Eye on Extremism February 28, 2017

Eye on Extremism February 28, 2017 Counter Extremism Project Enterprise: Dartmouth's Hany Farid Builds The Tools To Tackle Society's Ugliest Problems “Fortunately, Farid is thinking about some of society’s most menacing issues.“Hany is creative, unrelenting and above all, a problem-solver,” said Mark Wallace, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and current CEO of the Counter Extremism Project, an international nongovernmental organization formed to fight the growing threat from extremist ideologies.“While others saw an insurmountable challenge, Hany saw an opportunity,” Wallace said in an email. To understand Farid’s work in combating online extremism — primarily videos of beheadings and other terror group recruitment efforts — it’s helpful to first understand his work in combating the equally ugly and technically similar problem of online child pornography.” Reuters: U.S.-Backed Iraqi Forces Close In On IS-Held Government Buildings “U.S.-backed Iraqi forces on Tuesday battled their way to within firing range of Mosul's main government buildings, a major target in the offensive to dislodge Islamic State militants from their remaining stronghold in the western side of the city. Terrified civilians were fleeing the fighting, some toward government lines, often under militant fire. Others were forced to head deeper into Islamic State-held parts of the city, straining scarce food and water supplies there. Iraqi forces captured the eastern side of Mosul in January after 100 days of fighting and launched their attack on the districts that lie west of the Tigris river on Feb. 19.” Daily Beast: As ISIS Prepares Its Terror Resurrection, Watch Out For Drone ‘Swarms’ “The terrorists have new toys, and they’re letting the world know. As Iraqi troops backed by U.S. warplanes and special forces keep pushing into Mosul, the so-called Islamic State is fighting back with its own air force: commercially available drones carrying small explosive payloads. The “asymmetry” in firepower is so enormous that, at first glance, it seems almost ludicrous. But the concern of counterterror experts is not that one drone carrying one little grenade can do much damage. It’s that multiple drones hitting simultaneously can be used to disrupt and demoralize the enemies of ISIS, and not only on the battlefield, but in the cities of Europe, and perhaps even in the United States. Georgetown University’s Bruce Hoffmann, author of Inside Terrorism, sketches a very grim scenario: “Picture Paris on November 13, 2015”—the night when people were slaughtered at a rock concert and in sidewalk cafés—“with drone attacks superimposed on top of it.” Fox News: One Sinkhole May Have Held 4,000 ISIS Victims In Iraq “A sinkhole - once a local curiosity in Iraq - has reportedly been turned into a mass grave for up to 4,000 victims of Islamic State killers. Local residents living near the Khasfah - the Arabic word for a sinkhole - have described how ISIS transformed the area into a ‘place of death’ after capturing it in 2014. Villagers say the sinkhole, outside Mosul, was used as an execution site and a mass grave where bodies were dumped. Mohamed Yassin, 56, who lives in nearby Hammam al Alil, said: ‘They would bring them blindfolded, their hands tied behind their backs. The Khasfah would be in front of them, they would make them kneel down, shoot them in the head and push them in.’” Reuters: Pentagon Delivers Draft Plan To Defeat Islamic State To White House “A Pentagon-led preliminary plan to defeat Islamic State was delivered to the White House on Monday and U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was expected to brief senior administration officials, a Defense Department spokesman told reporters. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters that it was the framework for a broader plan and looked at Islamic State around the world, not just Iraq and Syria. Davis said the plan would define what defeating Islamic State meant and was one that would ‘rapidly’ defeat the militant group. He added that Mattis would discuss the plan, which is primarily a written one with accompanying graphics, with members of the Cabinet-level Principals Committee.” Fox News: Video Shows Beheading Of Sailor By ISIS-Linked Terrorist “A German sailor who had survived two months as a hostage of Somali pirates nearly a decade ago was beheaded in the Philippines by Islamic terrorists, a short video released Monday showed, after a deadline to pay the man’s ransom passed. Jurgen Gustav Kantner's beheading was the first murder of a hostage by the terror group Abu Sayyaf since two Canadians were killed in June. Officials said they had sketchy information Kantner was killed because he was sick, Reuters reported. The brief video circulated Monday by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi websites, showed Kantner sitting in a grassy clearing and saying "Now he kill me" shortly before a masked militant beheaded him with a curved knife.” The Daily Mail: ISIS Cannibals: Terror Group Are Teaching Their Fighters To EAT Non-Muslims  “Islamic State terrorists are teaching their fighters to eat non-Muslims, it has emerged. A handbook found in the terror group's training school has been found by a British counter-extremism think tank, revealing the horrifying new stance of the jihadis.  ISIS chiefs even give advice on what parts of the body to eat and how to prepare them and comes after a sickening report a mother was fed the remains of her own son when she was told by the terrorists it was meat and rice. The memo was discovered by the Quilliam Foundation and its chief executive Haras Rafiq revealed cannibalism was on the curriculum.”   BBC: Australia Terror Arrest: Man Held Over Suspected Missiles Plan “A man suspected of trying to advise the so-called Islamic State on missiles has been arrested in Australia. Haisem Zahab, 42, was arrested at Young, in rural New South Wales, on Tuesday, PM Malcolm Turnbull said. Police allege the electrician was helping to develop a long-range guided missile, and designing a laser device to warn of incoming munitions used by forces in Iraq and Syria. The arrest did not relate to a planned attack in Australia, Mr Turnbull said. Mr Zahab was an Australian citizen and planned to provide IS ‘with the technical capability, and high-tech capability, to detect and develop missiles’, the prime minister said. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin alleged the man was acting alone and his advice was ‘fairly sophisticated and well-planned’.” Wall Street Journal: Russia Seeks U.S. Support For Libyan General “The flagship of the Russian navy welcomed aboard a VIP as it cruised the Mediterranean last month: a Libyan general who Moscow sees as the best chance to defeat Islamist extremists and reestablish order in the chaotic country. The Kremlin’s growing embrace of Gen. Khalifa Haftar, a rival of the United Nations-backed coalition government in Tripoli, signals Moscow’s desire to extend its influence in the Middle East and North Africa after intervening in Syria’s civil war. Now the Russian government is courting the Trump administration to get its support for the controversial general, according to people familiar with the Kremlin’s thinking. Russia sees its role in the fight against Islamist terrorism as a selling point, and President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have touted the idea of Washington and Moscow cooperating to fight Islamic State.” NPR: Bomb Threats Made Against Jewish Community Centers In 11 States “Bomb threats forced evacuations at Jewish schools and community centers in 11 states Monday, with the Jewish Community Center Association confirming threats in states ranging from Florida to Michigan. In Ann Arbor, Mich., police gave the all-clear after a Hebrew day school was threatened, forcing students to leave. "Today, bomb threats were called into schools and/or JCCs in Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia," the JCC Association of North America says. "Many affected institutions have already been declared clear and have returned to regular operations. All previous bomb threats to JCCs this year were determined to be hoaxes.” Reuters: Saudi King To Work With Indonesia To Combat Islamic State “A pact to combat terrorism will be the centerpiece of up to 10 agreements that will be signed when Saudi Arabia's king this week visits Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, the kingdom's envoy to Indonesia said on Tuesday. King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who on Sunday kicked off a month-long Asian tour, lands in Indonesia on Wednesday with an entourage that local officials have said could number up to 1,500. Billed as a "mega trip", it would be a Saudi king's first visit to Indonesia in nearly five decades. Apart from a side-trip of several hours to Brunei, King Salman will be in Indonesia until March 12, spending much of the time on the resort island of Bali, ambassador Osama Mohammad Abdullah Alshuaibi told Reuters in an interview.” The New York Times: Hunting Boko Haram, Nigeria’s Army Is Accused Of Massacring Civilians “Somehow, Babagana survived the makeshift ambulance ride. More than 80 men from his village had been shot to death, he said, all of them forced to strip to the waist and lie face down. The gunmen then burned their small farming village before speeding away. The attack fit the pattern of rampages by Boko Haram, the terrorist group that has killed poor people in this region for years. But Babagana and multiple witnesses to the attack in June, as well as another one days before in a neighboring village, say the radicals were not to blame this time. Instead, they say, the massacres were carried out by the Nigerian military.” Deutsche Welle: Suspected German Islamist 'Used To Be Neo-Nazi' “The suspected Islamist terrorist, arrested in the central German town of Northeim last week, previously expressed neo-Nazi sympathies, a press report has revealed. Citing anonymous insider information, news magazine ‘Der Spiegel’ said that investigators had tracked down a YouTube channel and a Facebook profile belonging to Sascha L. that showed he had previously railed against Muslims and anti-fascists in the country. In 2013, the now 26-year-old posted videos in which he spoke of a ‘creeping death of the people,’ because of Muslims trying to impose sharia law in Germany. ‘Even a dog knows where it belongs. And where do you belong? Don't be stupider than a dog and save the German population from this planned extinction!’ he was quoted in ‘Der Spiegel’ as saying.” Newsweek: Pentagon Wants Increased Role For U.S. Troops In Somalia: Report “The Pentagon reportedly wants to expand U.S. operations in Somalia, potentially putting American soldiers in frontline combat with the extremist group al-Shabab. Senior U.S. officials told the AP that recommendations to enable U.S. forces to provide greater assistance to Somali National Army troops, as well as giving greater flexibility to U.S. airstrikes on al-Shabab, had been approved by U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis but that no final decision had been made by the White House. The United States has been involved militarily in Somalia for the past decade, launching drone strikes and sorties in assistance of Somali and African Union troops. There have been more than 30 drone strikes and 10 other military actions in Somalia since 2007, resulting in at least 300 people being killed, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.” United States NBC News: Yemen Seal Raid Has Yielded No Significant Intelligence: Officials “Last month's deadly commando raid in Yemen, which cost the lives of a U.S. Navy SEAL and a number of children, has so far yielded no significant intelligence, U.S. officials told NBC News. Although Pentagon officials have said the raid produced ‘actionable intelligence,’ senior officials who spoke to NBC News said they were unaware of any, even as the father of the dead SEAL questioned the premise of the raid in an interview with the Miami Herald published Sunday. A senior Congressional official briefed on the matter said the Trump administration has yet to explain what prompted the rare use of American ground troops in Yemen, but he said he was not aware of any new threat from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the al Qaeda affiliate that was targeted.” Syria Reuters: Syrian Army Advance Opens New Link To Kurdish Areas “A Syrian army advance against Islamic State in northern Syria has opened a new link between government-held areas in western Syria and the Kurdish-dominated northeast, redrawing the map of the conflict near the Turkish border. The advance, if sustained, could open a trade lifeline between the northeast, which has 70 percent of Syria's oil and also includes rich farmland, and the west, where Syria's manufacturing is based. Northern Syria is one of the most complicated battlefields in the multi-sided Syrian war that erupted in 2011.” Reuters: U.N. To Vote Tuesday On Syria Sanctions Despite Russia Veto Pledge “The U.N. Security Council is set to vote on Tuesday on a bid by Western powers to ban the supply of helicopters to the Syrian government and to blacklist Syrian military commanders over accusations of toxic gas attacks, despite a pledge by Russia to veto the move. The Security Council showdown - pitting Syrian ally Russia against the United States, France, Britain and others - comes amid U.N.-led peace talks between the warring Syrian parties in Geneva, which began last week. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Russia, Britain or China to be adopted. Russia has vetoed six Security Council resolutions on Syria since the conflict started in 2011. China joined Moscow in vetoing five resolutions. It was unclear how Beijing planned to vote on Tuesday.” CNN: Deputy Al Qaeda Leader Killed In Syria “Abu al Khayr al-Masri, the No. 2 man for al Qaeda behind leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, has been killed by a missile strike in Idlib, Syria, according to multiple sources. Two US officials said al-Masri was killed in an attack directed by the US intelligence community. The UK-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, or SOHR, told CNN al-Masri was killed Sunday in a strike targeting his vehicle near al-Mastoumeh village in Idlib. Several Syrian opposition activists also reported al-Masri was killed by a missile strike. Abdallah al-Muhaysini, a senior member of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, acknowledged the death in a eulogy posted on his official Telegram channel. He said, ‘May Allah accept Abu al-Khayr in His heaven. May Allah gather us together with him.’” Newsweek: Putin And Erdogan Cozy Up To Divide Syria “Something big and important must be at the heart of a relationship in which both sides are able to overcome the pain they repeatedly inflict on each other. Russia and Turkey, historically adversaries and newly active allies, are one such case. While the United States is sending conflicting signals about its Syria policy, Russia, Turkey and Iran are negotiating a pragmatic framework of coexistence in the region, which is torn by international and sectarian conflicts. Russia and Turkey in particular seem to have found a way of pursuing larger goals while agreeing to disagree on the many diverging interests that will always keep the two countries apart.” Iraq Reuters: Iraqi Security Forces Approaching Main Government Complex In Western Mosul - Officer “Iraqi security forces are getting close to the main government complex in western Mosul in their offensive to dislodge Islamic State militants from their last stronghold in the city, a military media officer said on Tuesday. ‘The provincial council and the governorate building are within the firing range of the Rapid Response forces,’ a media officer with the elite Interior Ministry units told Reuters.” CNN: Iraq Army Seizes Key Mosul Bridge In ISIS Battle “The Iraqi army says it has recaptured a bridge across the Tigris River in west Mosul, where fierce battles are ongoing to oust ISIS from its last bastion in Iraq. While all five bridges linking the government-held eastern Mosul to the western part have been destroyed, the takeover of the fourth bridge will allow Iraqi forces to lay a ramp over the broken part and open a supply route from east. ‘The Rapid Response Forces of the Iraqi Federal Police completely liberated al-Jawsaq neighborhood and control the fourth bridge... Iraqi flags are now raised on buildings, and heavy casualties were inflicted on ISIS,’ Lt. Gen. Abdel Amir Rasheed Yarallah of the Joint Operations Command said Monday.” Turkey Reuters: Manbij Is Turkey's Next Step In Syria Operation, Erdogan Says “Turkey-backed forces will move toward the northern Syrian town of Manbij after completing their operation in al-Bab as originally planned, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday. In a news conference in Ankara before embarking on an official visit to Pakistan, Erdogan also said the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia - which Turkey regards as a terrorist organization - should be moved out to the east of the Euphrates river. Erdogan also ruled out any chance of cooperation with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which includes the Syrian Kurdish militia.” BBC: German-Turkish Reporter Arrested In Turkey For 'Terrorist Propaganda' “The Turkish authorities have arrested a German-Turkish journalist they accuse of producing terrorist propaganda and undermining the government. Deniz Yucel, who works for Die Welt, was detained almost two weeks ago and has since been held in police custody. He had earlier reported on leaked emails that allegedly highlight the influence wielded by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the move ‘disappointing’. ‘We will continue to insist on a fair and legal treatment of Deniz Yucel and hope that he will soon regain his freedom,’ she said.” Afghanistan The New York Times: Approach To Russian Diplomacy: Keep It In The Family “The Afghan ambassador to Russia is known for his undiplomatic talk and his signature aviator glasses. He has insulted a close ally of his host country. His second passport is an American one. Qayyum Kochai, 76, may seem miscast as a young nation’s chief envoy to Russia, a country whose long, tricky relationship with Afghanistan is seen as critical to its future. But Mr. Kochai is also an uncle of President Ashraf Ghani, and in Afghanistan, the most important diplomacy is often kept in the family. The seat Mr. Kochai occupies was vacated by Azizullah Karzai, an older uncle of Mr. Ghani’s predecessor as president, Hamid Karzai; before that, the post was held by another president’s kinsman.” Reuters: Taliban Kill 12 Afghan Police With Silenced Weapons “Taliban fighters in the southern Afghan province of Helmand attacked a checkpoint with silenced weapons and hand grenades early on Tuesday killing 12 policemen and stealing weapons and ammunition, officials said. But a provincial official said that it could be an insider attack as one of the guards was still missing. ‘An investigation is ongoing to find out if someone from inside has defected to the Taliban and paved the way for this crime,’ he said. The attack, in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, underlined the threat facing Afghan security forces in the opium-producing province, where they struggle to match well-equipped Taliban fighters who now control several districts. The police killed in the attack had been pulled back from the southern district of Khanshin district which security forces abandoned last year.” Egypt Associated Press: IS Militants In North Sinai Showing Their Strength “In the past three days, Islamic State militants in Egypt's volatile northern Sinai region abducted four men accused of collaborating with the government, three of them during a brazen raid in the middle of a public market. Two of the men have been found slain while the others remain missing; Egyptian officials say that one of the slain men had his eyes plucked out and was set on fire before being shot to death. Women are being threatened with punishment if they don't wear the niqab and farmers are being forced to pay financial tribute to IS under the guise of the ‘zakat’ mandatory Islamic donation to charity.” Associated Press: Egyptian Police Arrest 22 Over Riot In Coastal City “Security officials say police have arrested 22 people after hundreds went on a rampage in Egypt's coastal city of Port Said to protest death sentences for 10 residents for their part in a deadly 2012 soccer riot. The officials say protesters set tires ablaze, torched two police cars and pelted policemen with rocks on Monday night in the Mediterranean city's low-income residential area of Fatimah al-Zahraa. The officials spoke on Tuesday on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to reporters. Egypt's highest appeals court last week upheld the death sentences against the 10 for murder and other charges. The 2012 riot, which killed at least 70 people, took place at the end of a league match between local side Al-Masry and Cairo's Al-Ahly.” Haaretz: Egypt Refuses Entry To Palestinian Leader Jibril Rajoub At Cairo Airport “Palestinian leader and Fatah Central Committee Chairman Jibril Rajoub was refused entry to Egypt on Monday. Rajoub flew from Amman Jordan to Cairo in order to attend an Arab League conference on extremism, but once he got to passport control, his passport was taken to security and he was promptly informed that he may not enter the country. Senior Egyptian and Arab League officials tried to intervene on Rajoub's behalf to no avail. He was told that the decision was that of the Egyptian intelligence agencies.” The New York Times: Egypt Parliament Removes Prominent Dissenter: Anwar Sadat’s Nephew “Egypt’s Parliament on Monday expelled one of its few dissenting lawmakers, the scion of a storied political family, having accused him of leaking sensitive information to Western diplomats. The expulsion of the lawmaker, Anwar Sadat, nephew and namesake of a president assassinated nearly four decades ago, was supported by 468 of Parliament’s 596 members. Eight voted in his favor. The move had the practical effect of further enfeebling the opposition to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Parliament. The charges against Mr. Sadat centered on his criticism of a proposed law that domestic and international critics, including Senator John McCain, say could make it virtually impossible for international aid groups to operate in Egypt.” Middle East The Times Of Israel: Woman Who Dreamed Muhammad Sought Her Given 16 Years For Stabbing “A 23-year-old Israeli Arab woman was sentenced on Monday to a 16-year jail term and ordered to pay NIS 100,000 ($27,160) to her victim after being found guilty of attempting to murder a woman in the central Israeli city of Rosh Ha’ayin just under a year ago. According to the charge sheet, Shtila Abu Iyada of Kafr Qassem dreamed that the Prophet Muhammad was looking for her against the backdrop of the wave of Palestinian terror attacks then sweeping Israel. The dream encouraged her to become more religious and she decided to kill Jews in the name of Allah. Prosecutor Oded Keller told the Lod District Court that Abu Iyada planned and tested various scenarios over a number of months.” The Jerusalem Post: Jewish Man Sentenced To 11 Years For Stabbing Jew He Mistook As Arab “The Haifa District Court on Monday sentenced Shlomo Pinto, 33, to 11 years in prison for attempted murder, for stabbing a fellow Jewish man he mistook for an Arab in a revenge attack. Pinto, from the northern town of of Kiryat Ata, was convicted in December 2016 for the attempted murder of Uriel Rizkin in October 2015. He was also given an 18-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay NIS 50,000 to Rizkin. On the morning of October 13, 2015, Pinto left his home at 11 a.m. carrying a kitchen knife, a box-cutter and a hammer, and made his way to Zvulun Street in the center of the town ‘in order to find an Arab and kill him,’ according to the indictment. Pinto entered a Kiryat Ata supermarket and, believing Rizkin, a clerk, was an Arab, approached him from behind and stabbed him four times.” Reuters: Israeli Aircraft Attack Hamas Targets After Rocket Fired From Gaza “Israeli aircraft carried out a series of strikes in Gaza on Monday, wounding at least four people, witnesses said, after a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory hit an empty area in southern Israel. The Israeli military said its planes attacked five positions belonging to Hamas, the Islamist group that runs the Gaza Strip, in response to the rocket strike. Witnesses said the four wounded were bystanders. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket attack. Israel said that it holds Hamas accountable for what happens in the territory.” The Jerusalem Post: Gallant: Israel To Face ‘Catastrophic War’ If Tunnel Report Goes Unheeded “Israel could face catastrophe if it fails to implement the lessons that come out of the State Comptroller’s Report on Hamas’s terrorist tunnels, Yoav Gallant, a member of the security cabinet and former IDF general, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. Speaking a day before the report is released, Gallant, the housing and construction minister and former OC Southern Command, said the 2014 Gaza war was mostly characterized by an ‘underestimation’ of the tunnel threat and a ‘dismissive attitude’ within the defense establishment of Hamas’s offensive capabilities.” Libya BBC: Libya Exposed As An Epicentre For Migrant Child Abuse “The United Nations has warned that large numbers of children are still risking their lives to make the dangerous journey from Libya to Italy. Unicef says almost 26,000 children - most of them unaccompanied - crossed the Mediterranean last year. In its new report, Unicef says many children suffer from violence and sexual abuse at the hands of smugglers and traffickers. But they rarely report their abuse, for fear of arrest and deportation. The agency also says there is a lack of food, water and medical care in Libya's detention centres. The plight of children, many of them unaccompanied by parents, has become a tragically familiar part of the wider story of mass migration over the past two years.” Germany The Washington Post: Germany Sees “Alarmingly High” Number Of Anti-Migrant Crimes “Migrants and their homes in Germany faced more than 3,500 attacks in 2016, a number that is ‘alarmingly high and cause for concern,’ a German official said Monday, adding that the crimes are being aggressively prosecuted and the numbers of such attacks are falling. Most of the attacks were crimes such as vandalism targeting homes of asylum seekers — including far-right graffiti, threats and slander — but the report also included more serious attacks such as arson, bodily harm and attempted murder. It was compiled by the Interior Ministry with information from Germany’s 16 states in response to a question in Parliament by the Left Party.” Fox News: Video Shows Beheading Of Sailor By ISIS-Linked Terrorists “A German sailor who had survived two months as a hostage of Somali pirates nearly a decade ago was beheaded in the Philippines by Islamic terrorists, a short video released Monday showed, after a deadline to pay the man’s ransom passed. Jurgen Gustav Kantner's beheading was the first murder of a hostage by the terror group Abu Sayyaf since two Canadians were killed in June. Officials said they had sketchy information Kantner was killed because he was sick, Reuters reported. The militants threatened to kill him midafternoon Sunday if a ransom of about $605,000 was not paid, Philippines officials said. Abu Sayyaf, a terror group linked to the Islamic State, has made millions of dollars via ransom demands and still holds 26 hostages, Reuters reported.” Deutsche Welle: Berlin Criminalizes Islamic State-Linked 'Fussilet' Mosque Activity “Berlin's office of the interior banned the mosque association known as ‘Fussilet 33’ on Tuesday. The organization is suspected of being a meeting point for radical Islamists, prosecutors said. Anis Amri, a Tunisian national who launched an attack on a Berlin Christmas market in December that left 12 people dead and dozens more injured, frequented the mosque, according to authorities. Last week, authorities in Berlin arrested three men suspected of links to the self-proclaimed ‘Islamic State’ (IS) militant group in an anti-terror raid. Police said the men had visited the mosque operated by the association. Police raided 24 locations across Berlin early Tuesday morning with more than 400 law enforcement officers participating in the operation, local authorities said in a tweet.” Terror Financing Libya Akhbar: Libya: Detention Of Suspect Involved In Terror Financing “Forces belonging to the General Department for Counter Terrorism in Benghazi recently captured Abd al-Rahman al-Tira, nicknamed "Arhimah", on charges of treason and assisting terrorist groups in Altaria district, west of Benghazi. In its official webpage, the General Department declared al-Tira to be a civilian who helped several terrorists to infiltrate {into the city} via routes located west of Benghazi. Most recently he helped a terrorist nicknamed "Kaswraa {Lion}." In its official statement, the Department asserted that al-Tira confessed to trafficking several terrorists in exchange for financial rewards. He also hid and harbored them on his farm, located in Altaria district.” ISIS Afrigatenews: Egypt: Leader In ISIS Libya Reveals Group's Sources Of Funding “Egypt's ONTV-Live TV channel aired an interview with Libyan terrorist Mohammed Emrajea El Gowany, number 3 in command of ISIS in Sirte, Libya. He was captured January 14th by the Egyptian army near Tobruk in possession of 4.5 million Libyan dinars ($3.2 million). The detained ISIS leader was asked about the source of the money and he replied that he had obtained it from the group. He added that ISIS had obtained these funds from Libyan state properties in addition to the sale of heavy machinery confiscated {by ISIS} and sold. El Gowany stated: "We also obtained other funds via Misrata Military Council through the Farouq Brigades, which served as the mediator between the group in Sirte and Misrata Military {Council}.” Muslim Brotherhood Elfagr: Egypt: Prosecutors Summon Azza El Garf To Hear Her Version Of Muslim Brotherhood Financing Charges “Attorney General of East Cairo Prosecution, Counsellor Ibrahim Saleh, decided to summon Azza El Garf to hear her version regarding Muslim Brotherhood financing charges. El Garf, nicknamed "Omm Ayman", was a prominent member of the dissolved Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party. Earlier, the Prosecution released 34 suspects on the terrorist list accused of funding the Brotherhood.” Shorouk News: Egypt: Brotherhood Qualitative Cell Arrested Before Attacking Vital Installations “Security services affiliated with Egypt's Interior Ministry succeeded in their efforts to arrest a terrorist "qualitative cell" belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood. Its arrest thwarted schemes aimed at carrying out attacks against vital facilities in Alexandria. A statement issued by the Interior Ministry on Monday claimed that the terrorist plot intended to "obstruct the march of progress, to disable production and to harm Egyptian national economy.” Houthi Yemen Akhbar: Yemen: Houthi Group To Pay October 2016 Half-Salaries “Saleh Shaaban, Minister of Finance in the Yemeni government formed by the Houthis and ousted-president Saleh's loyalists, ordered the disbursement to state employees in the public service of half of their October 2016 salaries. In a document obtained by a Yemeni news website, Shaaban ordered the Central Bank in Sanaa to pay one-half of the sum of October salaries and allowances employees are entitled to by law. The Houthi minister also instructed gradual payment of October salaries to retirees, but at the value of 2 to 3 billion riyals ($8-12 million) per week. Shaaban also gave orders to start paying salaries to those employed in military, security and judiciary apparatuses. Yemen's state employees are barely subsisting, as the Houthis have failed to pay them their salaries for the past six months, due to their financial crunch.”