Violence and Security

French Leaders Announce Measures Against Radicalization

March 01, 2018

France’s President and Prime Minister have announced a series of measures aimed at addressing what they characterize as the “slow burning threat” of Islamist radicalization in France, by augmenting stricter counter-terrorism legislation with policies such as the creation of isolation zones for imprisoned Islamist militants.
UN Official Warns of Islamist Extremist Penetration in Gaza

March 01, 2018

The UN Special Coordinator to the Middle East Peace Process cautioned the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish American Organizations that the frozen relationship between Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah and the collapse of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process are encouraging penetration by Islamist militant groups in Gaza even more extremist than Hamas.
US Official Warns of Business Impact on Terrorism in Iran

March 01, 2018

At the recent Munich Security Conference, US National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster emphasized the need for reforms of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, given the risks that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps could direct revenue from international business activities toward Islamist terrorist activities.
Egyptian Military Launches Sinai Operation Against Islamist Extremists

March 01, 2018

In response to plans announced by Islamist extremist groups, including the Sinai branch of the Islamic State, to step up attacks in the region, Egypt's military has launched a major counter-terrorist operation in the Sinai Peninsula in the approach to next month's presidential elections.
Nigerian President Calls Latest Jihad Attack a National Disaster

March 01, 2018

The most recent attack by Nigerian jihadi group Boko Haram led to civilian casualties and to another round of likely kidnapping of at least 50 schoolgirls, prompting the country's president to characterize it as a "national disaster."
Europeanization of IS May Integrate Crime, Ideology

February 28, 2018

The return of sizable numbers of European foreign fighters who went to Iraq and Syria to fight as jihadists for the Islamic State (IS) suggests that a cadre of Euro-Islamist jihadis with criminal backgrounds may emerge to lead destabilizing Islamist terror and black-market activities.
HRW Calls on Germany to Repeal "Hate Speech" Law

February 21, 2018

Human Rights Watch has called for the repeal of Germany's NetzDG law imposing large fines on social-media companies for "illegal hate speech" they fail to remove from their platforms, warning that it could lead to "unaccountable, overbroad censorship" by private actors with no judicial recourse for users.
Nigerian Trials Reveal Deleterious Effects of Islamist Violence

February 21, 2018

Nigerian courts recently convicted 205 and released 526 in mass trials of Boko Haram insurgents, provoking a critique from international human rights groups of the deficits in the Nigerian justice system while also highlighting the Nigerian military’s inability to defeat the Islamist jihadi group that has ravaged the country in almost a decade of uninterrupted war.
Philippines Security Officials Apprehend IS Recruiter

February 21, 2018

Philippines police have announced the apprehension of an Islamic State (IS) sympathizer suspected as part of Islamist networks connected to the Philippines, Malaysia, and Turkey and of recruiting for the pro-IS Maute militias active in Mindanao.
Turkey Faces Long-term Jihadi Threat

February 21, 2018

The jihadi organizations to which Turkey’s government has given safe haven, using the country as a logistics and finance hub for jihadi activities in Eurasia in exchange for Ankara’s war against Kurds in Turkey and Syria, take a long view that likely includes a strategy to capture control of the Turkish state.