Eye on Extremism April 29, 2019

[Boats]

Eye on Extremism
April 29, 2019
RE: info@counterextremism.com

Today: April 29, 2019

The New York Times: One Dead In Synagogue Shooting Near San Diego; Officials Call It Hate Crime

“The gunman entered the synagogue on Saturday yelling anti-Semitic slurs, and opened fire with an A.R. 15-style gun. He paused when the rabbi of the congregation tried to talk with him. But he fired again, shooting the rabbi in the hand. His attack left a 60-year-old woman dead, the rabbi wounded and a 34-year-old man and a girl with shrapnel wounds. It was the Sabbath and the last day of Passover, a holiday that celebrates Jewish freedom. The shooting, at Chabad of Poway, about 25 miles north of San Diego, is the most recent in a series of deadly attacks at houses of worship, including the mass shooting at mosques in New Zealand last month and the church bombings in Sri Lanka this past week. It came exactly six months after one of the worst acts of violence against the American Jewish community in decades left 11 dead in a Pittsburgh synagogue. Local officials called the shooting in Poway, Calif., a hate crime. The gunman, whom officials identified as John Earnest, a 19-year-old resident of San Diego, screamed that Jews were ruining the world as he stormed the synagogue, according to a government official with knowledge of the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly.”

The Washington Post: Brothers Of Sri Lanka Bombing Mastermind Said To Be Killed In Safe House Battle

“Churches, mosques, shops and restaurants were empty in the Sri Lankan capital and elsewhere Sunday as thousands of security forces continued searches, raids and spot checks of vehicles and pedestrians. The father and two brothers of the suicide bomber who is said to be the mastermind of the Easter attacks were reported killed in a bombing and gun battle with police. On the first Sunday since the attacks on three churches and on luxury hotels, Catholics watched Mass from home, as Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, broadcast services. He has suspended all Sunday Masses indefinitely in the wake of the Easter blasts. “Our hearts are tested by the great destruction that took place last Sunday,” Ranjith said. “This is a time that questions such as does God truly love us, does he have compassion toward us can arise.” Christians are a small minority in Sri Lanka’s multireligious society. The Mass was attended by President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, all non-Christians. Rivalries between the three leaders have been blamed for hindering the government from acting on foreign intelligence warnings about possible suicide attacks on churches.”

The Atlantic: ISIS Relaunches As A Global Platform

“Two days after the bombings in Sri Lanka, the Islamic State came out and said it was behind them. It backed up its claim with video evidence that showed the attackers gathering in front of its flag to pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group’s current leader. The attack had been coming for some time, and others like it are almost certainly being planned—and not just in Sri Lanka. That’s because terrorism has long been a crucial promotional tactic for ISIS. This won’t change just because the organization, which tried to build a proto-state on territory it held in Iraq and Syria, was militarily defeated earlier this year. Bottom of Form In the aftermath of an attack like the one in Sri Lanka last weekend, we need to ask what purpose it serves for those who claim responsibility. What’s in it for them? For ISIS, it’s quite clear: The strategic utility of terrorism has never been greater. That’s because, to navigate through its loss of land over these past few years, ISIS’s propaganda has been claiming that the group gave up on the material reality of its state long ago, having already achieved a “victory.” In this telling, its proto-state was a way to build a global platform that would ensure the movement’s future by mobilizing tens of thousands of supporters, imbuing them and their kin with its creed and its mission.”

Al Jazeera: Afghanistan Peace Deal Depends On Taliban Ceasefire: US Envoy

“Any peace agreement with the Afghan Taliban would depend on the declaration of a permanent ceasefire and a commitment to end the country's long war, the US envoy for peace in Afghanistan said. In an interview with Tolo News, Afghanistan's largest private television station, Zalmay Khalilzad said on Sunday the Taliban's demands were focused on the withdrawal of US forces from the country. “If the Taliban insist on going back to the system they used to have, in my personal opinion it means the continuation of war, not peace,” Khalilzad said. “Our focus is on terrorism. No agreement will be done if we don't see a permanent ceasefire and a commitment to end the war,” he added. “We are seeking peace and [a] political settlement... We want peace to give us the possibility to withdraw.” Khalilzad has signalled progress in the talks being held in Doha between the Taliban and the US government. They centre on the Taliban guaranteeing Afghanistan can never again be used as a springboard for attacks on foreign soil, in return for an eventual withdrawal of foreign forces. But the talks do not include members of the Afghan government, which the Taliban view as a “puppet regime.”

The Washington Post: Militant Attacks Kill 22 Government Troops In North Syria

“Al-Qaida-linked militants launched attacks early Saturday on government forces positions in northern Syria killing and wounding dozens in the latest violation of a seven-month truce in the last major rebel stronghold in the country. The al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahir al-Sham, or HTS, said the attacks occurred at dawn in the northern province of Aleppo. The area of the attack is part of a seven-month truce reached between Turkey and Russia but has recently been repeatedly violated. The HTS-linked Ibaa news agency said the attacks killed more than 20 soldiers. It added that the attacks were in retaliation for the bombardment by the Syrian and Russian militaries of rebel-held area in recent days. The opposition’s Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said 22 pro-government gunmen were killed in the attack and more than two dozen wounded. It added that eight insurgents were also killed. The Observatory and other opposition activists reported airstrikes by Russian warplanes on rebel-held areas in Idlib province and nearby areas. The opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets, said Russian airstrikes and Syrian bombardments have killed 14 civilians and wounded dozens others since Friday afternoon.”

Daily Mail: 'Released From The Dungeons Of The Tyrants': Radical Muslim Group Hizb Ut-Tahrir Rejoices As Its Australian Leader Is Released From Prison In Jordan - And He Could Be Headed Home Soon'

“The Australian leader of an Islamist political group campaigning for Sharia law and a caliphate has been freed from jail in Jordan, his followers have said. 'Ismail Alwahwah (Abu Anas) has been released from prison in Jordan today after serving a one year sentence for publishing remarks on his Facebook account critical of the Jordanian regime.' He is the spiritual leader of the Australian branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist political party active in more than 50 countries. The Islamist group's 'Draft Constitution of the Khilafa State', a blueprint for how its caliphate will govern if it wins power, says it will impose sharia on all its citizens, kill ex-Muslims, known as 'apostates', and introduce gender segregation. The Counter Extremism Project reports Hizb ut-Tahrir does not advocate violence directly but acts as a conveyor belt for terrorists, indoctrinating young members who go on to join jihadist groups. The group is banned in Jordan where Mr al-Wahwah was arrested, along with at least 12 other countries including the Muslim-majority nations of Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan.”

United States

The New York Times: ‘Terror Will Not Win,’ Says Rabbi Injured In Synagogue Shooting

“Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein was walking into the banquet hall at Chabad of Poway on Saturday when he heard a loud noise. He thought a table had toppled or that one of his congregants had fallen. “I did not know what that was,” he said. But when he turned around, he immediately found out. “I was face to face with this murder terrorist who was holding the rifle and looking straight at me,” he said. The gunman did not say anything. “As soon as he saw me, he started to shoot toward me and that is when I put my hands up,” Rabbi Goldstein said. In an interview on the “Today” show on Sunday, Rabbi Goldstein recounted the harrowing moments when the gunman entered the synagogue in Poway, Calif., about 25 miles north of San Diego, and opened fire with an A.R. 15-style gun. “My fingers got blown away,” Rabbi Goldstein said. “I cannot erase that face from my mind.” The shooting at Chabad of Poway was the most recent in a string of deadly attacks at houses of worship, including a mass shooting at a mosque in New Zealand in March that was live-streamed on Facebook and fatal bombings at churches in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday that killed more than 300 people. The attack at Chabad of Poway happened six months to the day after one of the deadliest attacks against the American Jewish community killed 11 in a Pittsburgh synagogue.”

The Washington Post: What Links ISIS-Inspired Terrorists And White Supremacist Ones Like The Poway Shooter?

“On Saturday, a 19-year-old student allegedly walked into a synagogue in Poway, Calif., armed with a semiautomatic rifle and opened fire on the congregation that was commemorating the last day of Passover, killing a 60-year-old woman and injuring three others. In 2016, another 19-year-old walked into a church in Normandy, France, slitting the throat of an 84-year-old French priest, Jacques Hamel, and injuring another. These two attacks took place nearly three years and more than 5,000 miles apart. Yet they represent a common feature of political violence in the 21st century: not only did the perpetrators attack the faithful in their houses of worship, they were also acting in the name of global, virulent ideologies that both, paradoxically, emerged in response to globalization. The first young man appears to have been inspired to violence by white nationalism, the second by ISIS. They took it upon themselves to murder in the name of a greater cause, aiming to use symbolic violence to generate mass media attention that could inspire sympathizers and intimidate targeted groups. Such acts have a long history, and the best way to combat them is to deprive these terrorists of the attention they crave and use the very same media channels they aim to manipulate to fight back.”

The Wall Street Journal: Synagogue Congregants Tell Of Quick Action To Save Children Amid Chaos Of Attack

“Oscar Stewart was sitting in the back of the Chabad of Poway synagogue when he heard the gunshots, some 20 minutes after 11 a.m. services began on Saturday. He said his first reaction was to run and he sprinted out into the entryway—where he saw the gunman, firing an AR-style rifle down the hallway. Mr. Stewart, 51 years old, said he shouted and charged at the shooter. “As he saw me, he dropped his weapon, turned and ran,” Mr. Stewart said. “He may have been trying to change a magazine, or he just panicked.” On Sunday, details of the shooting—which left one dead and three injured at a worship service on the last day of Passover—were beginning to emerge. The suspect—19-year-old John Earnest—was in custody on charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder. Police said the shooting was being investigated as a hate crime after authorities found an online message in his name, in which he espouses anti-Semitism and allegedly claims to have set a fire at a mosque last month. There was no indication he was part of an organized group, the San Diego County sheriff said.”

The New York Times: Mass Shootings Have Become a Sickening Meme

“Hours before the shooting on Saturday at the Chabad of Poway synagogue outside San Diego, an 8chan user identifying himself by the same name as the suspect in the attack posted a link to a white nationalist manifesto on that far-right message board. “What I’ve learned here is priceless,” the user wrote, adding, "a livestream will begin shortly." Saturday’s message is strikingly similar to the 8chan post left by the man accused of shooting up a mosque in New Zealand before he killed 49 worshipers in March. Both included detailed manifestoes and links to Facebook pages. As in New Zealand, the suspected Poway shooter appeared eager to win approval for his act of violence. In his post, the synagogue shooter cites the 8chan message board for indoctrinating him, urging others to take similar action. His manifesto not only refers to the online postings of the New Zealand shooting and of the man who killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in October, but seems almost cribbed from past white nationalist rants.”

The Washington Post: White Nationalists Interrupt Author At Politics And Prose

“A handful of self-proclaimed white nationalists interrupted an appearance by an author at the Politics and Prose bookstore in Northwest Washington on Saturday afternoon, chanted “This land is our land” and then exited to a chorus of loud boos. The men walked in as author Jonathan M. Metzl, a psychiatrist and director of the Center for Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt University, was discussing his new book, “Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland.” Metzl’s book explores how some lower- and middle-class white Americans are drawn to politicians who promise to improve their lives but who promote policies that place white Americans at greater risk of illness and death. His research found that people in states that rejected Medicaid expansion and blocked the full Affordable Care Act lived shorter lives and states that made it easier to buy guns saw hundreds more firearm deaths.”

USA Today: When Houses Of Worship Become Targets Of Hate: San Diego Synagogue Latest In A Deadly Trend

“When bullets ripped through a peaceful Passover service near San Diego, Chabad of Poway added its name to a chilling list: houses of worship that have come under siege across the globe. The brazen assault that left one dead and three injured Saturday is one of at least five prominent attacks during worship services in the past year – and the third seemingly religion-fueled incident in recent weeks. It also came exactly six months after 11 people were killed at a Pittsburgh synagogue. ”In the face of senseless hate we commit to live proudly as Jews in this glorious country,” Rabbi Yonah Fradkin, executive director of Chabad of San Diego County, said. “We strongly believe that love is exponentially more powerful than hate.” San Diego authorities increased security Sunday at houses of worship after the Saturday attack by a teen gunman killed one woman and injured a rabbi, a child and another man.”

The Washington Post: Sentencing In Terrorism Case To Focus On Man’s Mental State

“An unusual and unusually long-running terrorism case in Chicago that featured talk of Edward Snowden and even lizard overlords enters a decisive stage on Monday with the start of a multiday sentencing hearing. A focus will be Adel Daoud’s mental health before and after his arrest in a 2012 FBI sting, when the then-18-year-old pushed a button on a remote he believed would detonate a 1,000-pound (454-kilogram) bomb next to a crowded downtown Chicago bar. Agents who supplied the fake bomb told Daoud it would kill hundreds of people. Prosecutors are asking for a 40-year prison term for Daoud, while defense attorneys want him released as soon as a mental health treatment program can be developed for him. They noted in a Friday filing that the 25-year-old has spent nearly seven years in jail — “one-quarter of his life.” Daoud was temporarily deemed mentally unfit for trial in 2016 after U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman concluded he believed shadowy figures were out to get him. Daoud had called Coleman “a reptilian overlord” and said his lawyers were in cahoots with the Illuminati. After Daoud spent time in a psychiatric facility — where a doctor diagnosed him with schizophrenia — Coleman last year found him mentally fit. Defense attorneys say he is “virtually a different person” now that he’s taking medication.”

Syria

Reuters: Russian 'Siege' Chokes Syrian Camp In Shadow Of U.S. Base

“It was only when his children began to starve that Abdullah al-Amour decided time had come to leave the sanctuary of Rukban camp with his family to face an uncertain fate back under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The cattle trader from Palmyra fled to Rukban on the Syrian border with Jordan and Iraq more than three years ago after his home was destroyed in Russian air strikes targeting areas that were held at the time by Islamic State. Conditions at Rukban are tough, but it offers one big advantage to the 36,000 people sheltering there: protection from Russian air strikes and pro-Assad forces thanks to its location near a U.S. base. But in recent weeks life in the camp has gone from bad to near impossible. Food shortages have got a lot worse as a result of a siege by government and Russian forces that want to see Rukban dismantled and U.S. forces out of Syria, according to people living in the camp and diplomats.”

CNN: Destroyed On The Battlefield, ISIS Begins New Chapter Of Terror

“The 59-second video shows eight men clasping hands and pledging allegiance to the “Emir of the Believers” and the “Caliphate of the Muslims.” They were about to launch a series of devastating attacks in Sri Lanka, an atrocity that took the lives of more than 250 people and simultaneously declared that ISIS is far from extinguished as a global threat. Within days of the attacks, ISIS' online publication al Nabaa crowed about “raising the Caliphate banner in new arenas... The days are pregnant with more disappointments for the enemies of Allah.” The video was released by a news agency linked to ISIS. There is much yet to be learned about the organization behind the Sri Lankan attacks, but counterterrorism experts are united on one point: the small Islamist groups on the island could not have carried out such a complex attack without outside help. Counterterrorism analyst Bruce Hoffman of the Council on Foreign Relations says last Sunday's attacks would have been “a leap of an order of magnitude in organizational and logistical capabilities for any extremist group.” That begs several questions: is ISIS successfully exporting expertise in bomb-making, fund-raising and recruitment far beyond what was its core territory?”

Asharq Al-Awsat: Airstrike Hits Largest Russian Base In Syria

“Intense bombs shook at Sunday's dawn the city of Jableh in the countryside of Latakia, where sources confirmed the attacks were caused by drones that tried to drop unguided bombs on the largest military Russian airbase in Hmeimim. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there is still no information about the volume of losses until the moment. This came following a similar attack that took place 48 hours earlier when violent explosions were heard in the Jableh area last Friday. Sources told the Observatory that "Jihadi groups" targeted the Hmeimim military airfield with explosions, but the Russian Forces intercepted the missiles. Sunday’s attack comes about 3 months after militants had targeted the same area with explosions.”

The Atlantic: What ISIS Did To My Village

“When I was a teenager, in the 1990s, I spent my summer breaks herding sheep from sunrise to sunset. My daily routine was nearly always the same. I released the sheep from the barn, steered them along the village’s main road, grabbed a watermelon from a shop to add to my packed lunch, and turned to the desert. Once I left the populated section of the village, I directed the few dozen animals along the desert cliffs to the open fields at the mouth of a little valley. My family had two lines of business at the time, farming and livestock trading, so we did relatively well. We owned some 1,000 livestock and had an orchard of about 900 pomegranate trees that was leased annually to merchants from Aleppo, who arrived at harvest time to ship the produce from several orchards in the area to their city. Along with my eight siblings, I helped in farming and herding not only over the summer but on weekends and holidays throughout the year. I didn’t venture outside my home village until 1996, after finishing my ninth-grade exams. At that point I went to the city of Albu Kamal to study in the area’s sole high school. My village, Ash Sha’fa, lies on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, in the province of Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria.”

Iran

The Wall Street Journal: Anxious Over Iran’s Missiles, EU Grapples To Contain Tehran

“Leading European countries are pursuing ways to contain Iran’s ballistic missiles work, amid growing concerns about Tehran’s large-scale weapons program and in the wake of a campaign by Washington to galvanize support for pressuring the Islamic Republic over its missiles. The European Union’s new efforts, which include tighter export controls and pressure on non-EU countries to clamp down on sales of sensitive technology to Iran, come after the bloc refused to back Washington’s call for more extensive penalties. As the U.S. raises economic pressure on Iran, the EU is increasingly eager to avoid steps that could push Tehran to quit the 2015 nuclear deal and rev up its nuclear program. These concerns grew more acute this week, with the EU criticizing the U.S. decision to end sanction waivers in May, which had allowed a handful of countries to continue buying Iranian oil without risk of U.S. penalties.”

Reuters: U.S. General Says He Will Ensure Necessary Resources To Counter Iran

“U.S. Central Command chief General Kenneth McKenzie said on Saturday the United States would deploy the necessary resources to counter any dangerous actions by Iran, Sky News Arabia reported. “We’re going to continue to reach out to our partners and friends in the region to ensure that we make common cause against the threat of Iran,” McKenzie, on an official visit to the Gulf region, was quoted as saying by Sky News Arabia. “I believe we’ll have the resources necessary to deter Iran from taking actions that will be dangerous,” he said, according to a transcript released by the Abu Dhabi-based channel. “We will be able to respond effectively.” Tensions between Tehran and Washington have risen since the Trump administration last year withdrew from an international nuclear deal with Iran and began ratcheting up sanctions.”

The Jerusalem Post: Iran, Russia To Hold Joint Maritime Drills In Persian Gulf

“Iran and Russia will conduct a joint maritime drill in the Persian Gulf, Iran’s Mehr News agency reported on Monday. “Based on negotiations with the Russian Navy, the force will dispatch a fleet to the southern regions of Iran this year,” Iranian Army Commander, Navy R.-Adm. Hossein Khanzadi was quoted as saying, without giving a date for the drills. In early January, Khanzadi said that the two countries were preparing for a joint naval drill in the Caspian Sea region and that the drill would focus on tactical, relief, rescue and anti-piracy issues. Earlier in the week, Iranian Defense Minister Brig.-Gen. Amir Hatami met with his Russian counterpart Gen. Sergey Shoygu on the sidelines of the 8th Moscow Conference on International Security (MCIS) in the Russian capital. Fars News reported that during the meeting the new general “renewed the two countries’ determination to bolster military and defense cooperation” and discussed bilateral relations in both regional and international areas.”

Iraq

Al Jazeera: Yazidis To Accept ISIL Rape Survivors, But Not Their Children

“Children born to Yazidi women raped by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) fighters will not be permitted to join the community in northern Iraq, the minority sect's faith leaders have said. In a statement late on Saturday, the Yazidi Supreme Spiritual Council said an earlier declaration stating “all survivors” of ISIL crimes and their children would be accepted in the community did not, as widely interpreted, “include children born of rape, but [instead] refers to children born of two Yazidi parents”. Children born of rape by ISIL forces have been the subject of fierce debate in the insular community, which once numbered about 500,000 people and only recognises children as Yazidi if both their parents hail from the sect. It had also long considered any women marrying outside the sect to no longer be Yazidi. But in 2015, a year after ISIL fighters stormed the Yazidi heartland in Iraq's Sinjar region - massacring men and imprisoning thousands of women as sex slaves - Yazidi spiritual leader Baba Sheikh issued a decision welcoming those women back home. And last week, Hazem Tahsin, head of the Supreme Faith Council, issued what appeared to be a landmark shift, publishing an order “accepting all survivors [of ISIL crimes] and considering what they went through to have been against their will.”

Iraqi News: Islamic State Chief Baghdadi Seeks Return To Iraq After Syria’s Caliphate Fall

“An Iraqi intelligence officer has claimed that Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdad has sought to return back to Iraq over the past few weeks after many of his supporters were killed in Syria’s military campaigns. “Al-Baghdadi has been trying to enter Iraq for weeks, but he could not due to the strict security measures applied on the Iraqi-Syrian border,” the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Russia Today TV channel on Saturday. “Al-Baghdadi is currently hiding in Jabal Abu Rajmin in the Syrian city of Palmyra, backed by some close aids, mostly of Saudi, Tunisian and Iraq nationalities,” the officer said, adding that the murder of a large number of Islamic State militants in Syria “prompted Baghdadi to seek return to Iraq.” No reports about al-Baghdadi have been heard since September 2017, when he urged supporters to wage attacks against the West and keep fighting in Syria and neighboring Iraq. Al-Baghdadi emerged as leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, one of the groups that later became Islamic State, in 2010. In October 2011, the US officially designated al-Baghdadi as a terrorist. It has offered a reward of up to $25m (£19.6m) for information leading to his capture or death.”

Iraqi News: Six Islamic State Terrorists Apprehended In Mosul City

“Iraqi military intelligence forces arrested on Sunday six Islamic State terrorists during a security campaign in Mosul city. Acting on information from intelligence officials, troops of the Military Intelligence Directorate launched a security campaign to track down Islamic State terrorists in Makhmour district in Mosul, Almaalomah news website quoted a statement by the Military Intelligence Directorate as saying. The campaign resulted in “the arrest of six terrorists, who fought against our security forces,” added the statement. Former Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi announced in July 2017 liberation of the second largest Iraqi city of Mosul from IS militants, who had captured it in 2014. More than 25,000 militants were killed throughout the campaign, which started in October 2016. The campaign was backed by paramilitary troops and a U.S.-led international coalition. Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence in Iraq in November 2017 with the recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, which was the group’s last bastion in Iraq. Despite the group’s crushing defeat at its main havens across Iraq, Islamic State continues to launch sporadic attacks against troops with security reports warning that the militant group still poses a threat against stability in the country.”

Afghanistan

Xinhua: Airstrikes Kill 7 Taliban Fighters Including Mine Maker In Afghanistan

“Seven Taliban fighters including a mine maker were confirmed dead as fighting aircraft targeted Taliban hideouts in Andar and Gero districts of the restive Ghazni province on Saturday, provincial government spokesman Aref Nuri said Sunday. According to the official, the sorties were conducted on tip off on Saturday afternoon in the said districts and besides killing seven insurgents including the Taliban mine maker, over a dozen more insurgents sustained injuries. Taliban militants who have stepped up activities since launching the armed outfit's annual spring offensive on April 12, are yet to make comment.”

Pakistan

Al Arabiya: Pakistan: Three Security Personnel Killed In Explosion Near Afghan Border

“A Pakistani security official says a bomb blast near the Afghan border has killed three security personnel. Local administration official Rehmat Khan says a paramilitary soldier was wounded in Saturday’s blast near a security checkpoint in North Waziristan, which was a longtime stronghold for the Taliban, al-Qaeda and other militant groups. No one claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistan claims to have driven out the militants in a series of military operations in recent years, but the region still sees occasional attacks. Last year, the government merged North Waziristan with the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province to give equal rights to the 5 million residents of the rugged, tribal region.”

Yemen

The National: Houthis Accused Of Killing 12 Civilians In South Yemen Attacks

“Attacks by Houthi rebels in southern Yemen have killed 12 civilians over two days, government officials said on Sunday. A mother and four children were killed by a rebel rocket in the government-controlled Jebel Habashi area of Taez province on Sunday, a local official told AFP. "The rebels targeted the village of Musharraf between the districts of Maafer and Jebel Habashi near to besieged city of Taez, killing the five family members," local media reported. The official said the Katyusha rocket completely destroyed the family's home about 35 kilometres west of Taez city, which is controlled by pro-government forces but surrounded by the rebels. Yemen's third-largest city has been at the centre of the country's devastating four year civil war. On Saturday, seven members of a family, including two women, were killed in Houthi shelling in Qataba district of Al Dhalea province, officials said.”

Lebanon

Asharq Al-Awsat: Un Demands 'Hezbollah’s' Disarmament

“United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned from the maintenance of Hezbollah of sizeable and sophisticated military capacities and he called on the Lebanese government and Army to take all necessary measures to prevent the Iranian-backed group from possessing arms and to work on making it a civil political party. Guterres’ demands came in the semi-annual report on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1559, which was first adopted on September 2, 2004. It also came amid reports saying the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is looking into the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, should soon issue default judgments in the case, which includes indictments against Hezbollah officials and activists. Diplomats at the Security Council told Asharq Al-Awsat on Friday that the United States was not satisfied with the last UN Secretary-General report on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701 and Hezbollah’s compliance with the arms embargo, prepared by UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jan Kubis.”

Al Arabiya: Can Hezbollah Rely On Supporters For Funding As US Sanctions Take Their Toll?

“Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, is resorting to crowd funding to fill its shrinking coffers. The militant group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah spoke of its growing dependency on donors during a recent speech commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Resistance Support Association, a benefactor organization. The speech shined a rare light on Hezbollah’s financial position, usually one of the organization’s most closely guarded secrets, but now under close scrutiny after seven years of war in Syria and the crippling sanctions imposed on its patron. “The sanctions are being talked about internally. There have been unconfirmed talks of salaries being slashed and cut down 40 percent,” said Nicholas Blanford, Hezbollah expert and author of two major books on Lebanese political affairs. “The fact that the leadership has been talking about it underlines how serious it is. This is coming at a time where Iran is also feeling the economic pressure. The US Treasury Department has been very diligent in the recent years in trying to trace where the funding comes from and to cut them off, whether it’s legal or illicit business.”

Libya

Reuters: Libyan Forces Push Back Against Haftar In House-To-House Battles

“Forces backing Libya’s internationally recognized government fought house-to-house battles with troops loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar in southern parts of the capital Tripoli on Sunday and appeared to be gaining ground. Government soldiers, some in jeans and t-shirts, took cover by abandoned buildings as they fired on Haftar’s positions. Some carried anti-aircraft guns they had to remove from their trucks to get through the narrow streets. Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), which is allied to a rival administration in eastern Libya, mounted an offensive on Tripoli three weeks ago but has failed to breach defenses in the city’s south despite heavy fighting. The battle for the capital has all but wrecked U.N.-backed efforts for a peace deal between the rival factions and threatened to further disrupt Libya’s oil industry. Two eastern operations of state oil firm NOC - which have in the past made broad statements backing Haftar - on Sunday for the first time specifically said they supported his offensive. The NOC as a whole has tried to stay out of the conflict. A Reuters team visiting the southern neighborhood of Ain Zara on Sunday estimated the Tripoli forces had gained up to 1,500 meters compared to a visit a few days earlier.”

Nigeria

Al Jazeera: Boko Haram Storm Military Base In Northeastern Nigeria

“Boko Haram fighters in northeastern Nigeria attacked and overran an army outpost, stealing weapons before fleeing. Gunmen from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), the ISIL-linked faction of Boko Haram, attacked the base in Borno state late on Friday, two military sources said on Saturday. The fighters, driving more than a dozen pick-up trucks with heavy machine guns welded onto the back, were accompanied by three armoured personnel carriers stolen from security forces. Flanked by a fleet of fighters firing from motorcycles, they burst out from the bush and sped straight towards the base. “There was a serious gunfight,” said one military officer, who asked not to be named. “The troops put up a good fight, but they were outgunned and overwhelmed ... Unfortunately, the base fell to the ISWAP terrorists, who took away weapons and fled.” There was no immediate official response from the army or casualty figures. The base at Mararrabar Kimba lies 135km from the state capital Maiduguri. One witness in the town of Biu 45km away reported that soldiers arrived on Saturday from the sacked base and some were wounded. The decade-long Boko Haram conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions from their homes.”

Somalia

Reuters: U.S. Air Strike Kills Three ISIS Fighters In Somali Region

“A U.S. air strike killed three fighters from the Islamic State in the Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region on Friday, a U.S. military official said, two weeks after the group’s deputy leader was killed in a strike. A witness said missiles struck two wells on the outskirts of Timirshe village, some 60km southeast of Puntland’s commercial capital Bosaso. The U.S. military has sharply stepped up its campaign of air strikes in Somalia since President Donald Trump took office, saying it has killed more than 800 militants in two years. “This air strike eliminated ISIS-Somalia members staged in a remote location in northern Somalia,” Maj. Gen. Gregg Olson, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) director of operations, said in an emailed statement on Saturday. AFRICOM also claimed responsibility for the killing of IS deputy Abdulhakim Dhuqub on April 14. Somalia has been riven by civil war and Islamist militancy since 1991 when clan warlords overthrew a dictator before turning on each other. “We heard the crash of four missiles on the outskirts of Timirshe village,” resident Ahmed Nur told Reuters by telephone.”

Africa

The North Africa Post: Boko Haram Kills Four In Attack On Cameroon’s Kofia Island

“Assailants from the jihadist group Boko Haram killed at least four people, one soldier and three civilians, and seriously injured four others during an attack on Kofia, a Cameroonian island on Lake Chad. In the attack that occurred in the night from Saturday to Sunday the assailants also destroyed part of a military post and vandalized businesses, according to an official source. Kofia Island is located in Lake Chad, in Northern Cameroon, not far from Chad. Cameroonian and Chadian forces launched a pursuit operation immediately after the attack, the source said. The jihadists of Boko Haram have recently increased deadly attacks in Cameroon and neighboring countries. In mid-April, eleven civilians were killed in an attack in Charkamari, also in northern Cameroon. Since the beginning of the month, at least seven Cameroonian soldiers were killed in attacks by the terror group and in the explosion of a mine at the passage of a military vehicle. Boko Haram group is active in all the countries of the Lake Chad zone (Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger), where it commits deadly attacks against security forces and civilians.”

North Korea

DW: Why Russia, Iran Seek Deeper Ties With North Korea

“Moscow and Tehran are both cozying up to North Korea as the White House's make-or-break policy flounders. While their motivations are different, they're both trying to seize a strategic international chance. Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, welcoming him with a lavish reception in the East Russian city of Vladivostok. The picture was at odds with the clumsy February summit in Vietnam between Kim and US President Donald Trump, who walked out during the crucial negotiations. In Vladivostok, Kim called Trump's approach "a unilateral attitude in bad faith" and instead described ties with Moscow as "strategic and traditional relations." Russia isn't the only country to make significant overtures to North Korea at a time when Trump's make-or-break approach to foreign policy appears to be floundering. On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced he would "soon" travel to North Korea, without providing further details of the visit. But the timing of the announcement could not have been more strategic.”

France
Reuters: France Says It Has Foiled Terrorist Act, Suspects Held In Custody

“France has foiled a terrorist act and is holding four suspects in custody, said the French interior minister and a police source on Monday. The police source said the four suspects had been arrested on suspicion of acquiring weapons “with a view to committing a terrorist act”. “We had sufficient evidence to lead us to believe that a major attack was being planned,” Interior Minister Christophe Castaner also told reporters on Monday.”

Southeast Asia

NN: 10 Civilians And 6 Suspected Terrorists Killed In Police Raid In Sri Lanka

“Ten civilians -- including six children -- are dead along with six suspected terrorists after a shootout between police and alleged militants late Friday in eastern Sri Lanka, authorities said. At least two suspected terrorists are on the run following an explosion that witnesses told CNN turned a house in Sainthamaruthu “into fire.” At daybreak, a gruesome scene was revealed at the raided house in the town on the country's eastern coast -- charred bodies and a roof blown off during three explosions. Among the dead was a woman who was passing in a rickshaw at the time of the raid. Police are investigating the civilians' possible relationship to the suspected terrorists. Earlier Friday, authorities had seized a large cache of explosives, 100,000 ball bearings and ISIS uniforms and flags from a garage a few miles from the shootout. The raids come on the back of a major hunt for the perpetrators of the coordinated Easter Sunday attacks that killed 253 people, including worshippers attending Easter Mass. National Tawheed Jamath, a local extremist group, has been blamed for those bombings but has not claimed the attacks. ISIS claimed responsibility, but a link between the attackers and the terror group has not been proven.”

The Wall Street Journal: Investigators Probe The Extent Of Islamic State Involvement In Sri Lanka Blasts

“Police believe the Easter bombers likely worked with Islamic State to carry out the sophisticated attack that killed more than 250 people, and are working to determine how much direct support they received from the extremist group. Though new details were emerging, investigators are still trying to paint a full picture. The army on Sunday warned its units that another big attack could come within the next 48 hours, mentioning six possible locations, suggesting it believed much of the group was still at large. New links between the bombers and the militant group have surfaced almost daily. The alleged plot organizer and suicide bomber, Zahran Hashim, appeared in an Islamic State video taking claiming responsibility for the attack. Authorities said an Islamic State flag was recovered Friday from a home raided in an area on Sri Lanka’s east coast where Hashim had gained a base of supporters. At another house, militants engaged in a firefight with police forces before detonating an explosion that killed them and a dozen others, several of them children. Among those killed were Hashim’s father and two brothers; his wife and daughter survived.”

The Washington Post: A Sri Lankan Town Grew Suspicious Of The Newcomers. Then Came Mayhem As Police Closed In.

“They arrived a day or two after the Easter Sunday bombings and moved into a low-slung house behind a high wall and black metal gate, unloading boxes from a pale gray minivan. But the neighbors in the seaside town of Sainthamaruthu soon began to suspect that something wasn’t right. Finally, a group of local residents asked the new arrivals — men, women and children — to leave town. Within hours, the quiet lane was turned into a war zone. On Friday, at least 15 people, including six children, were killed in bomb blasts and gunfire as Sri Lankan security forces closed in on the house. Police believe the fiery explosions were triggered deliberately — the final violent acts of a group whose hideout had bombmaking items and black backpacks. Their preparations pointed to just one thing: possible plans for the next steps in a campaign of terror that began April 21 with bombings at churches that claimed more than 250 lives. The identities of those killed in Sainthamaruthu were not immediately known or released. On Saturday, after the chaos, crime scene personnel in fluorescent vests roamed the area around the home collecting metal pellets, torn pieces of clothing and fragments of flesh.”

The Washington Post: Sri Lanka Shows The Deadly Reach Of The Islamic State

“A week after enduring hideous violence on their holiest of days, Sri Lankan Christians largely stayed away from their places of worship. The archbishop of Colombo conducted a televised mass from his home on Sunday out of safety concerns for his flock — still reeling after a coordinated series of suicide bombings that killed more than 250 people in churches and hotels on both sides of the country. The attacks were claimed by the Islamic State, and some officials floated the possibility that it was intended to be retaliation for a white supremacist’s assault on two mosques in New Zealand. The specter of an international Islamist militant plot hung over the island nation. The Islamic State’s online propaganda arm released images of the suspected ringleader of the attack, accompanied by seven scarf-clad followers, declaring allegiance to the extremist group and its leader, Abu Bakr-al-Baghdadi. In response, Sri Lankan authorities snatched up dozens of potential suspects over the course of the week, including 48 people over the weekend, while uncovering various caches of weapons and bombmaking material. Full curfews went into effect in parts of the country. Late Friday, at least 15 people died during a raid by government troops on a house in the eastern town of Sainthamaruthu.”

The New York Times: For U.S. Commandos In The Philippines, A Water Pump Is A New Weapon Against ISIS

“While neither guided bomb nor armored vehicle, a gray oblong water pump sticking out from the brush along a remote dirt road is intended to be just as clear a sign of the United States’ efforts to stop the spread of the Islamic State. It has taken two months, an American Special Operations civil affairs team, three nonprofit organizations and an entire platoon from the Philippine Army to bring the pump to Padas, a village of about 3,000 people in the Mindanao chain of islands in the country’s south. If all goes to plan, water from the pump will help impoverished farmers establish trust in the government, and, in turn, seek to undermine the militants’ influence. “Whatever the international community gives us, we’ll accept,” said Macaraya Ampuan, an influential leader in the village. “But first thing to address is security. Eliminate ISIS so our livelihoods can be stable.” The contest between the Philippines government and shadowy insurgents in one small village in the Pacific Ocean carries familiar echoes of the United States’ long wars and counterinsurgency campaigns against Islamist extremists since the terrorist attacks of 2001. But the project in Padas is also linked to the defeat of the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and Syria and the Pentagon’s race to stop its resurgence in other parts of the globe.”

The Washington Examiner: FBI Chief: Sri Lanka Bombings Show Danger Of ISIS ‘Virtual Caliphate’

“A series of bombings in Sri Lanka show the Islamic State retains a deadly “virtual caliphate” despite losing the territory the organization held at peak strength, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray. ”We worry very much about what is, in effect, a virtual caliphate where terrorist organizations can organize in a way that doesn't require the same kind of physical infrastructure,” Wray told the Council on Foreign Relations. Wray’s comments Friday lent credence to the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the Easter Sunday bombings, although Wray avoided commenting very specifically on the attack, which reportedly killed at 253 Christians and Westerners at churches and hotels on the island. Wray cited the attack a a reminder of the folly of getting “a little bit blasé” about terrorism in the United States. “There's a difference between being resigning yourself to terrorism as a fact of life and becoming apathetic and numb to it,” he said. “So finding that balance between staying vigilant, staying on the balls of our feet, taking it seriously, and not being consumed or distracted by it is, I think, where we need to be.” That’s especially true in South Asia, a vital core of the Indo-Pacific region that is teeming with terrorist groups.”

CNN: She Was At The Synagogue To Mourn Her Mother. She Was Killed While Protecting The Rabbi

“The sister of the suspected ringleader of Sri Lanka's deadly Easter Sunday bombings has told CNN up to 18 of her family members are missing and feared dead since the attacks and subsequent raids. More than 250 people were killed and at least 500 injured in a series of coordinated suicide bombings at churches and hotels across the island April 21. A week on, the country is still on high alert with warnings there could be more attacks in the coming days, MPs told CNN Sunday. Mohamed Hashim Mathaniya is the sister of Mohamed Zahran Hashim, the man Sri Lankan authorities believe was one of the leaders of the attacks. He appeared in a video released by an ISIS-linked news agency before blowing himself up on Easter Sunday. Speaking to CNN on Saturday, Mathaniya said she identified her brother from photographs of his body parts at the police station earlier in the week.”

Reuters: Sri Lanka On Alert For Attacks By Militants Dressed In Uniforms

“Sri Lankan security officials have warned that Islamist militants behind Easter Sunday’s suicide bombings are planning imminent attacks and could be dressed in military uniforms. The militants were targeting five locations for attacks on Sunday or Monday, security sources said. “There could be another wave of attacks,” the head of ministerial security division (MSD), a unit of the police, said in a letter to lawmakers and other officials, seen by Reuters on Monday. “The relevant information further notes that persons dressed in military uniforms and using a van could be involved in the attacks.” There were no attacks on Sunday, and security across Sri Lanka has been ramped up, with scores of suspected Islamists arrested since the April 21 attacks on hotels and churches that killed more than 250 people, including 40 foreign nationals. Two cabinet ministers and two opposition lawmakers confirmed to Reuters that they were aware of the latest security alert. “We have been informed about this by the MSD,” Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said. The government has also banned women from wearing face veils under an emergency law that was put in place after the attacks. There were concerns within the Muslim community that the ban could fuel tensions in the multi-ethnic nation.”

Reuters: Islamic State Claims Attack On East Coast City Of Sri Lanka

“Islamic State claimed on Saturday that three of its members clashed with Sri Lankan police for several hours before detonating their explosive vests on them in the east coast city of Kalmunai late on Friday, the militant group’s news agency Amaq said. The group said 17 policemen were killed or injured in the attack.”

The Japan Times: Asia is now ground zero for Islamist terrorism

“The Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka rank among the deadliest terrorist attacks in modern history and underscore the metastasizing scourge of Islamist violence in Asia. Radical Islamic groups, some affiliated with larger extremist networks, have been quietly gaining influence in an arc of countries extending from the Maldivian to the Philippine archipelagos and the threat they pose can no longer be ignored. In fact, the grisly Sri Lankan bombings are a reminder that Asia — not the Middle East — is the region most afflicted by terrorist violence. Home to the vast majority of the world’s Muslims, it is also host to multiple “terrorist safe havens,” owing to the rise of grassroots radical movements and years of complacency on the part of policymakers. With a total of 253 people dead (and hundreds more wounded), the Sri Lanka bombings were six times deadlier than the March 15 massacre by a white supremacist at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The death toll is nearly 100 more that of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which involved 10 Pakistan-based militants in one of the modern world’s longest-ever terrorist sieges.”

Technology

The New York Times: ‘We Will Come For You’: How Fear Of Terrorism Spurs Online Mobs

“Less than a day after the worst terrorist attack in Sri Lanka’s history, thousands of Sri Lankans were consumed with vitriol, outrage and fear. Their community was threatened, they believed. Something must be done. But some settled on a target who was not a perpetrator of the Easter bombings, not a sympathizer, not even someone who lived in Sri Lanka. He was Thusiyan Nandakumar, a doctor and part-time journalist living thousands of miles away in suburban London. He stared at his phone in bafflement and terror as thousands of threats rolled in. “I know where you live,” one message said. “We will come for you terrorist low life to teach you a lesson.” “If I see you anywhere,” read another, “I will cut your throat.” In Sri Lanka, angry mobs attacked Muslims after the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, and the island nation braced for further violence. But in the echo chambers of social media, Dr. Nandakumar — who is not Muslim — was singled out as an enemy. And the threats kept coming. By Wednesday, the outrage had spread to mainstream politics. Sri Lanka’s opposition party, led by the former strongman president Mahinda Rajapaksa, held a news conference and denounced Dr. Nandakumar by name.”

Fox News: Twitter Terror: Arrests Prompt Concern Over Online Extremism

“A few months after turning 17 — and two years before he was arrested — Vincent Vetromile recast himself as an online revolutionary. Offline, in this Rochester, New York suburb, Vetromile was studying heating and air conditioning at a community college. He spent hours with his father, working on cars. On social media, though, the teenager spoke about reclaiming “our nation at any cost.” Eventually he subbed out the grinning selfie in his Twitter profile with the image of a colonial militiaman shouldering an AR-15 rifle. And he traded his name for a handle: “Standing on the Edge.” In 2016, he sent the first of more than 70 replies to tweets from a fiery account with 140,000 followers, run by a man calling himself Donald Trump's biggest Canadian supporter. The final exchange came last December. “Muslim No-Go Zones Are Springing Up Across America. Lock and load America!” the Canadian tweeted, with a map showing states with Muslim enclaves — including New York. “If there were specific locations like 'north of X street in the town of Y, in the state of Z' we could go there and do something about it,” Vetromile replied.”

Axios: 1 Big Thing: Online Platforms Accelerate Hate

“Two appalling attacks, four days apart: The first in Northern California, and yesterday's in my native Southern California — less than 500 miles apart. One mowed down Muslims. One aimed at Jews on the last day of Passover. The context: It was only six months ago that 11 Jewish worshipers were killed in the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. And of course, it's not just America: It was just six weeks ago that 50 Muslim worshipers in New Zealand were killed in terrorist attacks on two mosques. This morning, Sri Lanka's Catholics celebrated mass in their homes via TV, as churches across the island nation closed down over fears of militant attacks, a week after Easter suicide bombings killed over 250 people, per AP. Yesterday, worshipers in Poway, California, just north of San Diego, "were nearing the end of Passover, a sacred Jewish celebration steeped in ancient freedom, when a modern terror walked in the door," the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.”