Once again, it’s been quite a while since I have put together a Terror Update so I may not cover as many details as I normally would instead focusing on trends and generalities. As terrorism begins to move back into the shadows with less devoted coverage, updates on the world of jihad, Islamic and the others, are going to be harder to come by. Does this mean that there is less going on? Doubtful. It will just be more difficult to follow as the world seems more interested in the new Great Power struggle with the U.S. and China. Honestly, I cannot say that I blame them, I would rather not talk about terror either but just because we don’t want to talk about it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.
I am going to try a new format regionalizing headlines from different sources to make it easier to navigate to areas of interest and to also look for larger overall trends. Hopefully, this allows you to skim the article and quickly focus on area of interest, read my thoughts (whatever they are worth) then follow the links to the original article if you want to swim a little deeper.
Let me know what you think. Do you prefer this format or should I focus on a smaller number of articles and dive deeper into them?
- Unfortunately, I still have not found a map that wraps categorizes all terrorist attacks. I spent the better portion of an hour searching the web for a suitable replacement that is constantly updated but alas no luck. If any of you know of one please send a link.
Syria – ISIS appears to be continuing the fight but they are not alone as the Iranian influence continues there. No surprises really. One interesting development is the presence of Iranian backed fighters from Afghanistan! Like they couldn’t find a local fight. The Long War Journal provides an excellent deep dive on this.
The Syrian government said an explosion on a main gas pipeline traversing the Middle East on Monday was the result of a terrorist attack, and the United States said it suspected Islamic State militants of carrying out the sabotage.
The blast caused a blackout across Syria, but power was gradually being restored, officials said.
It took place on the Arab Gas Pipeline between the towns of Ad Dumayr and Adra, northwest of the capital Damascus.
On 4 August, US-designated terrorist group Fatemiyoun Division, a Shiite-Afghan paramilitary unit that answers to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Qods Force, released an “exclusive” video of fighters undergoing “specialized” training at a camp in Syria. The exact date and location of the footage are unclear. The paramilitary group’s Media Center produced and released the footage on its social media channels.
Afghanistan – The New York Times story below is a truly excellent piece about the current conditions in Afghanistan. If you want a deep dive that is it! Overall, the Taliban does not recognize the Afghan government as legitimate and are slowly seeking to dominate the country. I believe they are using constant low pressure until the U.S. withdraws troops and then we will witness a Vietnam like overrun. It’s going to be ugly.
KABUL, Afghanistan — Mornings in the city begin with “sticky bombs,” explosives slapped onto vehicles that go up in flames. With night comes the dread of hit-and-run assassinations in the nearby suburbs — government employees shot dead by motorcycle-riding insurgents who roam free.
As peace talks to end Afghanistan’s long war face delays, the Taliban may be sparing Kabul, the capital, from mass-casualty attacks as part of an understanding with the United States. But the insurgents have instead shifted to a tactic that is eroding the Afghan government’s standing with each passing day: frequent targeted assaults that the country’s security forces seem unable to control.
The city has taken on an air of slow-creeping siege.
- Long War Journal: Taliban refuses to negotiate with ‘Kabul administration’ it does not recognize as legitimate
Even after the Afghan government released nearly 5,000 Taliban prisoners to grease the skids ahead of negotiations with the jihadist group, the Taliban explicitly stated that it will not conduct talks directly with the Afghan government because it “does not recognize the Kabul administration as a government.”
In a statement released on Voice of Jihad on Aug. 15, 2020, the Taliban slammed the Afghan government, saying government’s claim that it would lead negotiations is “against established facts.” Indeed, those facts have already been well established.
The Taliban released a series of photographs that show its fighters parading in the eastern Afghan provinces of Logar, Laghman and Ghazni. The Taliban fighters were operating in broad daylight, without fear of reprisal from Afghan or Coalition forces.
The set of photographs was released on Voice of Jihad, the Taliban’s official website, on Aug. 10, 2020. The only text accompanying the images was the title, “Valiant Mujahideen in Ghazni, Logar and Laghman.”
Pakistan – Good Taliban? Bad Taliban? Long the repository of jihad, Pakistan will forever be a problem to anything other than Fundamental Islamic rule in the region. Their strategy of strategic depth, using these groups as de facto protection, will always be a regional problem. The Long War Journal provides an excellent dive into the many layers of Taliban in the region.
The Pakistani Taliban announced today that two splinter factions, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) and Hizb-ul-Ahrar (HuA), have rejoined the organization. The group trumpeted the reunification in a statement released on its official media sites.
Both Omar Khalid Khorasani (the leader of JuA) and Omar Khorasani (the head of HuA) have “pledged allegiance” to the emir of the Pakistani Taliban, Noor Wali Mehsud, according to the statement. Their oath of fealty is for “emigration and Jihad.”
Iraq – Hurdles remain to a U.S. Troop withdrawal from Iraq, as demonstrated in the Long War Journal piece, but the draw down and reconsolidation is real. Again, the New York Times and the Long War Journal articles are excellent on providing the backdrop for the conditions on the ground. Iran will always be a disrupter in the region, hopefully, Iraq can regain strength and provide a balance.
WASHINGTON — President Trump met with Mustafa al-Kadhimi, the Iraqi prime minister, at the White House on Thursday, continuing months of negotiations between the two governments over the presence of American troops in the country.
Mr. Trump’s meeting with Mr. al-Kadhimi, a former intelligence chief, culminated two days of high-level gatherings between senior American and Iraqi officials that covered a range of security, energy, economic and health issues. But a central focus of the prime minister’s visit is the negotiations, which started in May, on resetting the United States military mission in Iraq.
A likely Iranian-backed front group has claimed responsibility for an alleged attack against an American supply convoy in Iraq’s Anbar province near the Jordanian border on Aug. 16. The claim was published by People of the Cave, a group belonging to the so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq.
The group said it targeted and destroyed “an American military convoy” and “completely” wiped it out “within the borders of the noble Anbar province,” but similar recent attacks have been disputed.
A United States-led military coalition in Iraq has said its troops have withdrawn from Camp Taji military base and handed it over to Iraqi security forces.
The base, 20km (12 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, had been the site of frequent rocket attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting US-led troops in recent months.
“The movement of coalition military personnel is part of a long-range plan coordinated with the government of Iraq,” the coalition said in a statement, adding that Camp Taji has historically held up to 2,000 coalition members, most of whom have departed this summer.
Iran – Would I like better relations with Iran? Yes. Is that possible? Probably not. On another note, shocking no one, Iran stated that the fire at the Natanz nuclear facility was sabotage. I wonder who is responsible and how they did it? Interestingly, I found a new source, the Middle East Eye. I have no idea how reliable they are but it does provide a different perspective that I think is important.
The U.N. Security Council’s decision not to extend an arms embargo on Iran will lead to further Middle East instability, Israel’s foreign minister said on Saturday.
A fire at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility last month was the result of sabotage, a spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation told state TV channel al-Alam on Sunday.
“The explosion at Natanz nuclear facility was a result of sabotage operations,” said Behrouz Kamalvandi. “Security authorities will reveal in due time the reason behind the blast.”
Lebanon – Maybe there is more to the story of the explosion in Beirut than anyone wants to admit but Foreign Policy has a great piece on who will benefit.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said on Wednesday that the U.S. government has not totally ruled out that a deadly explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, was an attack but said it is still gathering intelligence on the blast the Lebanese government has said was caused by unsafe storage of dangerous chemicals.
BEIRUT—When Lebanon set about reconstructing Beirut after 15 years of civil war from 1975 to 1990, the result was a bonanza for government officials and their friends. Contracts went to cronies, aid money disappeared, and patronage networks thrived.
Belarus – Lots of news out of Belarus over the past couple weeks. Even though this is not terrorism it is important because, as The New York Times points out, Belarus is a key buffer between NATO and Russia. What happens here could go a long way to improve/further disrupt U.S. – Russian relations. This could very well end up like Ukraine. This will something to keep an eye on for other reports.
Belarus suspects a group of more than 30 Russian mercenaries it detained of planning “acts of terrorism” in the country, Belarusian Security Council State Secretary Andrey Raukov said on Thursday.
Up to 200 mercenaries are still in Belarus and law enforcement agents are looking for them, Raukov told reporters.
Belarus promised Russian diplomats to set up a meeting with the detained Russian citizens, who Minsk said were a group of Russian mercenaries, by the end of the day on Friday, Tass news agency quoted Russian ambassador to Belarus as saying.
Authorities in Belarus believe the husband of opposition presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanouskaya may have ties to a group of suspected Russian mercenaries detained on suspicion of plotting violence, the Belta news agency said on Thursday.
He jokes about running a dictatorship. He makes his generals salute his teenage son, who shares his penchant for dressing in military uniforms. He commands a brutal security service that makes people disappear. And when Covid-19 arrived, he told his people to play hockey, drive tractors and not worry about it.
Aleksandr Lukashenko, the embattled ruler of Belarus and the most enduring leader in the former Soviet Union, heads a regime that is less a one-party state than a one-person state. In 26 years as president, he has turned Belarus into a strategically important and reliably authoritarian buffer between Russia and NATO-member democracies like Poland.
Clinging to power amid mass protests this month, Mr. Lukashenko, the former director of a Soviet collective pig farm, might seem like a relic of an era the world had forgotten, or barely noticed. But years before Vladimir V. Putin took power, vowing to “clean up” Russia, Mr. Lukashenko made similar promises to his country, and blazed the trail Mr. Putin would follow: an obscure figure on an unlikely, meteoric rise to personal rule. (emphasis mine)
Africa – I probably should not lump all of these into one category and separate them by county, however, most of these stories are related. Besides, I am tying a new format! The most interesting article in this section is the AP story about Burkina Faso and the heavy-handed approach to anti-terrorism. It will invariably cause a backlash but if you are willing to be heavy-handed enough it can work. Staying in the middle however, will not work. Hearts and minds don’t matter.
- Reuters: France’s counter-terrorism prosecutor investigates Niger killings – As of yet, no terrorist groups have claimed responsibility.
France’s counter-terrorism prosecutor said on Monday it had opened an investigation for murder after gunmen killed six French aid workers in a wildlife park in Niger on Sunday.
- AP: Somali police: At least 8 soldiers killed, more than 14 others wounded after suicide bomber detonates outside army base
Somali police: At least 8 soldiers killed, more than 14 others wounded after suicide bomber detonates outside army base.
Of the dozen men taken from Burkina Faso’s eastern town of Tawalbougou in late June on suspicion of supporting Islamic extremist rebels, only five survived, they said. One man died from the beatings and six others were shot and killed, said the survivors. Their families were too afraid to collect their bodies, they said.
Some of the survivors can barely speak after the trauma, but all maintain they had no affiliation with the Islamic extremists who have rapidly destabilized Burkina Faso over the past few years.
Such accusations of extrajudicial killings, torture and unlawful detention by Burkina Faso’s military are mounting, as the ill-equipped and under-trained army scrambles to stem the spread of jihadist violence that’s ravaging the country. As attacks linked to Islamic militants increase, so does the army’s targeting of civilians perceived to support them, charge rights groups.
MOGADISHU, Somalia — A militant attack on a beachside hotel in Somalia’s capital killed at least 15 people and wounded dozens of others on Sunday, according to police officers and a government spokesman.
The Islamist insurgent group the Shabab, which is affiliated with Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the assault, which turned into a nearly five-hour siege and gun battle between the attackers and Somali security forces.
Over the past two days, Shabaab, al-Qaeda’s branch in East Africa, has launched two suicide assaults across Somalia. The first targeted a popular hotel in Mogadishu, while the second hit a Somali military base outside of Baidoa.
Yesterday, a team of Shabaab’s men attacked the popular Elite Hotel on Mogadishu’s Lido Beach. In its standard procedure for these operations, the jihadists began the assault with a suicide car bombing on the hotel’s perimeter. An assault team then entered the hotel, killing civilians and taking even more as hostages.
Mali – A coup by U.S. trained personnel? Each of these articles are important to painting the picture of Mali and it does not matter that the military was trained by the U.S. Hopefully, this will not lead to more regional disruption and create an opening for more terrorist activity.
Top West African officials met with the junta leaders and Mali’s deposed president Saturday in the capital trying to negotiate a return to civilian rule after a coup this week.
The mediation efforts came a day after thousands of Malians took to the streets of Bamako, the capital, to celebrate the coup that ousted elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
The West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS has strongly condemned the coup and said the high-level delegation will work “to ensure the immediate return of constitutional order.” ECOWAS also demanded the reinstatement of Keita.
Thousands marched Friday in the streets of Mali’s capital to celebrate the overthrow of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, as the West African nation’s political opposition backed the military’s junta plan to eventually hand over power to a civilian transitional government.
But as opponents of the former regime moved ahead with plans for the future, the international community continued to express alarm about the coup that deposed Mali’s democratically elected leader this week. There are concerns that the political upheaval will divert attention away from the more than seven-year international fight against Islamic extremists who have used previous power vacuums in Mali to expand their terrain.
The United States has halted all security assistance training and support for Malian military forces that carried out a coup in the West African country after new details emerged that the coup was orchestrated in part by military officers who received training from the U.S. military…
“It’s clear that several participants in the mutiny … have received U.S. training or assistance,” said J. Peter Pham, the State Department’s special envoy for the Sahel region of West Africa, on Friday. He stressed that the United States condemned the actions by the military officials to topple the government.
“Until our review of both the situation on the ground and of individuals is complete, let me say categorically there is no further training or support of the Malian Armed Forces, full stop. We have halted everything until such time as we can clarify the situation.”
The coup, staged this past week, could present a significant setback in U.S. and multinational efforts to roll back the militant groups, some of which are affiliated with the Islamic State and al Qaeda. It underscores the deep-seated governance problems in the Sahel that helped lead to the rise of extremist groups.
Philippines – Honestly, I haven’t been a close observer of terrorism in the Philippines so I will have some catching up to do here. This was definitely a complex operations that required planning and coordination.
Muslim militants allied with the Islamic State group set off a powerful motorcycle explosive followed by a suicide bombing that together killed 14 people on Monday, many of them soldiers, in the worst extremist attack in the Philippines this year, military officials said.
At least 75 soldiers, police and civilians were wounded in the midday bombings in Jolo town in southern Sulu province, regional military commander Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan said. The bombings were staged as the government grapples with the highest number of coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia.
Two bombs exploded in a southern Philippines town on Monday, military and police sources said. The blasts killed at least 14 people and injured dozens more
At least five soldiers and four civilians were killed, regional military commander Lieutenant General Corleto Vinluan said. Initial army reports said the source of the first blast was a homemade bomb on a parked motorcycle…
The second blast, carried out by a female suicide attacker, went off nearby shortly after the first explosion.
“A female suicide bomber detonated herself as a soldier stopped her from entering the cordoned area,” Lieutenant Colonel Ronaldo Mateo, an army spokesman told Manila radio station DZMM.
Armenia-Azerbaijan – This probably did not belong in our terror update but I put it here because I do not see my self dedicating an article to this conflict. The only reason I know a little about this is listening to the John Batchelor Show podcasts about the region. He has traveled there two years in a row and has talked about the long simmering conflict.
The long-standing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan escalated last month, and the two countries suffered their worst losses in four years. Between July 12 and 16, at least 16 service members from the two sides were killed: four Armenian soldiers and 12 Azerbaijanis, including a major general. (A fifth Armenian soldier died from his wounds later that month.) The fighting was the latest significant incident in a conflict that has continued without resolution since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Ireland – I did not know the IRA was still operational. Given the relative calm for most of the last 20 or so years this does not inspire much hope that ISIS/Al Qaeda are going away anytime soon…or should it? The IRA has not exactly been active in the world of terror as I believe they have mostly been politically active.
Seven suspected members of an IRA splinter group have been charged with terrorism following police raids last week. Local media reported that the operation involved surveillance by Britain’s security service, MI5.
So that wraps up our Tuesday Terror update. The next one should not be as long because I will hopefully not have an entire month to catch up on. Maybe this 1000ft view helped paint a better picture on what is going on in the world. Let me know what you think about the new format in the comments below. I will have a dedicated post about podcasts later today.