Eye on Extremism January 6, 2017

Eye on Extremism January 6, 2017 Military Times: More U.S. Troops Are Being Wounded In Iraq And Syria, The Pentagon Quietly Acknowledges “At least 14 American military personnel have been wounded in combat since the start of October while battling Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria, according to Defense Department data reviewed by Military Times. The sudden increase accounts for nearly half of the 30 wounded-in-action reports that the U.S. has publicly acknowledged since the ISIS campaign began in August 2014, and coincides with two ongoing offensives targeting the terror group's strongholds in both countries: Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, the Islamic State's self-declared capital.” Reuters: Iraqi Forces Advance Against Islamic State In Mosul Night Raid: Spokesman “Elite Iraqi troops advanced against Islamic State militants in eastern Mosul in their first night-time raid in the city, a spokesman said on Friday, in a U.S.-backed operation which officials say is gaining momentum. Counter-terrorism service (CTS) forces pushed across a tributary of the Tigris river shortly after midnight and drove back Islamic State fighters in the Muthanna district, CTS spokesman Sabah al-Numan said. ‘We used special equipment and had the element of surprise - the enemy did not expect us to mount a night offensive because all previous offensives were during the day,’ he said. U.S. coalition warplanes carried out 19 air strikes in support of the assault, which killed dozens of militants, he said.” Reuters: Two Islamic State Car Bombs In Baghdad Kill At Least 14 - Sources “Two car bombs in Baghdad claimed by Islamic State killed at least 14 people on Thursday, police and medics said, part of a surge in violence across the capital at a time when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are trying to drive the militants from Mosul in the north. The first blast shook Baghdad's eastern al-Obeidi area during the morning rush, killing six and wounding 15. Islamic State said in an online statement it had targeted a gathering of Shi'ite Muslims, whom it considers apostates. The second explosion hit the central district of Bab al-Moadham near a security checkpoint, killing eight. Both bombs had been left in parked vehicles.” CNN: Turkey: 2 Dead In Explosion Near Courthouse In Izmir “Two people were killed in an explosion Thursday near a courthouse in the city of Izmir in western Turkey, according to the country's state-run Anadolu news agency. A police officer and a courthouse staff member died in the attack, the agency said. Nine people were hospitalized with injuries, said Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. Police killed two assailants, according to Izmir Gov. Erol Ayyildiz, who blamed the militant Kurdistan Worker's Party or PKK, for the attack. So far, there has been no claim of responsibility for the attack. On Thursday, police had stopped a suspicious vehicle at a checkpoint in front of the courthouse, which led to an armed clash between attackers and security forces, Ayyildiz said. During the clash, the attackers ‘detonated a car bomb as they tried to escape,’ he told reporters.” USA: Turkey 'Closing In' On Istanbul Nightclub Gunman, Official Says “Turkish security forces have determined the identity, possible whereabouts and contacts of a gunman who killed 39 people at an Istanbul nightclub, a government official said Thursday. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak told A Haber news channel that the gunman who attacked Istanbul’s upscale Reina nightclub Sunday was most likely from China’s Muslim Uighur minority and a ‘specially trained member of a (terror) cell,’ the Associated Press reported. ‘We can say that the circle is closing in on him,’ Kaynak told the news channel. Kaynak said authorities believe the gunman, whose name hasn’t been revealed to the public, is in Turkey, although they have not ruled out the possibility he may have escaped the country, the AP reported.” Reuters: Syrian Army, Allies Press Assault To Secure Capital's Water Supply “The Syrian army and its allies pressed ahead on Friday with a two-week-long offensive to seize a strategic valley where a key spring provides supplies to four million people in the capital, Damascus, residents and rebels said. Aerial bombing and shelling from the army as well as Hezbollah fighters stationed in the mountains that overlook the valley on the northwestern edge of the capital had intensified in the last forty-eight hours, they said. Scores of jets pounded the area around the Ain al-Fija springs and the villages of Baseimah, Kafr Zayt and al Husseineh, which form part of a cluster of ten villages controlled by rebels in the valley that lies at the northwestern edge of the capital.” Wall Street Journal: German Officials Met Seven Times To Discuss Berlin Attacker Before Assault “Top federal and regional security officials met seven times to discuss the potential danger posed by Tunisian migrant Anis Amri in the year before he attacked a Berlin Christmas market, the latest revelation in a string of mishaps that failed to prevent the attack. The new details, disclosed by security officials at a regional parliamentary hearing Thursday, suggest that German security and intelligence authorities miscalculated the immediate threat that Amri presented. Despite extensive surveillance, efforts to detain him repeatedly faltered because police and prosecutors believed they didn’t have evidence that would stand up in court, the officials said.” The Wall Street Journal: Secret Report Shows Just How Badly Belgium Mishandled Hunt For ISIS Operatives “Belgian police had numerous chances to unmask the Islamic State terror cell that later carried out the Paris and Brussels attacks, according to a confidential report prepared for Belgium’s Parliament. They muffed every one. In early 2015, Brussels police stopped a car driven by Brahim Abdeslam, later one of the Paris attackers, and arrested him for drug possession. At the time, Brahim was on a terror watch list. He carried a booklet about ‘parental consent for the Jihad.’ Police found a USB thumb drive hidden behind his car radio. The incident, details of which haven’t been previously reported, is outlined in the parliamentary report prepared by Comité P, a watchdog agency of former police and judicial officials auditing the work of Belgian police in the wake of the twin attacks.” CNN: Osama Bin Laden's Son Hamza Put On US Terror Watch List “One of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden's 11 sons has been placed on a State Department terror watch list after he reportedly threatened terror attacks against the US. Hamza bin Laden was named as a ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist,’ which ‘imposes sanctions on foreign persons determined to have committed, or pose a serious risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of US nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States,’ according to a release Thursday from the State Department. Analysts have described the younger bin Laden, who was born in 1989, as a ‘crown prince’ of al Qaeda, the terror group founded by his father and associates in the late 1980s.” Radio Free Europe: Turkey Says Reconsidering U.S. Coalition's Use Of Strategic Air Base “Turkish officials are suggesting that they may stop the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State from using a strategically important air base near its border with Syria. The coalition has used the Incirlik base for staging air strikes against IS while allied Syrian Kurdish militias have battled IS on the ground. But Turkey regards the coalition's Kurdish allies as ‘terrorists’ because they have ties to Kurdish separatist groups that have waged bloody attacks in Turkey. ‘Their presence [in Incirlik] is being questioned by our people and nation, and this issue is on the agenda of the government,’ Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak told broadcaster A Haber on January 5.” Sputnik News: Houthi Forces Send Ballistic Missile At Government Camp In Yemen “The Houthi forces launched a mid-range ballistic missile at the camp of government supporters near Bab-el-Mandeb in Taizze governorate, according to a military source. The Houthi movement sent a mid-range ballistic missile at the camp of government supporters, a military source told Sputnik Wednesday. According to the source, the Houthi forces have sent reinforcements to the governorate and are getting ready to capture the Red Sea shore in that region. Yemen has been engulfed in a violent conflict between the government headed by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Houthi movement backed by army units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.” New York Times: Bangladeshi Suspected Of Training Militants In Dhaka Bakery Attack Is Killed “The police in Bangladesh announced on Friday that they had killed Nurul Islam Marzan, who was suspected of guiding a team of militants through the deadly siege of a fashionable Dhaka restaurant last year, in an early morning gunfight. Mr. Marzan was a close aide to Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, who had been identified as the top coordinator in Bangladesh for the Islamic State and the leader of a newly founded branch of the domestic militant network Jama’atul Mujahedeen Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi authorities said Mr. Chowdhury planned the attack in July at the restaurant, the Holey Artisan Bakery. He was killed in August in a shootout.” USA Today: Nigeria Finds Schoolgirl Kidnapped By Boko Haram, With Baby “Nigeria's military said Thursday that soldiers found a Nigerian schoolgirl who was among the nearly 300 students kidnapped by extremist group Boko Haram in the town of Chibok in 2014. Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman, an Army spokesman, identified the girl as Rakiya Abubakar and said she had a 6-month-old child. He said her identity was discovered when soldiers were interrogating some of the more than 1,000 suspects detained in army raids in the Sambisa Forest, the Associated Press reported. The soldiers found Abubkar wandering near Algarno, a former Boko Haram stronghold, with her baby, according to Reuters.” New York Times: A 3,000-Year-Old City Wrecked By Militants, Left For Looters “The giant winged bulls that once stood sentry at the nearly 3,000-year-old palace at Nimrud have been hacked to pieces. The fantastical human-headed creatures were believed to guard the king from evil, but now their stone remains are piled in the dirt, victims of the Islamic State group's fervor to erase history. The militants' fanaticism devastated one of the most important archaeological sites in the Middle East. But more than a month after the militants were driven out, Nimrud is still being ravaged, its treasures disappearing, piece by piece, imperiling any chance of eventually rebuilding it, an Associated Press team found after multiple visits last month.” United States The Wall Street Journal: House Of Representatives Officially Disapproves Of U.N. Censure Of Israel “The House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a measure disavowing a United Nations resolution that condemned Israel’s settlement activities, in a rare show of bipartisan force that doubled as a rebuke to President Barack Obama ’s approach to the U.S.-Israel relationship. On a 342 to 80 vote, more than 100 Democrats joined with a nearly unanimous Republican caucus to back the measure — a significant margin that shows the depth of congressional support for the Jewish state. A similar measure is expected to be taken up in the Senate, where it has the support of both Republican and Democratic leaders.” The Washington Post: Did U.S. Aid Win Hearts And Minds In Afghanistan? Yes And No. “Over the past decade, U.S. military expeditions have increasingly used development aid to undermine popular support for insurgents and extremist groups, and pacify turbulent areas. But does this tool work in conflict zones like Afghanistan? My new research published in the American Political Science Review provides evidence that aid spending by the U.S. military in Afghanistan in many cases produced violent backlash from insurgents against troops and civilians. Aid distributed in districts under the control of coalition forces reduced violence. But aid distributed in contested districts of Afghanistan actually increased the level of violence carried out by insurgents against both civilians and the U.S. military.” Syria The Wall Street Journal: Syria Hits Rebel-Held Damascus Suburb “Syrian government warplanes bombarded a strategic, rebel-held Damascus suburb on Thursday as part of an offensive that has been escalating despite a week-old nationwide cease-fire, an opposition monitoring group and residents said. The assault on Wadi Barada began before the cease-fire went into effect. The suburb is a main source of water to the Syrian capital, and the water supply to some four million residents of the Damascus area has been cut off since Dec. 22, the United Nations said last week, citing damage to infrastructure. City dwellers have been forced to buy water from private vendors as a result. The offensive started about a week before the truce brokered by regime ally Russia and rebel supporter Turkey took effect in late December. Rebels said it is threatening the fragile agreement.” BBC: Syria Conflict: Russia 'Starts To Reduce Forces' “Russia is starting to withdraw forces from Syria and its aircraft carrier group will be the first to leave, the Russian armed forces chief says. The announcement comes days after Russia and Turkey negotiated a ceasefire in Syria which is largely holding, according to the UN. Russia has carried out air strikes on anti-government rebels since 2015. Moscow's involvement is credited with turning the war in favour of its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Tasks set for the carrier group, led by the Admiral Kuznetsov vessel, had been completed, the commander of the Russian force in Syria Col-Gen Andrei Kartapolov was quoted as saying.” BBC: Syria Conflict: Car Bomb Kills 11 In Government-Held Town “A car bomb attack has killed at least 11 civilians in a Syrian government-held coastal town, state media report. Thirty-five others were injured by the blast in a commercial area crowded with people near the municipal stadium in Jableh, the Sana news agency said. Three was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing. Last May, 45 people died in attacks in the town claimed by so-called Islamic State (IS) that targeted President Bashar Assad's minority Alawite sect. Footage from the scene of Thursday's attack broadcast by state television showed charred, mangled cars, damage to shops, and pools of blood on the road.” Iraq Reuters: Islamic State Militants Kill Four Soldiers Near Iraq's Tikrit: Army, Police Sources “Islamic State militants attacked an Iraqi army outpost and a police station near the city of Tikrit on Friday, killing at least four soldiers and wounding 12 others, military and police sources said. The militants used a car bomb and two suicide attackers in their assault shortly after midnight on the army outpost in the town of al-Dour on Tikrit's outskirts, killing two officers and two soldiers, the sources said. Gunmen separately attacked the police station a short distance away and set fire to the building before fleeing the area. There were no casualties from that attack, the sources said.” The Guardian: The ISIS Campaign Against Iraq’s Shia Muslims Is Not Politics. It’s Genocide. “The carnage in Iraq continues. Yet another terrorist attack took place today in Baghdad, the latest in a series of such atrocities that have hit the capital and other parts of the country over the past week. Isis is undergoing a losing battle in Mosul, its last remaining stronghold in Iraq, and it is expected to lose control of the city in the coming months. However, it still has a deadly capacity to carry out terrorist acts. Even without its so-called caliphate, Isis will continue to undermine stability in the country. The bombings over the past week have barely registered in the international media and the conscience of the international community.” Turkey Associated Press: Turkey: Cease-Fire Violations In Syria Are Obstacle To Talks “Turkey's foreign minister says the main obstacle to holding peace negotiations on Syria later this month is the cease-fire violations and he is calling on the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions on those refusing to stop the violence. Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters at U.N. headquarters where he discussed Syria with new Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that if the talks go ahead in Kazakhstan's capital Astana they will be based on a roadmap to peace agreed to by key powers in Geneva in 2012. He said the latest list he received on Thursday only has violations by pro-government supporters — not a single one by the opposition. ‘This is not acceptable,’ Cavusoglu said. ‘So this is the main obstacle.’ Turkey and Russia brokered the cease-fire and are monitoring the violations.” Associated Press: Turkey In Contact With Trump's Team Over Syria Strategy “President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman says Turkey has relayed to U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's team its unease over U.S. support to Syrian Kurdish militia, considered as terrorists by Turkey. Ibrahim Kalin told Turkey's 24 channel on Thursday that he was under the impression that an administration under Trump would ‘pay more attention to Turkey's sensitivities.’ ‘We have told them — and we continue to tell them — that a strategy against (the Islamic State group) that puts (Syrian Kurdish militia) at its center is not the correct strategy and needs to change,’ Kalin said. He also repeated warnings made the previous day that Turkey could bar U.S.-led coalition planes from using its southern base of Incirlik in anti-IS operations.” BBC: Canadian 'Detained In Turkey For Allegedly Insulting Erdogan' “A Canadian dual national has reportedly been detained in Turkey for allegedly insulting the country's president. Ece Heper, 50, was arrested on 30 December in the north-eastern town of Kars, her lawyer Sertac Celikkaleli told The Canadian Press. Canadian officials say they are offering consular assistance, but released no further information. Turkey's penal code states that anybody who insults the president can face up to four years in prison. Mr Erdogan has been accused of mounting a growing crackdown on freedom of speech. Almost 2,000 cases for insulting Mr Erdogan have been opened in recent years. They include a former Miss Turkey and a 16-year-old student.” Afghanistan Voice Of America: Afghan Forces Vow No Break In Fighting During Winter “Instead of a slowdown in fighting during Afghanistan's harsh winter, government security forces say they will press their operations against the Taliban and Islamic State group despite heavy snow and bitter cold. ‘Taliban and other terrorist groups will not be allowed to claim territory over the next few months,’ Mohammad Radmanesh, a deputy spokesperson for the Afghan defense ministry, told reporters in Kabul this week. Winter in mountainous Afghanistan, with extremely cold temperatures and deep snow, generally makes military offensives difficult and a reduced level of fighting during the winter is customary. In past years, Taliban fighters often shifted their bases to western areas of Pakistan to wait for spring thaws before returning to fight in Afghanistan.” CNN: Family Reveals American Vanished In Afghanistan Two Years Ago “Some time in May 2014, Paul Overby, an American writer in his 70's, disappeared as he was traveling between Khost in Afghanistan and North Waziristan in Pakistan -- a region rife with the Taliban and terror groups such as al Qaeda. He has not been heard from since. On Wednesday, his wife went public for the first time with his disappearance, providing a statement to CNN and other media outlets. Overby's wife, who asked not to be identified by name, last heard from her husband on May 16, 2014, as he was preparing to cross the border into Pakistan. Until then, they had spoken every day on the phone.” Egypt BBC: Egypt Youth Activist Ahmed Maher Released From Prison “The prominent Egyptian activist Ahmed Maher, one of the leaders of the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, has been released from prison. A security source told AFP news agency that Mr Maher was freed on Wednesday evening after completing his jail term. His lawyer, Anas Sayed, said he would remain under judicial supervision. A founder of the April 6 youth movement, Mr Maher was arrested in 2013 while protesting against a new law banning unauthorised public gatherings.” Middle East Associated Press: Israel To Release UN Employee Accused Of Assisting Hamas “Israel is to release a Palestinian U.N. employee, seven months after he was arrested for allegedly assisting Gaza's Hamas rulers. Israel arrested Waheed Borsh in July, accusing him of using his position as an engineer for UNDP, the U.N. development agency, to help the militant Hamas group. According to court documents obtained on Thursday, Israel reached a plea deal with Borsh in which he was sentenced to time served after confessing. Borsh's lawyer argued he had no criminal intent to assist Hamas. He is expected to be released next week.” The Times Of Israel: Arab Man Stabbed In Ashdod In Suspected Racist Attack “Police launched a manhunt Thursday afternoon after an Arab man was stabbed and lightly wounded in the port city of Ashdod on Thursday in an incident being investigated as a terror attack, officials said. According to the victim, the suspect, dressed in religious Jewish grab, attacked him after hearing him speak Arabic, police said. ‘Police units arrived at the scene and are searching for the suspect who fled the area,’ police said. The victim, a traveling buyer of secondhand goods, was attacked on Haatzma’ut Street in the southern city.” Libya Deutsche Welle: Chad Closes Border With Libya “Chad has closed its 2,000-km border with Libya and pledged to deploy troops to the area. The move is designed to prevent militant fighters fleeing conflict in its northern neighbor from crossing the border. Since the 2011 uprising that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi, Libya has been in a state of lawlessness. The self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) has been ousted from its former stronghold of Sirte, but the UN-backed government has failed to retain control. Chad's army is one of the region's strongest and now plays a key role in efforts to combat Boko Haram - an IS affiliate group - which has spread its insurgency from northern Nigeria to the border regions of neighboring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.” United Kingdom RT: Brits Travelling To Syria To Fight ISIS Should Not Be Treated As Terrorists, Says Foreign Fighter “A British man, who has twice travelled to northern Syria to fight against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) alongside the Kurdish YPG militia group, says foreign volunteers like himself ‘should not be treated as terrorists.’ The man, who is operating under the nom de guerre Macer Gifford, told RT’s Rob Edwards that existing laws dealing with returning fighters are ‘very incoherent’ and ‘hazy.’ Gifford, a former currency trader who gave up his job in the City to join the Kurds, says he has been detained by the British government under terrorism laws, but has never been arrested.” Germany Associated Press: Berlin Attacker Amri Used 14 Different Identities “A police official says that German authorities knew of 14 different identities used by Berlin Christmas market attacker Anis Amri. Investigators say the 24-year-old Tunisian drove a truck into the market on Dec. 19, killing 12 people. He was killed Dec. 23 in a shootout with Italian police in a Milan suburb. Amri came to Germany in mid-2015. Authorities later put him on a list of potentially violent Islamic extremists. Separately, he was investigated for receiving benefits simultaneously under two different identities. The head of North Rhine-Westphalia state's criminal police, Dieter Schuermann, told regional lawmakers Thursday that authorities couldn't find evidence of possible attack plans that would stand up in court, news agency dpa reported.” Reuters: Re-Print Of Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' Takes Germany By Storm “Sales of Adolf Hitler's ‘Mein Kampf’ have soared since a special edition of the Nazi leader's political treatise went on sale in Germany a year ago, the German publisher has said. The book outlines Hitler's ideology that formed the basis for Nazism and sets out his hatred of Jews, which led to the Holocaust. The new edition is the first reprint since World War Two, released last January after a 70-year copyright on the text expired at the end of 2015. It includes explanatory sections and some 3,500 annotations, and has sold 85,000 copies to the surprise of its publishers. ‘These sales figures have taken us by storm,’ Andreas Wirsching, who heads up the publishers, the Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) told German news agency dpa.” Deutsche Welle: Most Germans Feel Safe Despite Terrorism “Most Germans have reacted relatively calmly to the recent terror attack in Germany. According to the Infratest Dimap polling institute, 73 percent of those surveyed feel ‘rather safe,’ while just 26 percent feel ‘rather unsafe.’ The poll was conducted by public broadcaster ARD and newspaper ‘Die Welt’ at the start of the year, just two weeks after the attack in Berlin. Twelve people were killed and around 50 injured when a truck was driven through a crowded Christmas market in the German capital. Overall, most Germans seem to be much less fearful than many politicians suspect. That is particularly clear for the fear of terrorism threats.” France Telegraph.Co.UK : François Hollande Has Personally Authorised 'At Least 40' Targeted Killings Abroad, Says New Book “President Francois Hollande of France has personally authorised at least 40 ‘targeted killings’ abroad - including of French citizens - over the past three years, it has been claimed. According to a UN special report on the subject, targeted killings are ‘premeditated acts of lethal force employed by states in times of peace or during armed conflict to eliminate specific individuals outside their custody’. While the Americans have made no secret of neutralising so-called ‘high value targets’, or HVTs, who pose a threat to national security since the attacks of September 11, 2001, France has remained extremely discreet about the practice – until now.” Europe The New York Times: Greece’s Most-Wanted Terrorist Is Arrested In Athens Suburb “She was a leader of an anarchist group called Revolutionary Struggle. She helped organize, officials say, a car bombing near the country’s central bank. Later, the authorities say, she rented a helicopter using a fake name and then tried to hijack it in an effort to rescue her imprisoned partner. On Thursday morning, the anarchist leader, Panagiota Roupa, was asleep in a house in Ilioupoli, a middle-class suburb southeast of Athens, where she was living under an assumed identity, when the antiterrorism police burst in. She surrendered without a fight. Her 6-year-old was taken into protective custody.”