but for a U.S. military mission that succeeded with a light footprint and relatively low costs. The rapid advance of Islamic State forces across Iraq in the summer of 2014 forced President Barack Obama to reverse his premature withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country. But the campaign that then unfolded in Iraq and later in Syria was dramatically different from the previous, troop-heavy wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. U.S. strategy was to partner with local forces that would take the lead on the ground, including elite elements of the Iraqi army and Kurdish-led forces in northern Iraq and eastern Syria.”

Voice Of America: In 2018, At Least 50 US Deaths From Surging Right-Wing Extremist Attacks

“The deadly mosque shootings in New Zealand last week by a gunman who promoted an anti-immigrant manifesto coincide with a surge in the incidents of right-wing extremist killings in the U.S. Last year, domestic extremists killed at least 50 people in the U.S., up from 37 murders in 2017, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, which tracks such murders. The last five years have produced a higher number of extremist-related murders than any other five-year period since 1970, according to the ADL. Mark Pitcavage, a senior fellow at the Center on Extremism, said that every one of the perpetrators of last year’s murders had ties to at least one right-wing movement. The majority of the murders were committed by white supremacists, with a smaller number perpetrated by anti-government extremists and extreme misogynists who identify as “involuntary celibates” or incels, Pitcavage said. While a few high-profile incidents such as the massacre of 11 Jewish worshippers by white supremacist Robert Bowers at a Pittsburgh synagogue last October have been widely reported, others have received scant attention.”

The Wall Street Journal: Trump’s Golan Decision Is Moral And Strategic

“President Trump’s tweeted last week that the U.S. will formally recognize the Golan Heights as part of Israel. The decision is strategically wise and morally important. Israel secured the Golan Heights in 1967 after the Six Day War, a defensive conflict Israel fought in response to attacks from Syria and other Arab nations. Since then, the Golan has been a critical part of Israel’s defenses. I witnessed that dynamic two weeks ago as I stood atop the Golan with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel. With Syria, ravaged by civil war, at our backs, we talked about the Golan’s strategic importance as high ground bordering an unfriendly nation. Before the Six Day War, Syria used the Golan to shell Israeli towns, villages and farms in the Galilee indiscriminately. Those dark days ended with Israel’s victory in the Six Day War.”

Syria

Reuters: U.S. Envoy Says Fight Against Islamic State Militants Will Go On

“The U.S.-led coalition fight against Islamic State in Syria is not over, even though the group no longer controls territory, the chief U.S. diplomat for Syria warned on Monday and said the whereabouts of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi were unknown. U.S. envoy for Syria, Jim Jeffrey, speaking to a briefing at the State Department, said Islamic State’s loss of its last territorial stronghold in Syria over the weekend was a “great day” but the fight against the group will go on and U.S. forces would remain in Syria in limited numbers to help. ”This is not the end of the fight against ISIS. That will go on, but it will be a different kind of fight,” Jeffrey told reporters. “ISIS has lost much of its capability to project terrorist power and to have a recruiting base in an area that it controls. So it’s a very, very important development,” he added. Jeffrey said the focus of the coalition was on the enduring defeat of Islamic State and pressing governments to take back foreign fighters captured during the conflict. He said most of the prisoners captured by the U.S.-based Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were Iraqis and Syrians. Those, he said, would be returned to their communities for “deradicalization”, reintegration, and in some cases, punishment.”

The Guardian: The Caliphate Is Over, But ISIS Will Be Back In Another Form

“United States-backed fighters retook the final enclave of the Islamic State “caliphate” on Saturday in Baghuz, eastern Syria. With thick beards and wearing kaftans, Isis militants continued to emerge from underground tunnels over the weekend, surrendering to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Unlike Donald Trump, who has already announced the downfall or imminent destruction of Islamic State many times, the SDF spokesman carefully described the “100% territorial defeat of Isis”. Certainly, this turn of events will force a step change for Isis, but it is one that it is prepared for. As a political structure, the “caliphate” was fundamentally unstable. It was defined by a savage propaganda of slavery, beheadings and crucifixion, much of which contributed to a fair deal of internal disquiet. There were scores of executions of even top commanders and ideologists for dissent or disloyalty. The Isis leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was said to have survived a coup attempt by a group of north African fighters as recently as January. But Isis had emerged out of a bloody and bitter dispute with al-Qaida in 2014 – they continue to execute each other’s fighters – and retained within its leadership style an ingrained, almost compulsive, proclivity for excommunication.”

The New York Times: The Islamic State Is Like A Chronic Disease

“Four years ago, a sympathizer of the Islamic State told me that the group’s caliphate was hardier than believed and would survive near-total loss of territorial control. “So long as there is one street in one village where the caliph carries out Islamic law,” he told me, “the dawla will be legitimate.” (“Dawla” means state in Arabic.) All Muslims would remain obliged to travel there, he said. (It would be one very crowded street.) No rival caliph could challenge Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State’s leader, as long as he ruled this alley and did it according to Islam. Last week, the caliphate finally dwindled down to that one alley, and on Saturday it vanished entirely. The Syrian Democratic Forces sacked the Islamic State’s last minuscule barrio in the town of Baghuz, in eastern Syria, after a weekslong siege. “One street in one village” may overstate the size of that last patch. In a recent video attributed to the Islamic State, apparently from just days ago, the area looked like a small junkyard defended by vagrants. Several years back, the Islamic State circulated videos of its fighters living among swimming pools and well-stocked shops.”

Fox News: Attack On US-Backed Syrian Fighters Kills 7 In Northern Town

“An official with the U.S.-backed force in Syria says gunmen have attacked one of their checkpoints in the northern town on Manbij, killing seven fighters. Sharfan Darwish, of the Kurdish-led Manbij Military Council, told The Associated Press that the Tuesday morning attack hit a checkpoint at one the entrances of Manbij. He says it's unclear who was behind the attack and added that the “martyrs were carrying out their mission of protecting Manbij.” The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said sleepers cells of the Islamic State group carried out the attack. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but in January, IS claimed a suicide attack in Manbij that killed 19 people, including two U.S. service members and two American civilians.”

The New York Times: The Islamic State Is Like A Chronic Disease

“Four years ago, a sympathizer of the Islamic State told me that the group’s caliphate was hardier than believed and would survive near-total loss of territorial control. “So long as there is one street in one village where the caliph carries out Islamic law,” he told me, “the dawla will be legitimate.” (“Dawla” means state in Arabic.) All Muslims would remain obliged to travel there, he said. (It would be one very crowded street.) No rival caliph could challenge Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State’s leader, as long as he ruled this alley and did it according to Islam. Last week, the caliphate finally dwindled down to that one alley, and on Saturday it vanished entirely. The Syrian Democratic Forces sacked the Islamic State’s last minuscule barrio in the town of Baghuz, in eastern Syria, after a weekslong siege. “One street in one village” may overstate the size of that last patch. In recent video attributed to the Islamic State,apparently from just days ago, the area looked like a small junkyard defended by vagrants. Several years back, the Islamic State circulated videos of its fighters living among swimming pools and well-stocked shops. In the junkyard videos, it looked as if no one had bathed for weeks.”

Al Jazeera: SDF Calls For International Tribunal For ISIL Detainees

“The US-backed Syrian fighters who drove ISIL from its last strongholds are calling for an international tribunal to prosecute hundreds of foreigners rounded up in the nearly five-year campaign against the group. The administration affiliated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Monday that such a tribunal is needed “for justice to take its course,” particularly after several countries have refused to bring home their detained nationals. “We call on the international community to establish a special international tribunal in northeast Syria to prosecute terrorists,” the SDF said in a statement. In this way, “trials can be conducted fairly and in accordance with international law and human rights covenants and charters,” it said. The announcement came two days after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS)'s so-called “caliphate” was declared defeated following the SDF's capture of the village Baghouz, the last territory under ISIL control. The SDF has detained more than 1,000 foreign ISIL fighters, including many from Western countries. In total, some 5,000 Syrian and foreign fighters have been detained, with the SDF warning that it does not have the capacity or authority to detain so many people.”

Arab News: Fighting Extremism More Important Than Fighting Terrorism

“Declarations of victory are everywhere, and on the lips of everyone concerned with the war on terror in Syria. In my opinion, this is a temporary victory, and it is only a matter of time until another Daesh organization emerges. Daesh, the so-called state whose defeat was announced in Syria last week, was born in 2011 after the declaration of the end of the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization. It was announced that Al-Qaeda had been completely destroyed following its defeat in Baghdad and western Iraq. The number of those said to be members of Daesh who have been arrested in Syria has reached about 30,000. The number of those who joined the terrorist group during the Syrian war is thought to be more than 60,000, according to an estimate based on the number of detainees who left different parts of Syria after the launch of the international coalition’s attacks against them last summer. Like Al-Qaeda, Daesh is an idea, and ideas do not die easily in our region’s current environment, which is one of chaos and emptiness. Al-Qaeda first appeared in Afghanistan after the Taliban took over and following the withdrawal of US troops in the early 1990s. From there, the idea of cross-border armed extremism spread to the countries of the region through the media, mosques and other incubators.”

Iraq

Kurdistan 24: Iraq Issues Warning Of ISIS Attacks On Churches In Baghdad

“The Iraqi Ministry of Interior has issued a warning to Baghdad’s security forces of a possible terrorist attack by the Islamic State in response to the recent mass shooting that resulted in the deaths of at least 49 people attending mosques in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, a classified document shows. “It is possible that [ISIS] will carry out an attack targeting churches, especially the Saidat al-Najat Church in Baghdad…as revenge for the attack carried out against the mosques in New Zealand,” read a document distributed among the capital’s various security bodies, issued by the Directorate General for the Protection of Facilities and Personalities of the Iraqi ministry of interior, a copy of which Kurdistan 24 received. The document was dated March 19, the same day the Islamic State published a 44-minute-long recording, urging supporters to launch attacks in all the countries that took part in fighting its organization, invoking the Christchurch attack to incite retaliatory violence. This was just days ahead of the terrorist group’s complete territorial collapse in Syria, as announced by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), following the liberation of the last small patch of land in the now infamous village of Baghouz, near the Iraqi border and on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River.”

Kurdistan 24: Iraq Sentences Yezidi Man To Death For Joining ISIS, Committing Crimes Against Minority Group

“An Iraqi court on Monday sentenced a Yezidi (Ezidi) man to death for joining the Islamic State and participating in crimes against his own religious minority group in the town of Sinjar (Shingal) in 2014. The convicted man is originally Ezidi but converted to Islam before joining the jihadist organization and participating in the mass killing of his fellow Ezidis, according to Iraqi judicial authorities. The Nineveh Criminal Court “ruled to apply the death sentence on the terrorist for several crimes committed against the Ezidis,” Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said in a statement. The sentence was in accordance with the provisions of Article IV of the anti-terrorism law. “The convicted man confessed to taking up arms [against the state] and threatening Ezidis into converting to Islam,” the statement added, without identifying the person’s name or age. The Iraqi judiciary asserted the man had participated in the Aug. 15, 2014 occupation of the Ezidi-majority village of Kojo alongside Islamic State members. The person also confessed to having gathered Ezidis in the village’s school, isolating women and children from the men who were then executed.”

Turkey

Daily Sabah: Turkey-Iran Complete First Ever Joint Anti-Terror Op

“Turkey and Iran conducted and finished their first ever joint anti-terror operation targeting the PKK terrorist group near the border between March 18-23, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said late Monday. In a phone call last Wednesday, Turkish and Iranian military officials said the simultaneous and coordinated operation would continue for “some more time.” The two sides said they are determined to continue counterterrorism fight. The PKK and its Iranian affiliate, the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) use the Qandil mountains, located roughly 40 kilometers southeast of the Turkish border in Iraq's Irbil province, as headquarters for the terrorist group. Although the PKK was headquartered in Syria until 1998, currently, the terrorist organization is now controlled from its headquarters in northern Iraq's Qandil Mountains. The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) serves as an umbrella group for terrorist groups functioning under the names of the PKK in Turkey, the Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party (PÇDK) in Iraq, the PJAK in Iran and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria and its armed wing the People's Protection Units (YPG), which currently control some one-third of the Syrian territory and dominate the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) group.”

Afghanistan

The New York Times: Once Jailed In Guantánamo, 5 Taliban Now Face U.S. At The Negotiating Table

“When the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and toppled the Taliban government, even those who surrendered were treated as terrorists: handcuffed, hooded and shipped to the American detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Now, in a stark demonstration of the twists and contradictions of the long American involvement in Afghanistan, five of those men are sitting across a negotiating table from their former captors, part of the Taliban team discussing the terms of an American troop withdrawal. “During our time in Guantánamo, the feeling was with us that we had been brought there unjustly and that we would be freed,” said one of the former detainees, Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa. “But it never occurred to me that one day there would be negotiations with them, and I would be sitting there with them on one side and us on the other.” The five senior Taliban officials were held at Guantánamo for 13 years before catching a lucky break in 2014. They were exchanged for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only known American service member to be held by the insurgents as a prisoner of war.”

The Washington Post: EU Official Backs Key Role For Kabul In Talks With Taliban

“The European Union’s top diplomat has expressed support for U.S.-led efforts to resolve Afghanistan’s 17-year war but stressed that the Afghan government should have a leading role in the process. The remarks by EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini reflect the bloc’s displeasure that the peace talks with the Taliban have so far sidelined the government in Kabul. The Taliban have refused to talk directly with the government, considering it a U.S. puppet. Mogherini says the EU has “always been on the side of Afghan people with no other agenda” than peace, security and prosperity for Afghanistan. She says that EU supports “an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process.” Mogherini spoke after meetings in Kabul on Tuesday with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the country’s chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah.”

Xinhua: Fighting Kills More Than A Dozen Militants In Afghanistan

“More than a dozen militants have been confirmed dead as government forces increased pressure on the armed opposition groups in Afghanistan, officials said Monday. In the latest crackdown on militants, government forces' fighting aircraft pounded a Taliban hideout in Sangin district of the southern Helmand province on Monday, killing six militants including senior commander Jihadyar, said an army statement. Commander Jihadyar, according to the statement, had served as shadow spy chief of the Taliban outfit and his physical elimination could prove a major blow to the militants operating in the restive Helmand province. Similarly, clashes between government forces and Taliban fighters on a road linking the southern Uruzgan province to Kandahar on Sunday night left eight militants dead and six others injured, a local official said. The official on the condition of anonymity also confirmed that five security personnel were injured in the fighting which lasted for a few hours. In the crackdowns against the armed opposition groups, the government forces stormed an hideout of Islamic State (IS) group by using an unmanned plane in Achin district of the eastern Nangarhar province on Sunday afternoon.”

Middle East

Fox News: Gaza Militants Launch Rockets Toward Israel After Strike On Hamas Chief's Office

“Gaza militants launched at least 10 rockets Monday evening in their latest barrage of fire after Israeli forces struck key targets including the offices of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. The barrage of rockets from Gaza hit Israeli towns around the border, including a house in the town of Sderot. No one was injured. Sirens could be heard wailing in southern Israel amid the latest rocket fire. Israel's strikes had come in response to a rocket attack from the Palestinian territory earlier Monday. It also came amid a bolster in Israeli troops and rocket-defense systems ahead of what is expected to be a new round of battle with the Islamic militant group. “Israel will not tolerate this. I will not tolerate this,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared earlier Monday during a White House meeting with President Trump. “Israel is responding forcefully to this wanton aggression,” he said. “We will do whatever we must do to defend our people and defend our state.” Ahead of the Israeli airstrikes, Hamas' leadership went into hiding. In both blasts, Israel fired warning shots to evacuate the buildings. “This morning, a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip at central Israel,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.”

Egypt

News 24: Egypt Refers 28 To Court On Charges Of Joining ISIS, Al-Qaeda

“Egyptian prosecutors have referred 28 terror suspects in two separate cases to court on charges of joining local affiliates of the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda. They said on Monday the suspects were plotting attacks against security forces and the headquarters of the high state security prosecution in Cairo. They say only 17 of the 28 suspects are in custody. No date has been set for their trials. It was not clear when or where they were arrested. An ISIS affiliate based in northern Sinai has carried out attacks across Egypt in recent years, mainly targeting security forces and the country's Christian minority. The announcement of victory over the Islamic State group in Syria marks the end of the extremists' self-styled caliphate, a proto-state in which they held millions hostage to their dark and brutal vision. Egypt has been battling Islamic militants for years, but the insurgency gathered strength after the 2013 military overthrow of an elected but divisive Islamist president.”

Libya

Xinhua: 1 Killed, 3 Kidnapped In Southern Libya

“Suspected members of the Islamic State (IS) on Monday killed a civilian and kidnapped three others in southern Libya, a security source said. “Gunmen in three vehicles attacked the town of Ghadwa and raided a number of civilian houses. The reasons for the attack are still unknown,” a source of the security directorate of the southern city of Sabha told Xinhua. Ghadwa, the largest southern Libyan city, is located 65 km southeast of Sabha. Libya's eastern-based army has been carrying out a military campaign against terrorism and crime in the south since mid-January. The army recently carried out an operation and freed several hostages held by militants in southern Libya, killing or capturing several kidnappers.”

Nigeria

Sahara Reporters: Boko Haram Attempts To Invade Village Bordering Adamawa And Borno

“Suspected Boko Haram insurgents on Monday evening made an attempt to capture Kopa Village in Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State, SaharaReporters can report. However, they were repelled by troops of the Nigerian Army. Luka Kwada, a resident of Kopa, had placed a distress call to SaharaReporters, saying the village had been taken over by the insurgents “It’s all about gunshots right now in Kopa; we really don't know what will happen to us in the next few hours, because the insurgents are here with us in Kopa,” he said. But Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Othman Abubakar, said: “Yes, we have received information that terrorists have attempted to invade Kopa, a borderline village between Adamawa and Borno in Madagali Local Government Area. “However, we're aware that the miscreants have been repelled by troops of the Nigerian Armed Forces.” Boko Haram terrorists have attempted to infiltrate the area in recent times. The latest hit was when the Union bank in Michika was bombed and plundered by the terrorists.”

Africa

Kenyans: Kenya's Most Wanted Terrorist Killed

“A covert precision airstrike carried out on March 22, 2019, reportedly took out Kenya’s most wanted terrorist, Ahmad Iman Ali. The intelligence evaluation by Strategic Intelligence – an organization that assesses intelligence reports, geopolitics, military intelligence, and crime reports, revealed that the Kenyan-born terrorist, alongside 40 other Al Shabaab militants, were killed in the bombing. Ali – also known as Abu Zinira, was believed to be a top terrorist recruiter within the East African region as well as the head of expansion and media strategy. “Ali is also responsible for Al-Shabaab propaganda targeting the Kenyan government and civilians, such as a July 2017 video in which he issues threats to Muslims serving in Kenya’s security forces,” the US State Department revealed in a press release dated August 2018. He is also stated as having inherited the role of spiritual leader, picking up the mantle from the late Aboud Rogo and Sheikh Makaburi. In addition, intelligence reports claimed that he had been promoted to a leadership position within Al-Qaeda, thereby landing him on the FBI’s (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and Kenya’s Most Wanted list.The slain terrorist was reportedly behind the establishment of terror cells in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda, Burundi, and DR Congo.”

United Kingdom

Yahoo News: British ISIS Doctor Begs To Be Allowed Back Into UK Because Of ‘What He Did For The NHS’

“A British surgeon accused of joining Isis has made a plea to patients he treated on the NHS to help bring him home. Dr Muhammad Saqib Raza, 40, has been locked in a jail in Syria run by Kurdish forces for more than a year. He is being held near Raqqa, the fallen capital of the former Isis caliphate. Dr Raza, who has dual British and Pakistani nationality, told the Daily Mirrorhe was a “victim of anti-terrorism terrorism”, saying the Home Office had done nothing to try to return him to the UK. Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are claiming victory over Isis, which means as many as 300 Britons could ask to return home. Dr Raza made an appeal to the patients he treated during his eight years as a facial surgeon with the NHS. He said: “When you, my patients, wanted help, I treated you like you were my own family. Now I’m stuck in this prison hellhole and nobody cares. “My patients, maybe you care. I beg you, patients of mine, to help me in return for what I did for you. “I helped hundreds of you in Leicester, London, Bournemouth, Poole, Chelmsford and Oxford and other places in my eight years in the NHS as a facial surgeon. “I beg you to raise your voices in protest and help get me home.”

BBC: Britons Went To Syria For 'Research Not Terrorism'

“A man who denies trying to join the Islamic State group has told a jury he and a friend only wanted to go to Syria to carry out research. Hanzalah Patel, 22, of Leicester, and Safwaan Mansur, 22, of Birmingham, deny preparation of terrorist acts. Mr Mansur told Birmingham Crown Court he wanted to see the "reality" of what was happening in the country because he believed the news was "quite biased". He added that he never considered joining the IS group. Mr Mansur's barrister Alex Rose asked him why he wanted to cross the Turkish border into Syria. "As to the general reality of what was happening there," he told the court. "The news is quite biased so we wanted to see the reality ourselves of what was happening there." He and Mr Patel were held in 2017 after a contact they thought was helping them turned out to be a US government agent.”

France

Haaretz: France Bans Iran's Mahan Air For Flying Arms, Troops To Syria, Elsewhere

“France has banned flights in and out of the country by Iran's Mahan Air, accusing it of transporting military equipment and personnel to Syria and other Middle East war zones, diplomats said on Monday, after heavy U.S. pressure on Paris to act. The decision to revoke Mahan's licence to operate in France was made after Germany banned the airline in January. Paris had considered revoking its licence more than two years ago under the presidency of Francois Hollande, but had backed down because it feared it could harm relations just after a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers was signed in 2015. The United States imposed sanctions on Mahan Air in 2011, saying it provided financial and other support to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), and Washington has been pressing its European allies to follow suit.”

Technology

Time: A French Muslim Council Is Suing Facebook And YouTube Over The New Zealand Attack Video

“A French Muslim group is suing Facebook and YouTube after the internet giants broadcast a livestream of the March 15 New Zealand mosque shootings, Agence France-Presse reports. The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) said it is taking action against the companies for “broadcasting a message with violent content abetting terrorism, or of a nature likely to seriously violate human dignity and liable to be seen by a minor,” according to AFP, which received a copy of the complaint. In France, these offenses can carry charges of up to three years’ imprisonment and a 75,000 Euro ($85,000) fine. In a statement published five days after the shootings, Facebook said it removed the original video “within minutes” of being alerted by the New Zealand police. No users flagged the 17-minute clip, which was viewed around 4,000 times on the social platform before being taken down, the social media company said. But the footage was copied and extensively reposted after the Christchurch attacks, which killed 50 people, sending Facebook, YouTube and other platforms scrambling to block and delete it. Facebook said in the first 24 hours alone it removed more than 1.2 million videos of the attack.”

Inquirer.Net: Neo-Nazi Facebook Groups Remain Online Because They ‘Do Not Violate Standards’ — Report

“Several neo-Nazi groups remain active on Facebook after it was found they did not violate the site’s “community standards.” The pages were operated by international white supremacist organizations, as per Counter Extremism Project (CEP) via an exclusive report by The Independent on March 25. The social media site did not take down the said pages and instead told researchers to “unfollow” if they found the content offensive. “Facebook services a third of the world’s population, it’s the biggest platform there is,” Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the CEP, was quoted as saying. “But the company’s business model is content on the platform, not content off the platform, [so] unless there is clear, sustained public pressure on the right-wing extremism issue, we will not see significant progress.”

Fox News: Facebook, YouTube Sued Over New Zealand Attack Video By French Muslim Group

“A French Muslim group is filing a lawsuit against Facebook and YouTube over the viral spread of the video of the New Zealand mosque attack on March 14. The French Council of the Muslim Faith, a governmental body that represents millions of Muslims in France, said it is suing the tech companies for "broadcasting a message with violent content abetting terrorism or of a nature likely to seriously violate human dignity and liable to be seen by a minor." In France, these types of offenses can be punished by three years imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros, The Guardian reported. Both companies have faced a backlash over their response to the terrorist attack that left 50 people dead and 50 injured at two mosques in Christchurch. A link to a copy of the video was posted to the messaging board 8chan, which is part of why users were able to make slight modifications and changes to it — which helped the video evade the tech platform's AI detection systems.”

CBS News: Conspiracy Theories And Extremism Reportedly Thrive On Instagram

“As social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter face intense criticism for the spread of fake news, Instagram has quietly become a new breeding ground for disinformation and extremist views, according to a new report in The Atlantic. "Anyone is susceptible to these views. The majority of these audiences are actually targeted towards younger users," Taylor Lorenz, a staff writer who covers technology for The Atlantic, said on CBSN Monday. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are not where young people go to socialize, Lorenz reported. Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, is. Eighty-five percent of teens reported using Instagram at least once a month, according to a survey of 8,600 teens across 48 U.S. states conducted by investment bank Piper Jaffray, making Instagram the most-used social platform. Eighty-four percent preferred Snapchat, 47 percent used Twitter and 36 percent of teens used Facebook on a monthly basis.”