Violence and Security

IS Terrorist Receives Death Sentence in Indonesia

June 22, 2018

The high court of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim majority country and the setting of increased radical Islamist activity and a spate of Islamic State (IS) attacks in recent years, has sent an anti-jihadist message through the death sentence for an IS-affiliated Muslim cleric convicted of masterminding a terrorist attack against civilian targets.
Brief Afghan Ceasefire Ends with Taliban Jihad

June 22, 2018

Though the cessation of hostilities has raised cautious optimism about a renewal in the effort to end the war, the brief ceasefire between the Government of Afghanistan and the Taliban ended with the Islamists back to the battlefield to continue the jihadist struggle to impose sharia across the country.
Burial of Remains in Iraq Reveals Prevalence of IS Foreign Fighters

June 22, 2018

The process of recovering and burying the remains of Islamic State (IS) fighters in Iraq areas liberated from the caliphate is revealing the prevalence of foreign fighters from countries of the Caucasus, including Russian Chechnya and Georgia, as well as Western countries.
US Envoy Advocates Anti-ISIS Stabilization Strategy

June 22, 2018

The US Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS (Islamic State) is convening a meeting in Morocco to discuss a stabilization strategy in Syria as a key to the permanent defeat of the caliphate and to focus on global counter-measures, especially in Africa, to push back ISIS relocation and operations.
NGO Legal Settlement Shows Problems with Charges of Islamophobia

June 22, 2018

The recent out-of-court settlement by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) with the UK-based Quilliam Foundation over the SPLC's allegation that Quilliam's founder is an "anti-Muslim extremist" reveals the pernicious effects of the term "Islamophobia" as a mechanism for silencing all criticism of Islamism and its political and violent extremist expressions.
US Strike on IS Oil-and-Gas Chief Degrades Terror Funding Stream

June 22, 2018

The US-led anti-Islamic State (IS) coalition in Syria killed the Islamist terror group’s oil-and-gas planning chief, in a significant step toward further degrading terror financing capabilities that have supported the resilience of IS operations in parts of Syria.
Nigeria’s Jihadists Threaten Cameroon Cattle Farmers

June 22, 2018

The Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram has expanded its cross-border jihad into Cameroon, threatening the life and livelihoods of that country’s cattle farmers, who have been terrorized into constrained areas for heeding and farming.
US Air Strike Kills Most-Wanted Pakistani Taliban Extremist

June 22, 2018

A senior official from the Afghan Defense Ministry has confirmed that a US-Afghan air operation killed Pakistani Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah, the most-wanted leader in the Islamist terrorist organization.
Hezbollah Networks, Ops Extend to South America

June 20, 2018

Hezbollah, the Shiite Islamist organization that constitutes the majority in Lebanon's government institutions, is operating transcontinental cocaine trafficking networks stretching from the Eastern Mediterranean to South America to secure robust financing for a wide range of transnational Islamist activities.
Reviews Question Success of USAID in Combating Extremism

June 13, 2018

Recent reviews of humanitarian programs supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in America's effort to use development as a means for countering Islamist radicalization and violence demonstrate mixed results and raise questions about the blowback against US spending on "countering violent Islamist extremism."