CEP: Eye on Extremism Report 8/15/2022

 

Eye on Extremism August 15, 2022   The New York Times: U.S. Says Al Qaeda Has Not Regrouped In Afghanistan   “American spy agencies have concluded in a new intelligence assessment that Al Qaeda has not reconstituted its presence in Afghanistan since the U.S. withdrawal last August and that only a handful of longtime Qaeda members remain in the country. The terror group does not have the ability to launch attacks from the country against the United States, the assessment said. Instead, it said, Al Qaeda will rely on, at least for now, an array of loyal affiliates outside the region to carry out potential terrorist plots against the West. But several counterterrorism analysts said the spy agencies’ judgments represented an optimistic snapshot of a complex and fast-moving terrorist landscape. The assessment, a declassified summary of which was provided to The New York Times, represents the consensus views of the U.S. intelligence agencies. “The assessment is substantially accurate, but it’s also the most positive outlook on a threat picture that is still quite fluid,” said Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former top U.N. counterterrorism official. The assessment was prepared after Ayman al-Zawahri, Al Qaeda’s top leader, was killed in a C.I.A. drone strike in Kabul last month.”   United States   NPR: An Attempted Attack On An FBI Office Raises Concerns About Violent Far-Right Rhetoric   “Since the FBI search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on Monday, researchers who track extremism have sounded the alarm about an escalation of violent rhetoric from the far-right, including talk of another “civil war” and threats against federal law enforcement. By Thursday, an attempted attack on an FBI field office in Cincinnati appeared to underscore the real danger behind those threats, particularly given a digital trail of ominous posts that were left under the name of the suspect. The FBI said an armed man attempted to breach the building, but fled after an alarm went off and special agents responded. After a car chase, a nearly six-hour standoff, and unsuccessful attempts at negotiation, police shot and killed that suspect, according to an account from the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Law enforcement identified the man as 42-year-old Ricky Walter Shiffer, Jr. Shiffer is a veteran of the U.S. war in Iraq. He deployed to Iraq between 2010 and 2011 during his service as an infantryman with the Florida Army National Guard, before leaving the Guard in May 2011, the Guard confirmed to NPR. Shiffer also served in the U.S. Navy from 1998 to 2003, the Navy stated. During his service, he worked as a fire control technician on the USS Columbia, a Navy submarine.”     Syria   Asharq Al-Awsat: Hundreds Linked To ISIS Transferred From Syria To Iraq   “Syria's autonomous Kurdish region transferred to the Iraqi government more than 600 relatives of ISIS group members who were detained at the notorious Al-Hol camp, a monitor said Friday. It is the fourth operation of its kind this year from the camp, which lies less than 10 kilometers (six miles) from the Iraqi border. In the latest transfer, around “620 people, relatives of ISIS members, left Al-Hol”, coordinated between the camp administration and the Iraqi government, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement. The men, women and children belonged to 150 families and left the camp on Thursday, an official in the Kurdish administration told AFP. Thousands of foreign extremists joined ISIS as fighters, often bringing their wives and children to live in the “caliphate” declared by the group across swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014. Kurdish-led forces backed by a US-led coalition dislodged the militants from their last scrap of territory in Syria in 2019. Kurdish authorities have repeatedly called on countries to repatriate their citizens from crowded displaced camps, of which Al-Hol is Syria's largest. More than 100 people, including many women, were murdered in Al-Hol over an 18-month period, the United Nations said in June, calling for camp residents to be returned home.”   Afghanistan   USA Today: Despite Drone Strike On Al-Qaida Leader, Many Fear Afghanistan Remains Haven For Terror A Year After US Exit   “For President Joe Biden and his allies, the CIA drone strike that killed al-Qaida's top terrorist vindicated Biden's decision a year ago to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan and proved that the U.S. can attack militants from afar. To skeptics, it highlighted the vacuum created by the U.S. withdrawal and the perils of a Taliban-led Afghanistan where Islamic terrorist groups continue to operate and even thrive. The July 30 operation eliminated one of the world's most-wanted terrorists, Ayman al-Zawahri, an architect of the 9/11 attacks. The strike came almost one year after the last U.S. troops left Afghanistan, at Biden's direction, ending the 20-war war triggered by 9/11. “When I ended our military mission in Afghanistan almost a year ago, I made the decision that after 20 years of war, the United States no longer needed thousands of boots on the ground in Afghanistan to protect America from terrorists who seek to do us harm,” Biden said. “I made a promise to the American people that we would continue to conduct effective counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan and beyond. We’ve done just that.” Indeed, no U.S. troops were put in harm's way to kill al-Zawahri. The U.S. launched two Hellfire missiles at the balcony of a safe house in Kabul where al-Zawahri and his family had been living, according to a senior U.S. official.”   The National: Motorcycle Bomb Wounds Four In Kabul   “Four people, including two security forces members, were wounded when a bomb on a motorcycle exploded in Kabul on Saturday, a security official said. The blast took place near an electronic identity centre in Erfani town in the 13th district of Afghanistan's capital, the official said in a report by TOLOnews. Earlier this week, prominent Afghan cleric, Rahimullah Haqqani, who supported education for girls, was killed in a bomb attack in Kabul that was claimed by ISIS. Haqqani, who spent most of his time across the border in the northern Pakistani city of Peshawar, had close ties to Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers and had met senior figures within their government on a trip to Kabul in April. He had reportedly survived previous attempts on his life, including when gunmen in Peshawar opened fire on his convoy in 2013 and a bombing at his madrassa in October 2020. Two people in a Shiite neighbourhood of Kabul were killed in a bombing that was claimed by ISIS last Saturday. The explosion, before the major Shiite mourning ritual of Ashura, wounded 22 others, police said.”   Politico: 800 Americans Evacuated From Afghanistan Since Taliban Takeover   “The U.S. government has evacuated more than 800 American citizens from Afghanistan since the Taliban swept to power and U.S. troops officially left the country last August, according to data provided by House GOP investigators and the State Department. The figure, which hasn’t been previously reported, highlights the ongoing nature of the efforts to make contact with and ultimately evacuate hundreds of Americans who were unable to leave Afghanistan as the U.S. military rapidly withdrew from the country last summer. The data also underscores that hundreds more Americans were left behind in Afghanistan than was previously known. A State Department spokesperson confirmed the number of evacuated American citizens, and added that at least 600 legal permanent residents of the U.S. have also been evacuated since American boots left the ground. Two weeks after the last U.S. plane left Kabul on Aug. 30, 2021, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told lawmakers that there were only 100 Americans citizens left in Afghanistan who wanted to leave, emphasizing that the estimate was a “snapshot in time.” By February 2022, the U.S. had evacuated 479 Americans from Afghanistan, according to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee GOP report.”   The Sun: Terror Group On The Rise   “THE sudden withdrawal of Western troops from Kabul has sparked a worrying resurgence of Islamic State in Afghanistan, as the Islamist organisation’s central command in Syria and Iraq smelled an opportunity.Their leadership sent money to Afghanistan to recruit and rebuild the IS presence there.Ironically, they were aided by their Taliban enemies, who released several hundred hardened IS fighters and commanders when they threw open the gates of the country’s jails as they took control.Although they killed ex-IS leader Abu Omar Khorasani in his jail last September, we know at least one other former leader, Aslam Farooqi, initially escaped and re-joined IS.With new funds and recruits, IS has started to gain the foothold and territory it craves in Afghanistan. The murder of anti-IS cleric Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani inside a seminary in Kabul this week is further evidence of their growing strength in the country.”   Pakistan   Associated Press: 2 Soldiers Killed In Fighting With Militants In SW Pakistan   “An attack by militants in Pakistan’s volatile southwestern Baluchistan province left two soldiers dead and six wounded, the military said Sunday. The military said in a statement that one of the wounded soldiers was an officer who was hurt during a heavy exchange of fire with fleeing attackers after their attack was repulsed. The militants were then chased into mountains in Khost province, it said. Intelligence officials said six soldiers and two civilians were wounded in the attack. They spoke on condition of anonymity for not being authorized to speak to media The army did not identify the attackers and no group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault. However, Baluch insurgents operating in the region have carried out similar attacks on security forces in recent months and have also targeted coal miners. For nearly two decades, Baluchistan has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by the Baluchistan Liberation Army and other separatist groups demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. The government says it has quelled the insurgency, but violence in the province has persisted.”   AFP: Five Dead In Rebel Attack On Indian Army Base In Kashmir   “Suspected rebels attacked an army camp in Indian-administered Kashmir on Thursday killing three soldiers before being shot dead themselves, police said, four days ahead of the 75th anniversary of Indian independence. Officials say at least 130 militants and scores of police and soldiers have been killed this year in battles with rebels fighting for Kashmir’s independence or its merger with Pakistan. Two militants using automatic rifles and grenades “entered the army camp in the dark and there was an exchange of fire with soldiers. Army suffered three fatal causalities and the two attackers were also killed,” Mukesh Singh, a top police officer, told AFP. The incident, in the southern Rajouri area near the highly militarised unofficial border dividing Kashmir from Pakistan, also injured two other soldiers. On Wednesday, hundreds of Indian soldiers on motorbikes paraded through Kashmir’s main city Srinagar, waving the national flag as part of independence-day celebrations culminating on August 15. Tensions have simmered in Kashmir since 2019 when New Delhi imposed direct rule on the restive Muslim-majority territory, which is also claimed by Pakistan and which has been the spark for several wars since the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947.”   Saudi Arabia   Reuters: Terrorism Suspect Blew Himself Up In Jeddah, Injuring Four, Saudi Media Says   “A Saudi Arabian man wanted in connection with a deadly 2015 bombing in the kingdom detonated an explosive device in Jeddah on Wednesday as security forces attempted to arrest him, killing himself and injuring four others, state media reported. Saudi news agency SPA, reporting the incident on Friday, identified the man as Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Shehri. Al-Shehri detonated the explosive belt on Wednesday night in Jeddah's Al Samer neighbourhood, injuring three members of the security forces, who were seeking to arrest him, and a Pakistani national, SPA reported. The injured, who were not named, were taken to hospital, SPA said, without giving details of their injuries. According to Saudi state media reports, Al-Shehri was suspected of being a member of a domestic terrorism cell that coordinated the 2015 suicide bombing of a mosque in Abha frequented by security force members. Eleven members of the security forces and four Bangladeshi nationals were killed in the attack, and 33 people were injured, state media reported at the time. The Saudi Arabian government named Al-Shehri in early 2016 as one of six Saudi nationals wanted in connection with the bombing.”   Middle East   The Washington Post: The U.S. Killed Al-Qaeda’s Leader. That Might Boost Terrorism.   “Just over a week ago, and 11 years after killing al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, the United States killed bin Laden’s successor Ayman al-Zawahiri with a drone strike in Kabul. Zawahiri led the Egyptian Islamic Jihad until its merger with al-Qaeda in 2001, and then led al-Qaeda from May 2011 until his death. Unlike al-Qaeda’s more charismatic and ideologically passionate founder, Zawahiri’s leadership was reserved and restrained. Some criticized that style as weak and ineffective; under him, al-Qaeda split with its affiliate in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, and the Islamic State rose, declared a caliphate in 2014 and then declined with territorial losses. Nevertheless, Zawahiri managed the organization during a time when Western counterterrorism efforts focused on the Islamic State. He kept the loyalty of many of al-Qaeda’s affiliated organizations and its key senior leaders. According to the international relations scholars Tricia Bacon and Elizabeth Grimm, Zawahiri served as “caretaker of bin Laden’s legacy” — and succeeded in maintaining al-Qaeda’s ideological and organizational coherence. Nevertheless, his death probably won’t weaken the organization. In fact, under new leadership, al-Qaeda now has a new and significant opportunity for growth and increased influence.”   The Washington Post: U.S. Citizens Among 8 Injured In Attack In Jerusalem’s Old City   “Eight people were injured, among them U.S. citizens, in a suspected Palestinian gun attack on a bus near Jerusalem’s Western Wall in the Old City early Sunday, Israeli police and medics said. The alleged shooter turned himself and his weapon in hours after fleeing the scene and setting off an extensive manhunt, according to Israeli Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai. Tom Nides, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said he was “deeply saddened to confirm that Americans were injured in this attack.” “I’ve spoken with the families and will keep them in my prayers,” he said in a statement on Twitter. Both Nides and the U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs said in statements early Sunday that they strongly condemned what they described as a “terrorist attack.” A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem declined to provide further details about the victims, citing privacy concerns. They spoke on the condition of anonymity in accordance with embassy protocol. The shooting comes less than a week after Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip reached a tentative truce to end several days of fighting that left at least 47 Palestinians dead in the blockaded enclave, and amid an ongoing Israeli crackdown in the occupied West Bank after violence flared there this spring.”   The Jerusalem Post: Terror Groups Applaud Jerusalem Attack, Urge More ‘Heroic Operations’   “Sunday morning’s shooting attack opposite King David’s Tomb right outside Jerusalem’s Old City will lead to a renewed wave of terrorism against Israel, Palestinian terrorist groups and political analysts said on Sunday. The attack was carried out by Amir Sidawi, a resident of east Jerusalem who later surrendered himself to the police. Seven people were injured, two seriously, in the pre-dawn attack on Ma’ale HaShalom Street near Zion Gate. Sources in east Jerusalem said it was not clear whether Sidawi, who has a criminal background, was affiliated with any terrorist group. The groups called on Palestinians to carry out more attacks against Israel. The Palestinian Authority did not immediately comment on the attack. Hamas welcomed the “heroic and courageous operation,” saying it was “a natural reaction to the arrogance of the occupation soldiers and settlers and their daily crimes against the Palestinian people and their Islamic and Christian lands and holy sites, as well as their ongoing and their ongoing incursions into al-Aqsa Mosque.” Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement that the attack “affirms the continuation and escalation of the resistance in occupied Jerusalem, and that our Palestinian people are fully aware that the resistance is the only way to protect the land and the holy sites.”   Outlook: Militant's Death Takes Gaza Death Toll To 49, Died Firing Mortars Into Israel   “…PIJ is a Palestinian Islamist terrorist group founded in 1979 and supported by Syria and Iran, according to the Counter Extremism Project (CEP). It addst that PIJ is the second-largest terrorist group in Gaza today after Hamas. "PIJ is dedicated to eradicating Israel and establishing an autonomous Islamic Palestinian state in the lands currently comprising Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza," notes CEP. In the three days, Israeli airstrikes killed two top PIJ commanders in Gaza, and the militant group said it lost a total of 12 militants. The Israeli military says the group fired some 1,100 rockets, around 200 of which fell short in Gaza. Most of the remainder were intercepted or fell in open areas. Several Palestinian civilians were among those killed and wounded by Israeli airstrikes, including an 11-year-old girl who died of her wounds on Thursday. Two children are being treated in the intensive care unit of a Palestinian hospital in Jerusalem.”   Nigeria   Premium Times Nigeria: EXCLUSIVE: El-Rufai To Buhari: Boko Haram Puts North-West At Risk Of ‘Total Darkness’   “Boko Haram terrorists based in parts of Kaduna and Niger states have a “definite” plot to destroy critical electricity infrastructure supplying the North-west region, Governor Nasir El-Rufai wrote in his late July letter to President Muhammadu Buhari. The governor’s statement is believed to be the first known official confirmation of Boko Haram’s presence in Kaduna. He said that the “total darkness” threat fits the violent extremists’ agenda of further crumbling the socio-economic life of the region. Thousands have been killed, tens of thousands forcibly uprooted from their homes and cut off from farms, and communities destroyed by terrorists and armed bandits alike in the region. In the letter to the president, Mr El-Rufai said an enclave straddling villages in Chikun Local Government Area (LGA) in Kaduna State, as well as Shiroro and Munya LGAs in Niger State controlled by Boko Haram terrorists, hosts Shiroro-Kaduna 330kV Double Circuit Transmission Lines (R1M and R2M), which supplies bulk electricity to Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Jigawa, Sokoto, and Zamfara. The seven states constitute the North-west. “Credible intelligence reports indicate that the Boko Haram elements in the area have targeted the lines as part of a plot to plunge the North-West into total darkness,” he said.”   Africa   Asharq Al-Awsat: Two Tunisian Soldiers Wounded In Clashes With Armed Militants   “Two Tunisian soldiers were wounded on Friday in an exchange of fire with suspected extremists during a military operation in a mountainous region of the south, the defense ministry said. The shootout happened at Mount Salloum near the town of Kasserine close to the border with Algeria, where militants operate, local media reported. “There was an exchange of fire between soldiers and a group of militants in the Kasserine area,” defense ministry spokesman Mohamed Zekri told AFP. “There were wounded among the terrorists who fled,” he said, adding that two soldiers were slightly wounded. The most recent similar clash was in March when suspected extremists opened fire on a national guard barracks in the city of Kairouan, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) east of Kasserine. After the 2011 revolution, Tunisia saw a boom in militant groups which launched attacks that killed dozens of tourists -- notably at the seaside resort of Sousse and at the Bardo National Museum in the capital -- as well as security personnel. In March 2016, an assault on security positions in Ben Guerdane near the border with Libya killed 13 members of the security forces and seven civilians. At least 55 militants were also killed and dozens arrested.”   Canada   National Post: Canada's No-Fly List For Suspected Terrorists Survives Constitutional Challenge By Two Men Trying To Get Off It   “The Federal Court upheld the constitutionality of Canada’s no-fly list, designed to stop suspected terrorists from boarding an airplane, and while there were problems with the way Ottawa handled the cases of two men on the list it was nonetheless deemed “reasonable” to keep them on it. Lengthy rulings Thursday on challenges to the no-fly list are the first appeals of the Secure Air Travel Act, the law under which the list has run since 2015. Bhagat Singh Brar, of Brampton, Ont., and Parvkar Singh Dulai, of Vancouver, B.C., learned the hard way they were on the no-fly list in 2018. Brar was secretly placed on the list in April 2018, the day before he tried to board a plane to return from Vancouver to Toronto. Both WestJet and Air Canada wouldn’t let him board, court heard. That June he complained of the designation. His requests were denied by Ottawa. He then appealed to the Federal Court in April 2019. Dulai, a business partner of Brar’s, was placed on the list in March 2018 and found out two months later when he tried to board a plane for a flight from Vancouver to Toronto. He similarly complained. Part of the evidence that is public says Brar is the son of Lakhbir Brar, who is the leader of the International Sikh Youth Federation, designated as a terrorist group in Canada.”   Technology   CBS News: Online Violent Extremist Rhetoric Soars After Mar-A-Lago Search   “Hours before a man identified by two law enforcement sources as Ricky Shiffer died in standoff with law enforcement after he allegedly attempted to breach the FBI's Cincinnati field office on Thursday, Shiffer appeared to post on former President Donald Trump's social media platform Truth Social to express his desire to kill federal agents.  The post, which has since been removed by the site's moderators, appeared shortly after the FBI searched the former president's Mar-a-Lago residence on Monday. “When they come for you, kill them,” the suspect wrote. “Be an American, not a steer.” Shiffer was in Washington, D.C., on or around Jan. 6, 2021, though he was not arrested following the attack on the U.S. Capitol.  The posts represent a tiny fraction of violent extremist content flooding far-right message boards and social media platforms in the wake of the FBI's search of the Mar-a-Lago resort. Phrases including “civil war” and “lock and load” trended across Telegram channels, Gab, Reddit and TheDonald, a popular forum among Trump supporters. Also rising are antisemitic slurs threatening the Florida magistrate judge who signed the search warrant enabling the FBI to search for and remove boxes and documents of potentially classified material from the former president's home.”   The Counter Extremism Project depends on the generosity of its supporters. If you value what we do, please consider making a donation. DONATE NOW