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Old 04-01-2019, 08:52 AM
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Arrow Eye on Extremism / April 1, 2019

Eye on Extremism
April 1, 2019
RE: info@counterextremism.com


April 1, 2019

The New York Times: Russia’s Military Mission Creep Advances To A New Front: Africa

“Russia has been steadily expanding its military influence across Africa, alarming Western officials with increasing arms sales, security agreements and training programs for unstable countries or autocratic leaders. In the Central African Republic, where a Russian has been installed as the president’s national security adviser, the government is selling mining rights for gold and diamonds at a fraction of their worth to hire trainers and buy arms from Moscow. Russia is seeking to ensconce itself on NATO’s southern flank by helping a former general in Libya fight for control over his government and vast oil market. Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, brought in Russian mercenaries in January to help shore up his rule against nationwide protests. And last spring, five sub-Saharan African countries — Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania — appealed to Moscow to help their overtaxed militaries and security services combat the Islamic State and Al Qaeda.”

Motherboard: Web Hosting Companies Shut Down A Series Of Neo-Nazi Websites

“In recent weeks a number of web hosting services have shut down several major online neo-Nazi meeting grounds, Motherboard has learned. In perhaps the biggest takedown of all, Fascist Forge, a Facebook-like site for online Nazis, disappeared for a second time after violating the terms of service for Hostinger International, its web hosting company. Hostinger International was notified of its affiliation with violent white nationalism by the Counter Extremism Project, an anti-extremism non-profit network. "Hostinger acted with haste—and very rightly so—in suspending Fascist Forge, an online forum that promotes neo-Nazi violence and radicalises recruits," said David Ibsen, the CEP executive director in a company release posted online.”

Bloomberg: Where Will The Next Islamic State Rise?

“Long before the last redoubt of the Islamic State collapsed in the Syrian town of Baghouz last month, the group was regressing to a conventional militant-jihadi organization, employing hit-and-run tactics and suicide bombings to sow terror. No longer a “state” of any kind, it is now merely one of many terrorist organizations operating from secret, constantly changing hideouts. It’s an ignominious end for a group that, at its peak, governed a region the size of Britain. The loss of territory will make it harder for governments and counterterrorism agencies to contain Islamic State, but equally, it will constrain the group’s ability to recruit fighters and raise money. It will now have to compete with other jihadist organizations, without the special esteem it enjoyed along with the trappings of statehood. That was more than a matter of prestige: It offered tangible advantages. Foremost among them was annual revenue — primarily from taxes and oil smuggling — of hundreds of millions of dollars, and the ability to recruit from among 10 million “citizens” while attracting tens of thousands of fighters and followers from around the world. There was a political dimension, too.”

The New York Times: The Foreign Policy Fiasco That Wasn’t

“It’s been nearly a year since Donald Trump made the decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, to loud cries that it would bring nothing but woe to the United States and our interests in the Middle East. So far, the result has been closer to the opposite. That much was further made clear thanks to excellent reporting this week by The Times’s Ben Hubbard. “Iran’s financial crisis, exacerbated by American sanctions,” he writes from Lebanon, “appears to be undermining its support for militant groups and political allies who bolster Iranian influence in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere.” Well, heavens to Betsy. When the Obama administration negotiated the nuclear deal, the president acknowledged that sanctions relief for Tehran would inevitably mean more money for groups like Hezbollah. But he also insisted it wouldn’t make much of a difference in terms of Iran’s capacity to make mischief in the Middle East.”

The Sunday Times: Prison Training To Lock Down Extremism Threat

“Irish prison officers are to be trained to spot and stop signs of radicalisation among inmates. The Department of Justice says the move is part of its plan to deal with a potential increase in radicalisation and extremism. Ian Acheson, a senior adviser at the Counter Extremism Project, a not-for-profit group combating extremist ideologies, welcomed measures to stop extremism from spreading within prisons. “The IPS is making prudent arrangements to deal with the potential threat because prisons are incubators of extremism,” he said. “Training will help staff to manage and anticipate the potential risk created by even small numbers of radicalised prisoners or combat experienced people from entering the prison system.” Acheson, who led a 2015 review into the threat imposed by radical Islam in UK prisons, said training must help prison officers to identify not only those seeking to radicalise others, but also those at risk of being radicalised. He described younger prisoners, those with no family, and those with mental health problems, as potentially at risk.”

MSNBC: Mark Zuckerberg’s Call For Tougher Internet Regulation Won’t Save Facebook From These Investigations

“Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg backed stronger government regulation of the Internet on Saturday, but it may be too little too late for a company that remains mired in controversy and subject to investigations and possible fines around the world. It’s been over a year since the public learned that a U.K.-based political consulting firm called Cambridge Analytica exploited Facebook’s business model to influence the U.S. presidential election in 2016. Since then, the company has faced growing scrutiny from its users and even employees as more privacy scandals unraveled throughout 2018. Though Facebook’s top executives were hauled in to face critical congressional leaders, its users and investors don’t seem to care. The company, which has a market value over $475 billion, posted a strong Q4 2018 earnings report in January. Facebook also met analysts’ expectations for daily and monthly active users, which clocked in at 1.52 billion and 2.32 billion, respectively. Despite all the scandals, its stock price is up more than 4 percent over the past year, trading at $166.69 as of Friday’s close.”

United States

The New York Times: The Secret Death Toll Of America’s Drones

“The Pentagon says American airstrikes in Somalia have killed no civilians since President Trump accelerated attacks against Shabab militants there two years ago. Amnesty International investigated five of the more than 100 strikes carried out in Somalia since 2017 by drones and manned aircraft, and in just that small sampling found that at least 14 civilians were killed. The Pentagon says airstrikes by the American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State killed at least 1,257 civilians in Iraq and Syria as of the end of January. Airwars, a university-based monitoring group, estimates that those strikes killed at least 7,500 civilians in those countries. Those disparities show how poorly the American public understands the human cost of an air war fought largely by remote-controlled drones. Drones have been the main weapon in the counterterrorism fight for more than a decade. They kill extremists without risking American lives, making combat seem antiseptic on the home front. But the number of civilians killed in these attacks is shrouded in secrecy. President Trump has made it even harder to lift that shroud, by allowing the Central Intelligence Agency to keep secret how many civilians are killed in the agency’s airstrikes outside of the Afghan, Iraqi and Syrian war zones — in places like Yemen, the lawless border region of Pakistan and North Africa.”

Syria

Voice Of America: With Removal Of IS, Syrians Search For Missing Loved Ones

“The final declaration of victory on the Islamic State (IS) in Syria has sparked renewed hopes for Syrians whose family members were kidnapped by IS, with thousands asking the U.S.-backed forces to disclose the whereabouts of their loved ones. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) last week announced the complete removal of IS from its last stronghold of Baghuz in eastern Syria and the rescue of thousands of civilians used as human shields by the jihadists. Still, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), about 20,000 Syrians kidnapped by IS are missing. “We have to know what happened to our loved ones,” said Ensaf Nasser, who has desperately searched for her husband since his abduction by IS in August 2014. “The fate of my husband and thousands of detainees kidnapped by IS must be looked into now by the coalition and the SDF before evidences are lost,” she told VOA.”

Al Arabiya: Saudi Children Abducted By Their ISIS Father Rescued

“Saudi authorities succeeded in returning two young siblings home after their father abducted them to join ISIS in Syria. The kidnapping of Saudi citizens Abdallah and Ahmed took place five years ago, under the pretense that they were going on holiday to Turkey, from where they were then taken to Syria. A month after their arrival, the father handed his children to ISIS and proceeded to commit a suicide bomb attack. The boys’ mother told Al Arabiya that she could not stop the abduction because she had been divorced from her husband years before they traveled. “My problem is that I was not around my children nor their father. We got divorced way before they traveled,” she said. The return of Abdullah, 16, and Ahmed, 113, to their hometown of Riyadh was made possible by a strategic and dangerous mission by Saudi authorities who helped them escape from Syria to Turkey. “If you are in Saudi Arabia, you are in bliss, safety, and comfort. You are in God’s mercy,” says older sibling Abdullah as he expresses his relief to be back home. Pointing at his younger brother’s eye, he adds: “Ahmed doesn’t see with this eye.” Ahmed injured his eye during a blast during the last few days he spent in Syria. “We experienced an attack that caused a piece of metal to cut my eye.”

The New York Times: U.S. Troops Leaving Syria, But Some May Stay Longer Than Expected

“Now that the Islamic State has been driven from its last sliver of territory in Syria, hundreds of American troops — not just their equipment — are leaving the war zone, just as President Trump ordered in December. But in the latest twist to the on-again, off-again American withdrawal, the Pentagon plans to cut its combat force in northeastern Syria roughly in half by early May, or to about 1,000 troops, and then pause, American officials said on Friday. The military will then assess conditions on the ground and reduce the number of forces every six months or so, until it reaches the 400 troops in Syria that Mr. Trump approved in February. They will include 200 in a multinational force in the northeast and another 200 at a small outpost in southeastern Syria, where they will seek to counter Iran’s influence throughout the country. The pause is another important shift from Mr. Trump’s initial order to pull out all 2,000 American troops from Syria immediately, and has not been previously reported.”

Kurdistan 24: ISIS Sleeper Cell Attack Kills One SDF Fighter In Syria’s Deir Al-Zor

“A car bomb in the Syrian province of Deir al-Zor on Friday killed a fighter from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an SDF spokesperson confirmed. According to Mustafa Bali, the head of the SDF press office, a Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) belonging to the Islamic State “martyred” an SDF fighter. “ISIS still has a strong presence among [the] society in the area, and this can only be countered by an effective military cooperation between the SDF and the global coalition,” Bali wrote on Twitter on Saturday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), meanwhile, reported on Friday that a car bomb in Theban town in the eastern region of Deir al-Zor’s countryside killed two members of the SDF. Elsewhere, another SDF fighter died from his injuries on Saturday after unknown gunmen believed to be members of the Islamic State shot him in al-Busayrah, a town in eastern Deir al-Zor province. Despite the SDF and the US-led coalition announcing the defeat of the extremist group’s so-called caliphate on March 23, Islamic State sleeper cell attacks continue in Arab majority areas that were liberated from the militants. On March 25, seven fighters were killed in the city of Manbij—an attack the Islamic State claimed.”

Iran

The National Interest: Why Iran Is So Afraid Of A Free Iraq

“On March 15, 2019, Hassan Rouhani became the first sitting president of the Islamic Republic of Iran to be received by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most prominent source of emulation in the Shiite world. Iranian authorities sought to spin the meeting as “historic,” a sign of their reach, Shiite unity, and perhaps even Najaf’s endorsement for Iran’s clerical regime. Iran, for example, a state-owned newspaper, wrote: This is a meeting with a source of emulation who has opposed the US interventionist policies in Iraq and toward Iran, and has called for maintaining a balance in Iraq's foreign relations. Many scholars believe that Ayatollah Sistani has always tried to bring Iraq's political and religious views closer, and to play an influential role in national reconciliation and building constructive relations between Iran and Iraq.”

The National: Iran Continues To Be A Major Cyber Threat To Middle East

“Iran, which is accused of launching state-sponsored cyber espionage attacks against the Middle East in the past, continues to be a major threat to businesses and government institutions across the region in 2019. Government and defence sectors in the UAE and Saudi Arabia – the two largest economies in the Arabian Gulf – will be the main targets, as Iran seeks geopolitical prominence, according to a report released by California-based cyber-security technology company CrowdStrike. “Governments and businesses need to be aware of the threat and be prepared to deal with that,” said Rawad Sarieddine, regional head of CrowdStrike in Dubai. “Our report has found that Iran, along with other actors, continues to be a destructive threat, not only within the Middle East but also to companies based in western countries that may do business or maintain infrastructure in the region,” added Mr Sarieddine. The report found that besides Iran, countries such as Russia, China and North Korea continue to maintain a professional and experienced cyber-crime capability."

Iraq

The Washington Post: For Religious Minorities Targeted By ISIS, New Schools And Clinics. But Where Are The People?

“More than two years after Islamic State militants were ousted from this ancient town in northern Iraq, only one man has returned. He lives in the wreckage of a house that has enough of a ceiling to protect him from the winter rains, with four or five stray dogs at any time for company. In the shadow of a church pocked with bullet holes, he survives on food donated by local security forces in exchange for performing an important task: keeping looters and vandals away from three newly renovated schools and a new medical center. Each has a sign in Arabic stating it was rebuilt through a partnership between the United Nations Development Program and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Batnaya, once home to some 6,000 Chaldean Catholics, is a small but striking example of the enormous challenge facing the Iraqi government, United States and United Nations in rebuilding and repopulating areas devastated by the Islamic State occupation and the three-year war to rid Iraq of the militants. At the current rate, it could take a generation or more to reconstruct what the conflict has ruined. Iraqi officials say it will require $88 billion to recover, far more than the government can muster on its own, and foreign help is falling far short of plugging that hole.”

Iraqi News: Iraqi Security Forces Kill Islamic State Terrorist In Anbar Province

“Iraqi security sources killed on Sunday an Islamic State militant during a security operation in Anbar province, a security source was quoted as saying. Speaking to Almaalomah website, the source said that security forces opened fire at two Islamic State terrorists riding a motorbike in the desert of al-Khalidiya Island, east of Ramadi, in Anbar province. “The troops managed to kill one of the terrorists, and arrested the other as he tried to flee the scene into an unknown location,” the source said, adding that the pair were plotting to launch attacks against security forces in the area. In December 2015, Iraq announced liberation of Ramadi city from Islamic State following a fierce battle between Iraqi troops and IS militants. The liberation of Ramadi was seen as a major win for the Iraqi government against IS militants, who have taken over large swathes of the country, as well as parts of Syria.”

Turkey

Reuters: One Turkish Soldier Killed In Syria, Military Retaliates - Ministry

“One Turkish soldier was killed and another was wounded in a mortar attack on their position in northwest Syria on Sunday and Turkey's military launched retaliatory fire, the Turkish Defence Ministry said. It said the attack was carried out by the Kurdish YPG militia in the Afrin region, where Turkey-backed Syrian rebels drove out YPG fighters last year. Ankara says the YPG is a terrorist group and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has waged an insurgency on Turkish soil since 1984. “After the incident, targets identified as belonging to terrorists were subject to fire,” the ministry said in a statement. The ministry published a photo of the soldier who was killed on its Twitter feed. The YPG militia has been a key ally of the United States in its fight against Islamic State in Syria.”

Afghanistan

The Washington Post: Afghan Vice President Survives Taliban Assassination Attempt

“Taliban insurgents repeatedly ambushed the convoy of Vice President Abdurrashid Dostum and killed two of his guards, Afghan officials said Sunday, but the powerful former warlord escaped injury. Dostum, a military general and member of Afghanistan’s Uzbek minority, was traveling in the north of the country when his heavily armed entourage came under fire. “By the grace of God, the general was unharmed,” Bashir Ahmad Tayenj, an aide to Dostum, said by telephone. Tayenj was with Dostum when the three ambushes occurred Saturday evening. “The fighting was intense,” he added, saying that four Taliban insurgents also were killed. In a statement, the Taliban asserted responsibility for the assassination attempt, which comes as peace negotiations between the group and the United States are underway. Parallel talks are also being held between the Taliban and various Afghan power brokers. Dostum, a controversial figure who has been accused by political rivals of rape and torture, had gone to Balkh province to evaluate the security situation and consult his followers on the delicate peace process, from which the Afghan government has been excluded. Six of Dostum’s bodyguards were injured in the attack, which continued into his native Jowzjan province, local official Ana Murad Shahi said.”

Associated Press: Afghans Recruited To Fight In Syrian War Struggle Back Home

“Too poor to even buy pens and notebooks for school, Mehdi left his home in Afghanistan soon after his 17th birthday and headed to Iran, hoping to make his way to Europe and find work. Instead, Mehdi ended up fighting in Syria’s civil war, a conflict he had nothing to do with, 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) from home. He was one of tens of thousands of Afghans recruited, paid and trained by Iran to fight in support of Tehran’s ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad. There, he found himself thrown into one of the war’s bloodiest front lines, surrounded by the bodies of his comrades, under fire from Islamic militants so close he could hear their shouts of “Allahu akbar” (“God is greatest”) before each mortar blast. Iran ran an extensive drive to bring Shiites from across the region and create a network of militias to help save Assad from the uprising against his rule — not only Afghans but also Pakistanis, Iraqis and Lebanese. Now with the 8-year war in Syria winding down, the question is what will Tehran do with those well-trained, well-armed forces.”

Al Jazeera: Explosion, Taliban Attacks Kill Dozens Across Afghanistan

“More than 30 people, including civilians and security forces, have been killed in separate Taliban attacks on security checkpoints across Afghanistan, officials have said. Four students were killed in an explosion, probably caused by a mortar attack. At least 15 other students and their two teachers were wounded in the incident as the mortar hit their school in the Andar district of eastern Ghazni province. The explosion took place while security forces and Taliban fighters exchanged fire during an assault on a police checkpoint on Saturday, Arif Noori, a spokesman for the governor of Ghazni province, told Al Jazeera. The students killed were aged between 10 and 16, Noori said, adding an investigation has been launched on who fired the projectile that hit the school. In a separate incident in Ghazni city, nine Afghan policemen were killed when Taliban fighters stormed their checkpoints and launched a follow-up ambush late on Friday. Elsewhere, Taliban fighters took control of the Arghanj Khaw district centre in north-eastern Badakhshan province after two days of intense fighting, officials said on Saturday. At least 12 members of the security forces were killed and another five were wounded in the fighting that started late on Thursday night, provincial councillors Abdullah Naji Nazari and Abdul Rahman Talaat said.”

Fox News: Afghan Official: Taliban Strike Checkpoints In North, Kill 5

“An Afghan official says the Taliban stormed two checkpoints in northern Sari Pul province, killing at least five members of the security forces and setting of an hours-long gunbattle. Zabihullah Amani, spokesman for the provincial governor, say the attack in the province's Sozma Qala district started late on Sunday night. The fighting lasted until Monday morning and also left two troops wounded. Amani says the insurgents captured six soldiers before fleeing the scene. Their fate remains unknown. The checkpoints were retaken and the area was brought under control once reinforcements arrived. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Amani blamed the Taliban who are active in the province and have stepped up their attacks against Afghan security forces.”

Deutsche Welle: Afghan Schoolchildren Killed In Taliban Attack Crossfire

“At least four Afghan students aged between 10 and 16 were killed on Saturday after being caught in crossfire during Taliban attacks on police checkpoints near a school in eastern Ghazni province, a spokesman for the provincial governor said. The spokesman, Arif Noori, told DW that 17 others, including 15 students and two teachers, were wounded when an explosion hit the school in Andar district. He said authorities were investigating who fired the projectile that hit the school. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. At least nine policemen were also killed in the attacks on the checkpoints and a follow-up ambush targeting other police rushing to the scene, officials say. Six were also reportedly wounded in the attacks. The attacks come amid efforts by the United States to broker a peace accord between the Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001 before being ousted in a US-led invasion, and the Kabul government. The Islamists, who have been waging a rebellion since their ouster, now control some 46 percent of the country's districts, up from 36 percent in 2017, according to the US government's Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.”

Xinhua: 15 IS Militants Killed In E. Afghanistan

“A total of 15 militants affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) group have been killed and 10 others injured as government forces launched operations against the group's hideouts in Khogiani district of the eastern Nangarhar province on Sunday, provincial government spokesman Attaullah Khogiani said Monday. The government, according to the official, launched cleanup operations against IS insurgents in Zerotangi area of Khogiani district late Sunday night and besides killing 15 militants and injuring 10 others, have also destroyed several hideouts of the group. No security personnel and civilians have been harmed, the official asserted. Militants loyal to the IS outfit have yet to make comment.”

Yemen

Arab News: Yemen’s Army Shoots Down Another Houthi Drone

“Yemen’s army shot down the fourth Houthi drone in March while it was in Nihm district of the Sanaa governorate airspace, Saudi news agency SPA reported on Saturday. This is the seventh drone the army shoots down in Nihm since the start of the year, sources said. Earlier this month, the Saudi-led Arab coalition raided two caves in Sanaa used by Houthi militants to store drones. Coalition spokesperson Colonel Turki Al-Malki said the militia was planning to use the drones hidden in the caves for “terrorist operations.” Last week’s raid was part of previous military operations which started in January and targeted Houthi drone networks and foreign experts helping the militants. Meanwhile, Houthi militants executed a civilian in Hajjah province after he refused to let them position their tank in his backyard.”

Xinhua: UAE-Backed Yemeni Security Forces Arrest Al-Qaida Explosives Expert

“Yemeni security forces launched an anti-terror raid and arrested an explosives expert of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch in the southern province of Abyan, a security source said on Sunday. Units of the newly-recruited security force carried out a raid on Saturday night and targeted an area held by terrorist operatives in al-Wadea district in Abyan, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. A key member of the Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen said the forces that carried out the anti-terror raid are trained and backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a key member of the Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen said. Meanwhile, local media reports revealed the identity of the captured explosives expert, named Abdul-Qadir al-Mut, one of the most dangerous leading members of the al-Qaida. The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which mostly operates in eastern and southern provinces, has been responsible for many high-profile attacks against security forces in the country. The provinces of Abyan and Shabwa, former main strongholds of AQAP, have also been the scene of sporadic attacks or heavy clashes between UAE-backed security forces and al-Qaida militants from time to time.”

Middle East

The Washington Post: Gazans Have Paid In Blood For A Year Of Protests. Now Many Wonder What It Was For

“Mohammed Mikdad used to spend his Friday afternoons at the fence that runs along Gaza’s border, taking part in weekly demonstrations against Israel. They were fun, he said, and he didn’t have much else to do. But after being shot in the leg by an Israeli sniper in May, *Mikdad, 35, has spent recent Fridays begging outside the local mosque, unable to continue his work as a doorman and struggling to support six children and service his debts. “We hoped it might make a little change. Later, I discovered it was worthless,” he said, his leg secured in a metal apparatus that he adjusts every six hours to help mend his shattered bone. Every week for the past year, Palestinians have massed at the fence to demonstrate in the March of Return. For Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, the protests have become a tool to pressure Israel into softening restrictions on the enclave, with limited success. The tangible rewards for Gaza’s 2 million residents have been modest. Hamas secured a temporary deal under which *Israel allowed the injection of Qatari funding into the territory to pay for salaries and fuel. Youth unemployment, however, stands at 65 percent, poverty is widespread and disillusionment with both the demonstrations and Hamas is growing among a population that has paid with its blood.”

Clarion Project: ISIS Caliphate Alive & Well Online

“The collapse of the ISIS caliphate was heralded last week all over the media. Experts and pundits maintained the terror group lost support among followers and its image would forever be tarnished within the jihadi community. Not so fast. While the physical caliphate suffered an injurious defeat, its online presence was thriving. On social media, supporters — both new and old — renewed their claims of loyalty to the caliphate. Baqiyah (the Arabic word for “remaining”) is a core motto of Islamic State. Online pledges of baqiyah poured in as did posts pointing to the next generation of ISIS fighters heralded as the future. The loss of the physical caliphate is merely a setback to ISIS supporters and one that will be overcome. The following tweet refers to ISIS fighters in Baghouz (ISIS’s last stronghold in Syria until it was overtaken by coalition forces) as “pure” muhajideen (jihadi warriors).”

Bloomberg: No, Islamic State Isn’t Defeated

“Last month’s liberation of the final piece of territory that once made up the Islamic State is worthy of celebration. It took the better part of four years, required the determination of many nations, and demanded huge sacrifices from pro-democracy forces on the ground. But as President Donald Trump thumps his metaphorical chest over the victory, he risks making the same mistake as his predecessors, who were too quick to declare the end of American combat missions in Iraq. Instead of celebrating prematurely, the U.S. must start transitioning from combat to threat management — a subtler task that will require patience, focus, and the continued cooperation of coalition forces. Having lost its geographical foothold, the Islamic State is in some ways more dangerous than before: Free from governing responsibility, it can focus on more traditional insurgency and terrorism. The group has both the means and the manpower for these tasks; it has already stepped up suicide attacks in Iraq. As its fighters flee from the liberated territories, moreover, they’ll carry its brand of jihad to other battlefields. Many will join other terrorist groups in lawless lands such as Libya, Mali and Yemen. Those who remain in Syria may join the onetime al-Qaeda affiliates that control Idlib province.”

Egypt

The New York Times: Egypt Sentences 30 Men Over Church Attack Plot

“Thirty men were sentenced on Saturday to between 10 years and life in prison for planning a suicide bombing on a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria and other charges, court officials said. The authorities said at the time of their arrest that the defendants had embraced the ideas of the Islamic State and had received training abroad and in Egypt. Twenty of the defendants who appeared in court did not react to the sentences, and there was no immediate comment from the lawyers representing them. The other 10 are still on the run and were sentenced in absentia. The attack on the church did not take place. But minority Christians have faced a series of assaults in Alexandria and other parts of Egypt in recent years. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for suicide bombings on churches in Alexandria and Tanta in April 2017 that killed 45 people. The defendants were also accused of planning to bomb a liquor store in the Mediterranean city of Damietta, joining an illegal group and possessing weapons and explosives. Eighteen of them received life terms, which run for 25 years in Egypt; eight got 15 years in prison; and four were sentenced to 10 years, according to the head of the Alexandria Criminal Court, convened in Cairo.”

Libya

The New York Times: 3 Teenage Migrants Are Charged In Malta With Hijacking Ship At Sea

“Three teenage migrants have been charged in a court in Malta with hijacking a small commercial oil tanker that had rescued them and others off the coast of Libya, an act that is considered a terrorist crime under Maltese law. The tanker, El Hiblu 1, was hijacked in the Mediterranean this past week. The captain said that rescued migrants had begun to riot and threaten violence when they saw that the ship was returning them to Libya. According to the captain, they forced it to turn north toward Europe. The suspects pleaded not guilty during an arraignment in Valletta, the Maltese capital, on Saturday. One of the accused was identified by the court as Abdalla Bari, a 19-year-old from Guinea. The other two are a 15-year-old from Guinea and a 16-year-old from Ivory Coast, who could not be named because they were minors. A magistrate, Donatella Frendo Dimech, denied a bail request, noting that civilian witnesses, including the captain and crew, had yet to testify and that the accused had no ties in Malta nor any means of paying bond. The minors told the court that they were high school students, while Mr. Bari, the 19-year-old, said that he had been studying sociology before leaving his country.”

Nigeria

Daily Post Nigeria: Boko Haram Top Commander Killed

“The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) has neutralised a Boko Haram commander, Malloum Moussa and 15 of his foot soldiers during a clearance operation on Lake Chad Island. According to a statement by Col. Timothy Antigha, the spokesman of the task force on Sunday, troops destroyed five gun trucks belonging to the terrorists during the operation. He said the troops also arrested a woman whose relationship with the terrorists is yet to be determined. Antigha said intelligence revealed that Moussa who had one eye was a high ranking Boko Haram commander who has jurisdiction in the entire Southern island, including Daban Masara, Kirta Wulgo and Koleram. “He was notorious for imposing hefty levies on farmers, fishermen and cattle herders to fund Boko Haram terrorism and insurgency in the locality,” he said.”

The Times: How It Feels To... Have Your Daughter Kidnapped By Boko Haram

“I think about my daughter all the time. What can I tell you about Dorcas? She’s my eldest. She used to take care of her younger siblings without needing to be asked. She sang in the church choir and while she cooked, and had a voice like honey. She loved fashion. She was 15 and doing her exams when she was abducted, along with many of her school friends. She always got good grades. She wanted to do business administration and become a lecturer — not many girls in northeastern Nigeria go to secondary school, but I wanted my girls to study to have a better life.”

Somalia

All Africa: Somalia: Al-Shabab Publicly Executes 4 Accused Spies In Somalia

“Al-Shabab said it has executed four men accused of spying for the British, Djibouti and Somali intelligence agencies. Al-Shabab announced the killings on its Andalus radio station on Sunday, saying they were carried out by a firing squad in a public square in Kamsuma, a town in the Lower Jubba region. The group's spokesman said its recent spate of attacks on hotels in the capital, Mogadishu, has been part of its drive against Somali intelligence agents and other government officials who he said were staying at the hotels. “We don't attack every hotel in Mogadishu, but those specific ones (hotels) attacked by Mujahideen fighters have got specific features meriting them for attacks,” said Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, on the rebels' radio station. “A standard public hotel that civilians stay in is not protected by blast walls and soldiers. These apostates have got no distinct offices, and most of those men were killed at hotels they use as their offices,” he said, apparently referring to Somali government officials. Mogadishu has seen series of attacks by al-Shabab in recent weeks, highlighting challenges facing the Somali government, which said recently that it is considering imposing a state of emergency in Mogadishu to try to contain the attacks.”

Allafrica: Somalia: Top Al-Shabab Commander Defects To Government Side

“A top Al-Shabab commander has defected to the government side in Lower Shabelle region. Mohamed Ibrahim Bitow and one of his bodyguard defected to the Somali government. He said that he was in charge of over 100 fighters among the militants ranks. Mohamed said that he abandoned his position in the miltanst group, saying that he had seen a lot of civilians suffer aimlessly in their hands. Ibrahim told the media that he fought alongside his Al-Shabaab comrades in many battles against Somali National Army (SNA). "I was in commanded of 100 fighters, We carried out many attacks on bases of Somali military," he said. He has been fighting alongside Al-Shabaab fighters for the last nine years. Al-Shabaab has not yet commented on the surrender of the commander to the Somali government.”

Africa

Reuters: Tunisia Says U.N. Official Arrested In Anti-Terrorism Probe: Agency

“Tunisian authorities have detained a U.N. official involved in monitoring an international arms embargo on Libya as part of an investigation by an anti-terrorism unit, state news agency TAP said on Saturday. It was the first time Tunisia had confirmed the arrest of the official, Tunisian national Moncef Kartas, who a U.N. spokesman said on Friday had been detained earlier in the week at Tunis airport despite having diplomatic immunity. A spokesman for a Tunisian anti-terrorism judiciary unit told TAP the detained official had traveled in a private capacity on his Tunisian passport, meaning he was not entitled to diplomatic immunity and could be arrested. The U.N. spokesman had also called on Tunisia to clarify the reason for his arrest. Saturday’s TAP report said it was linked to a probe by the special judiciary unit, but gave no further details. On Friday, the interior ministry said two unnamed Tunisians had been arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of spying. It did not say if Kartas was one of the two.”

North Korea

The New York Times: North Korea Calls Raid At Its Embassy In Spain A ‘Terrorist Attack’

“North Korea said on Sunday that a break-in and robbery at its embassy in Spain last month was “a grave terrorist attack” and a “flagrant violation of international law,” calling on Madrid to conduct a thorough and fair investigation of the mysterious incident. North Korea was also closely monitoring reports that the F.B.I. and an anti-North Korea group had been involved, a spokesman for its Foreign Ministry told the official Korean Central News Agency. The unidentified spokesman’s comments were the first official North Korean reaction to the Feb. 22 raid. “This kind of act should never be tolerated over the globe,” he said, adding that during the assault on the embassy, an armed group had “bound, beaten and tortured” staff members and stolen communications equipment. North Korea expects the Spanish authorities to “bring the terrorists and their wire pullers to justice in conformity with the relevant international law,” he said. The raid at the North Korean Embassy took place five days before the start of President Trump’s summit meeting in Vietnam with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un. Ten suspects attacked embassy employees with knives, machetes, metal bars and fake pellet guns, a Spanish judge investigating the case said last week.”

United Kingdom

Kurdistan 24: British Kurdish ISIS Fighter Executed For Spying

“A British Kurdish Islamic State recruit from Coventry was executed by the jihadist group after being accused of providing information to intelligence officers, the Sunday Times reported on Sunday. Mohammed Ismail, a Kurdish British national nicknamed Osama bin Bieber on social media because of his youthful looks, was killed after confessing to giving away information regarding the tightly-guarded movements of Nasser Muthana, an aspiring doctor from Cardiff who became a leading Islamic State recruiter and propagandist. Details are only emerging now despite it being believed the execution took place in late 2016, a few months after Muthana was killed. Muthana, who had been on a Pentagon “kill list,” was reportedly eliminated by a precision strike in a street in Mosul around May 2016, the organization’s former stronghold in Iraq. Another jihadist from Australia was also killed in the attack. According to one account, Ismail was killed in Raqqa, and the retaliatory execution was filmed. “They did have an interrogation with him. He confessed everything, and then they killed him,” a source told the newspaper. Soon after arriving in Syria in 2014 at the age of 18, Ismail is thought to have been badly injured in battle, and after that became an Islamic State police officer.”

The Telegraph: £80m Of British Taxpayers' Money 'Funnelled To Al-Qaeda' In Decades-Long Scam

“Tens of millions of pounds of British taxpayers’ money was used to fund terrorists including the 7/7 London bombing network and Osama bin Laden through a UK-based scam that spanned two decades. A two-year investigation by The Sunday Times revealed that a network of British Asians stole billions of pounds of public money through VAT and benefit fraud, topping up their gains with mortgage and credit card fraud. One per cent on the group’s gains, a full £80m, was allegedly funnelled into al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, with funds reaching the Pakistani compound stormed by US special forces in the 2011 operation to kill Bin Laden. The scale of the scam is breathtaking: the group netted around £8bn in public funds alone – almost triple the annual government expenditure on MI5, MI6 and GCHQ. A web of secrecy still binds this investigation, which was led by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and Special Branch, and prevents the story from being told in full.”

Germany

Fox News: German Police Arrest 10 Suspected Of Planning Terror Attack

“German police say they have arrested 10 people in the west of the country on suspicion of planning an Islamic extremist terror attack. The dpa news agency reported the suspects were taken into custody on Friday and Saturday in the towns of Essen, Duesseldorf, Wuppertal, Moenchengladbach, Duisburg and Ulm, citing a spokesman for prosecutors in Duesseldorf. The prosecutors' spokesman was quoted as saying Saturday that the group was suspected of a connection to the Islamic State group, either as sympathizers or a splinter group, and of planning a “serious act of violent subversion,” although there was currently no indication of a specific target. Prosecutors were not yet certain if criminal cases would be brought against all those taken into custody. Officials said one of the suspects was from Tajikistan but provided no information about the nationality of the others.”

Europe

The Local Sweden: Stockholm Takes New Approach To Returned ISIS Fighters

“Stockholm is initiating a new collaboration with police and prosecutors to deal with people who have returned to the Swedish capital after joining the terrorist group Isis. Stockholm Mayor Anna König Jerlmyr told Sveriges Radio that the city has thus far identified 19 individuals who have returned from the terrorist group Isis and who can be suspected of war crimes. According to König Järlemyr, the individuals have been found through a new collaboration in which local social services contact Sweden's Security Service (Säkerhetspolisen), which in turn then opens up an investigation. ”We are working together to gather information about these individuals. The police have not worked like this before, but now we’ve connected with the National Unit Against Organised Crime and the head prosecutor there, Lise Tamm, who welcomes this,” she said. As a result of the new arrangement, Stockholm's social welfare service (Socialförvaltningen) is obligated to provide information to police and prosecutors when it suspects someone may have been involved with a war crime. Stockholm’s new approach comes as the national government is struggling to find the best way to deal with the roughly 150 citizens who have returned home after joining Isis.”

The Independent: Terror Chief Says Irish Isil Bride 'Should Be Detained For Her Own Safety' On Return From Syria

“A former head of counter-terrorism in the UK's Foreign Office has said Irish Isil bride Lisa Smith should be detained if she returns to Ireland for her own safety. Sir Ivor Roberts, a former British ambassador to Ireland, said Ms Smith could be targeted by Islamophobic extremists, or people who have been impacted by Isil. "She may become the target of those who have suffered at Islamic State's hands or those who are violently opposed to Isil, to the extent they want to take it into their own hands," Mr Roberts said. Mr Roberts said Ms Smith would be seen as "damaged goods" by Islamic terrorists if she does return and it is unlikely she will be used to set up a terror cell in Ireland. "Ultimately, one would hope there is a prospect of de-radicalisation and she could be turned in another direction and act as a warning to those who are tempted by the idea," he said. "She could actually cause damage to the causes of the Islamic State," he added.”

Australia

The Guardian: Scott Morrison Rules Out Helping Children Of ISIS Fighter Khaled Sharrouf

“Scott Morrison has refused to countenance helping the children of the Islamic State fighter Khaled Sharrouf, after reports that they were being held at a Syrian refugee camp. Sharrouf’s daughters – Zaynab, 17, who is pregnant, and Hoda, 16 – and son Hamza, eight, are in the Kurdish-controlled* al-Hawl camp alongside eight other Australian women and their children, including Zaynab’s two daughters, aged three and two, the ABC reported on Monday. They reportedly escaped Islamic’s State’s last stronghold in Baghouz before it was overrun by Kurdish fighters. But the prime minister said they were not Australia’s responsibility. “I’m not going to put one Australian life at risk to try and extract people from these dangerous situations,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra on Monday. “I think it’s appalling that Australians have gone and fought against our values and our way of life and peace-loving countries of the world in joining the Daesh [Islamic State] fight. “I think it’s even more despicable that they put their children in the middle of it.” Two of Sharrouf’s sons, Abdullah and Zarqawi, are believed to have died, aged nine and eight respectively, alongside their father in a US air strike as they travelled in a car near Raqqa in 2017.”

New Zealand

Reuters: Before Mosque Attacks, New Zealand Failed To Record Hate Crimes For Years

“Weeks before a gunman killed 50 Muslims in Christchurch, a man had threatened to burn copies of the Koran outside New Zealand mosques, in what community leaders said was the latest in a long list of threatening behavior against religious minorities. Police said they warned a 38-year-old man over the incident, which was unrelated to the Christchurch attack, but could not say if it was part of a pattern. That’s because, unlike many Western countries including the United Kingdom and the United States, New Zealand’s government keeps no comprehensive record of hate crimes, failing to act on requests to do so from local and international agencies spanning more than a decade. “For many years our view has consistently been that this needs to be prioritized and implemented urgently,” said Janet Anderson-Bidois, Chief Legal Adviser at the Human Rights Commission, the independent government agency tasked with protecting human rights. “It is imperative that we have good data.” A suspected white supremacist has been charged with murder over the Christchurch shootings and will appear in court again on April 5. In the wake of New Zealand’s worst mass shooting, questions are being asked about what signs agencies missed and where resources should have been allocated to protect vulnerable communities.”

Council On Foreign Relations: How Serious Is White Nationalist Terrorism?

“The attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, this month have sparked concern about a sharply rising white nationalist threat. How serious is it? White nationalist terrorism and its variants—those that embrace racist, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, and anti-government sentiments—have existed for decades in countries including Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In the past their acts were mostly isolated, spasmodic outbursts of violence. Today, however, the internet and social media unite disparate, disgruntled individuals in an ideologically more cohesive echo chamber, which radicalizes, inspires, and motivates acts of wanton violence. Some commentators suggest Western countries have been blind to the threat posed by far-right terrorism while maintaining a tight focus on Islamist terrorism. How valid is that? The comparatively well-organized, transnational terrorist threats posed by both al-Qaeda and the self-proclaimed Islamic State have understandably consumed the attention of intelligence and law enforcement agencies during the past couple of decades.”

Southeast Asia

The Straits Times: Indonesia's ISIS members stranded in Syria beg to go home

“Indonesian members of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) who are stuck in Syria after the extremist group lost its final patch of territory in the country are begging to return home. Mariam Abdullah, one of about 50 Indonesians in the Al Hol camp in Syria, asked for help so that she and her family can return to Indonesia, in a two-minute video posted on Indonesian online news outlet Tirto.id. “We are asking for help so we can return home,” Mariam said as quoted by Tirto.id. Mariam claimed that she, her husband and four children were from Bandung, West Java. She said she and her children had fled the Syrian village of Baghouz two days prior to the interview with the online news outlet. Mariam told the reporter, Afshin Ismaeli, that her husband, Saifuddin, was missing. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), approximately 67,000 internally displaced people were living in the camp - which has a capacity of just 10,000 - as of March 14. Many of those in the camp are suffering from hypothermia and various communicable diseases due to a shortage of healthcare services. As of March 14, said WHO, 120 people including some 100 children aged below five had died.”

Stars And Stripes: Two ISIS-Linked Men Arrested Far From Philippine Militant Bases

“Two Muslim militants have been arrested with guns, explosives and Islamic State group-style black flags in a northern Philippine province far from the traditional territory of Muslim militants in the volatile south, police said Monday. But national police chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde said the arrest on Thursday of the two militants in Baggao town in Cagayan province at the northern tip of Luzon island was not an indication that ISIS-linked militants have expanded their power far beyond their traditional southern bases. The militants, Altero Bello and Greg Bello, belonged to an ISIS-aligned jihadist group named Syuful Khilafa Fi Luzon, which was established in 2016 but does not have any record of involvement in any attacks in the largely Roman Catholic northern region, a police report said. “In our view, these groups only want to be known and so far they have not carried out any hostilities or atrocities in that region,” Albayalde said at a news conference in the capital. “When we monitor something like this, the police do preventive measures with the military.” Police, backed by army troops, seized four pistols, two homemade bombs and two ISIS-style black flags and ammunition from each of the houses of the two militants.”

Venezuela

The Wall Street Journal: Putin Pulls A Syria In Venezuela

“Vladimir Putin has made a career of intervening abroad and seeing if the world lets him get away with it. He did this in Georgia when George W. Bush was President, then in Crimea, eastern Ukraine and Syria in Barack Obama’s Presidency. Now he’s doing the same on Donald Trump’s watch—this time in America’s backyard in Venezuela. Two planes arrived in Caracas last weekend with 100 Russian troops, and in recent years Russia has provided cash, food and weapons to prop up the regime of Nicolás Maduro. The U.S. has thrown its support behind Juan Guaidó, the interim president chosen by the National Assembly and backed by nearly every country in the region. But Mr. Putin is betting that with a limited military and financial investment he can keep Mr. Maduro in power, expand his control over Venezuela’s oil company, impress the world with his moxie, and embarrass Mr. Trump.”

Technology

NPR: Instagram Has A Problem With Hate Speech And Extremism, 'Atlantic' Reporter Says

“Facebook announced on Wednesday that starting next week, it will begin banning white nationalism and white separatism content on its platforms. That includes its popular photo-sharing app, Instagram. While Facebook and Twitter have come under heavy criticism for the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories, Instagram has flown relatively under the radar. That's allowed the platform to increasingly serve as a home for hate speech and extremist content, according to Taylor Lorenz, a reporter for The Atlantic. In an article titled “Instagram Is the Internet's New Home for Hate,” Lorenz writes that Instagram is “likely where the next great battle against misinformation will be fought, and yet it has largely escaped scrutiny.” Instagram is huge, with over 1 billion users. But policing the platform has its challenges, says Lorenz. For example, users can set their accounts to “private” mode, meaning that only approved followers can see the content that is posted on that user's page — this makes it harder to regulate the content posted on private accounts. Lorenz said that Instagram relies on its users to report problematic content. So, problematic content, especially on private accounts, can easily slip by unnoticed and go unreported by users. NPR spoke with Lorenz about how extremist content spreads on Instagram — and what she thinks should be done to stop it.”

The New York Times: In Ukraine, Russia Tests A New Facebook Tactic In Election Tampering

“Campaigning for Ukraine’s presidential election had just begun to heat up when the authorities announced they had thwarted a Russian plot to use Facebook to undermine the vote. Unlike the 2016 interference in the United States, which centered on fake Facebook pages created by Russians in faraway St. Petersburg, the operation in Ukraine this year had a clever twist. It tried to circumvent Facebook’s new safeguards by paying Ukrainian citizens to give a Russian agent access to their personal pages. In a video confession published by the S.B.U., Ukraine’s domestic intelligence service, a man it identified as the Russian agent said that he resided in Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, and that his Russian handlers had ordered him “to find people in Ukraine on Facebook who wanted to sell their accounts or temporarily rent them out.” “As I learned,” said the man, who was not identified by name, “their goal was to use those accounts to publish political ads or to plant fake articles.”

The Wall Street Journal: Zuckerberg For Regulation

“Sooner or later you knew it would happen: Big tech would invite government regulation to deflect even greater intervention such as an antitrust breakup. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the latest to welcome governments to play a “more active role” in governing the internet, presumably including his company. In an op-ed Saturday in the Irish Independent and Washington Post, Mr. Zuckerberg invited European-style privacy rules for the U.S. and called on regulators to set clearer rules on “harmful content, election integrity, privacy and data portability.” This plea for big government to regulate big business will go down well in liberal precincts, where the tech giants have lost the political immunity they had during the Obama years. Politicians like nothing better than to claim to be taming unpopular businesses, and Mr. Zuckerberg may think he’s buying some protection from calls to break up the company.”

Mashable: Facebook Makes Vague Noises About 'Restrictions' On Live Video After Tragedy

“Facebook could impose new limits on who can live stream to Facebook Live following the Christchurch terror attack, which was broadcast live on the social network. In an open letter published in the New Zealand Herald, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg laid out steps the company is taking to change its policies following criticism after the Christchurch terrorist attack. Among them: new rules on who is allowed to use Facebook Live. "We are exploring restrictions on who can go Live depending on factors such as prior Community Standard violations," Sandberg wrote. The proposal was light on details. Sandberg didn't elaborate on exactly how Facebook might restrict the ability to live stream, other than suggesting that those who have broken the company's rules in the past may be affected. Still, the fact that Facebook is even exploring restrictions to Facebook Live suggests that global criticism is having an effect. Many people have said the company needs to rein in its live streaming feature following the Christchurch shooting, in which the shooter broadcast a 17-minute live video of his attack.”

Standard Digital: When Children Are Radicalised: A Mother's Fear

“For 80-year-old Kiptenai Kosgei, Shadrack Kipkoech used to be his little boy. He’s far from that now. They say he is radicalised. What’s more, he now supports Al-Shabaab. The Counter-Extremism Project states that Kenya is a prime location for al-Shabaab radicalisation and recruitment amid the terror group’s rise in Somalia. "As early as 2012, reports indicated that al-Shabaab was attracting a large number of Kenyan converts to Islam. By December 2014, it was estimated that Kenyans comprised around 25 per cent of the terror group’s ranks," it says.”
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O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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