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On July 16, 2024, Georgian national Mikhail Chkhikvishvili was indicted in the Eastern District of New York on four counts of conspiracy to solicit hate crimes and acts of mass [...]

The terrorist threat from jihadi groups was progressively degraded by counterterrorism measures after 9/11. The military defeat of the Islamic State ushered in a period from about 2017 of unusually [...]

In June 2024, a man in Finland with a long history of ideological and racist violence allegedly stabbed a 12-year-old immigrant child and attempted to stab another. The suspect was previously described as a key member of the Finnish branch of Scandinavia's largest National Socialist organization, the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM). Meanwhile, less than 24 hours later, the United States designated NRM as a terrorist entity, the second country to do so after the group was banned by Finland's Supreme Court in 2020. NRM has developed a reputation for its public demonstrations, its striking propaganda, and the violence perpetrated by some of its members. Initially sprouting from the remnants of a decentralized Swedish far-right network, NRM has grown into a pan-Nordic organization with a rigid hierarchy and has expanded with chapters throughout Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Finland. Authoritarian in its political aspirations and seeking to supplant the democracies of the nations in which they operate, NRM members have been convicted of stabbings, killings, bomb plots, among other violent activities. The U.S. designation has been reportedly quick to impact NRM's online presence, with several of NRM's websites offline at the time of publication. Most of its current public messaging flows from an official Telegram account. While the designation is a disruption to NRM's ability to operate, it is unlikely to dismantle the network that makes up its far-right membership. This article examines the evolution of the group from its early days to its current iteration., On June 14, 2024, the U.S. Department of State designated the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM) as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. (1) NRM is estimated to be the largest white [...]

After a string of terrorist attacks in Russia, Iran, and Afghanistan involving Central Asian citizens, as well as foiled plots and arrests in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and Turkey, Central Asia is once again in the spotlight as a supposed center of terrorism. But this narrative of a constantly growing threat does not fit well with reality. Compared to only a decade ago, when over 4,000 Central Asians traveled to Syria and Iraq to join militant organizations, the levels of recruitment and volume of messaging have decreased substantially. To explain terrorism from Central Asia or measure the potential threat, the authors contend it is important not to overly focus on the narratives in slick recruiting videos that only reach a few hundred people. Given the lack of evidence for a new wave of mass recruiting, the authors suggest that the recent spike of attacks and arrests is the 'long tail' of the Islamic State. After the collapse of the Islamic State's territorial holdings in Syria in 2019, many operatives migrated to Europe, forming sleeper cells, some of which have been disrupted in the past year. Mobilization of Central Asians also remains primarily an issue tied to migration. With the notable exception of Kazakhstan where internal migration and displacement play key roles, Central Asian participation in terrorist groups remains primarily an issue that manifests itself outside the region. Instead of focusing primarily on online recruiting, the authors argue one should focus on the factors that led to mobilization to Syria and Iraq a decade ago and that have been exacerbated in recent years, especially in Tajikistan, including crackdowns on religion, corrupt ineffective governance, high levels of migration, and well-established terror networks that are holdovers from the peak of the Islamic State., After a string of terrorist attacks in Russia, (1) Iran, (2) and Afghanistan (3) involving Central Asian citizens, as well as foiled plots and arrests in the United States, (4) [...]

William Branifff is the director of the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) at the United States Department of Homeland Security. Within this capacity, he leads the Department's efforts to strengthen the country's ability to prevent targeted violence and terrorism. Braniff previously served as the START director and a professor of the practice at the University of Maryland, the director of practitioner education at West Point's Combating Terrorism Center, and an instructor in the Department of Social Sciences at West Point. Braniff is a graduate of the United States Military Academy. Following his Company Command in the U.S. Army, he attended the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies where he received a master's degree in international relations. Braniff then served as a foreign afairs specialist for the National Nuclear Security Agency. Braniff previously served as a member of the editorial board of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism-The Hague, the RESOLVE Network Research Advisory Board, the Prosecution Project Advisory Board, the Hedayah Center International Advisory Board, and the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism Independent Advisory Committee, as well as serving as a non-voting advisor to the Board of CHC Global. He was also a founding board member of We the Veterans and Military Families, an organization dedicated to strengthening American democracy., CTC: You have been working in the terrorism studies and counterterrorism fields for more than 15 years, including time at the Combating Terrorism Center as Director of Practitioner Education, as [...]

With wars raging in Ukraine and Gaza, and geopolitical tensions running high globally, the Paris Olympic Games face a concerning and complex threat picture. By far the biggest threat is jihadi terrorism, and specifically the Islamic State Khorasan group, which launched the deadliest Islamic State terrorist attack in Europe in Moscow in March and has already sought, through its signature cyber-coach approach to terrorism, to get individuals in France to carry out attacks targeting the Games. Far-right and far-left violent extremist groups also pose concern, as does the potential for protests on, for example, the war in Gaza to turn violent. The French are on high alert for malevolent activity from Russia amidst mounting examples of its links to violent far-right actors in Europe. It appears unlikely the Iran threat network will directly target the Games because Iran is participating in them and because Iran does not want a breakdown in its relations with Europe. But if the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalates significantly before and during the Games, an attack by the Lebanese terrorist group on Israeli interests cannot be ruled out given it has in the past targeted Israelis in Europe., On March 25, 2024, French President Emmanuel Macron announced France was elevating its terror alert level to the highest level after Islamic State Khorasan (ISK) carried out an attack on [...]

Ahmad Zia Saraj served as the General Director of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from September 2019 until August, 15, 2021. He is currently a visiting professor at the war studies department of the King's College London (KCL). Under his leadership, the NDS arrested thousands of terrorists including key Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) operatives such as the group's leader Aslam Farooqi; Sheikh Omar Kunari, chief of ISKP regional cells; and Abu Jawad, chief of the group's media wing. The elimination of key al-Qa'ida figures such as Abu Assem Omar, chiefofal-Qa'ida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS); Sheikh Mohsen al-Masri, al-Qa 'ida's top planner; Qari Hanifi the deputy leader of AQIS; and Mustafa al-Tajiki also occurred through the operations conducted by the NDS specialforces during his tenure. Saraj served as the Deputy Director General for operations at the NDS from March 2019 to September 2019 where he supervised all operations across the country against terrorist cells, oversaw counterintelligence operations, and countered organized crime. Prior to heading the NDS, he served in the organization as Chief Director of the CT department, deputy Director for Counterintelligence and Foreign intelligence, and the chief of the foreign relations department., CTC: You served as the head of Afghan intelligence during a tumultuous period of Afghan history that resulted in the Taliban taking back control of Kabul in the mid-August 2021. [...]

Following the 9/11 attack, the United States led the international community to fight jihadi terrorism. Over 20 years later, jihadi violence in the West is low, but the number of Sunni jihadi outfits around the world has increased. And while the central leaderships of both al-Qa'ida and the Islamic State appear in tatters, many of their affiliates are experiencing expansion. This article takes a holistic view of the jihadi movement, examining all of it--not just its two heavyweights, al-Qa 'ida and the Islamic State, and their affiliates. It argues that factors of continuity, such as anti-regime grievances, the appeal of religious ideology, and the ability to hurt, are likely to maintain jihadism as a viable resistance ideology. It is true that the global ambitions of transnational jihadi groups have suffered setbacks in recent years and their actions have been hindered by material weaknesses, the power of nationalism and of sub-national identities, as well as internal conflicts amongthe movement's leaders. However, jihadism is still a powerful force and is making inroads in various regions. The article warns that a more modest jihadi strategy with a regional focus is offering jihadis a new path forward, but also suggests that a sustainable jihadi success would require moderation that is simply antithetical to the nature of the ideology., Recent years have been hard on the central leaderships of the jihadi movement's heavyweights, the Islamic State and al-Qa'ida. The Islamic State lost its territorial possessions in the Middle East [...]

The gruesome massacre of over 1,200 Israelis on Saturday, October 7, 2023, was deliberately timed to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, a conventional conflict that [...]

Byline: Just Earth News Israel Defense Forces on Monday confirmed the 'elimination' of Hezbollah's media chief Mohammed Afif during a strike in central Beirut. IDF confirmed the development and wrote [...]

Byline: Suhel Seth Whose party do you attend and whose invitation do you ignore? COME OCTOBER, the pangs of social terrorism will inflict themselves on you when you are least [...]

Byline: Just Earth News The Israel Defense Forces on Monday said it has eliminated a high-ranking Hezbollah commander who was responsible for planning and executing rocket and anti-tank missile attacks [...]

Byline: Just Earth News The Israel Defense Forces on Monday claimed it has eliminated Hezbollah's Aerial Unit member Ali Barakat. 'ELIMINATED: Ali Barakat, a terrorist in Hezbollah's Aerial Unit (127),' [...]

Byline: Just Earth News The Israel Defense Forces on Friday said Hamas' Political Bureau head Izz al-Din Kassab has been eliminated. IDF said: 'Kassab was a member of Hamas' political [...]

Features THE VICIOUS CIRCLE YOUNG NEOFASCISTS ARE AT AN INFLECTION POINT, AS SOME DO TIME FOR INCREASINGLY SERIOUS CRIMES, FROM MURDER TO DOMESTIC TERRORISM. WORSE, PRISONS NOW FUNCTION AS FINISHING [...]

Byline: Just Earth News The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday confirmed Hezbollah's Bint Jbeil Area commander Ahmed Jafar Maatouk has been eliminated. 'The Commander of Hezbollah's Bint Jbeil Area, Ahmed [...]

Byline: Just Earth News Amid terror threats for Israeli nationals in the Arugam Bay area of Sri Lanka, police have arrested three people in the country, media reports said. Minister [...]

What happened A pair of armed assailants stormed the headquarters of (https://theweek.com/tag/turkey) Turkey's state-run aviation and defense company Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) on Wednesday, killing five people and wounding at [...]

The Israel Defense Forces says it has exposed six Al Jazeera journalists as 'Hamas and Islamic Jihad Terrorists,' claiming to have several documents that prove the affiliations of what it [...]

(https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F43b79337-1595-4831-a144-f12a7aedd5af_900x600.svg) Giving new meaning to the term battleground states, the (https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/maricopa-country-arizona-election-worker-threats-a4ebf3a3?st=NHFBMG&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink) Wall Street Journal reports (supposedly free link) that elections officials around the country are bracing for terrorism in November, [...]

Israel killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7 terrorist attacks. A routine patrol by Israeli trainee soldiers on Wednesday ended in Sinwar's death. Israel defied pressure [...]

Nasdaq Verafin, provider of crime fighting technology, reported enhancements to its suite of artificial intelligence (AI) based Targeted Typology Analytics, with new detection capabilities for terrorist financing and drug trafficking [...]

In This Issue / Politics & economics Israel expands operations Raids into Lebanon have raised fears of a wider war. Matthew Partridge reports A day after the anniversary of the [...]

What happened Israelis gathered Monday to mark the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas that sparked an escalating conflict in the Middle East. (https://theweek.com/defence/israels-wars-is-an-end-in-sight-or-is-this-just-the-beginning) Israel ramped [...]

Hamas carried out a devastating attack on Israel one year ago, killing about 1,200 people. The terror attack has helped push the Middle East to the brink of a wider [...]

Byline: Just Earth News In a message to mark one year since the Hamas-led terror attack during which more than 1,250 Israelis and foreign nationals were brutally killed on 7 [...]

Hassan Nasrallah was one of the most revered and reviled figures in the Middle East, said Jared Malsin and Sune Engel Rasmussen in (https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-targeted-hassan-nasrallah-the-fierce-islamist-behind-hezbollahs-rise-3acf635b) The Wall Street Journal. To his [...]

Hassan Nasrallah was one of the most revered and reviled figures in the Middle East, said Jared Malsin and Sune Engel Rasmussen in The Wall Street Journal. To his supporters, [...]

IN THIS ISSUE / This week’s big news Israel launches new attack on Hezbollah On 1 October, Israel’s military announced that it has launched a ground invasion in southern Lebanon. [...]

In This Issue / Politics & economics Middle East edges up to war Events have taken an ominous turn in the region. Matthew Partridge reports Following days of rocket and [...]

A year on from the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, the Middle East is entering its most dangerous period in living memory. The unfolding events will have [...]

Byline: Just Earth News The Israeli military on Sunday said another top leader of the Iran-backed armed outfit Hezbollah group has been eliminated. IDF said it had eliminated Hezbollah's Preventative [...]

Almost one year on from the 7 October terrorist attacks by Hamas, Israel is on the verge of all-out war with Lebanon, leading to the prospect of the country fighting [...]

Byline: Just Earth News The Israel Defense Forces on Friday confirmed senior Hezbollah commander Mohammed Hussein Surour was during airstrike in Beirut. The airstrike occurred amid the ongoing conflict between [...]

A year of escalating violence between Hezbollah and Israel has exposed Lebanon's ineffectiveness as a state. While Hezbollah's militia is a designated terrorist organisation, and the world's biggest non-state army, [...]

The Paramount+ documentary “ (https://www.thewrap.com/nova-music-festival-documentary-we-will-dance-again-paramount/) We Will Dance Again” provides viewers with an uncensored, 360-view of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel that left 405 dead, 45 taken hostage [...]

Byline: Just Earth News Israel on Tuesday claimed a key Hezbollah commander was killed during an airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut. The slain commander was identified as Ibrahim [...]

Byline: Just Earth News Beirut/Jerusalem: Israel launched its most aggressive strikes on south Lebanon as warplanes carried out bombings late on Thursday escalating the ongoing conflict between the Jewish nation [...]

Byline: Jeff Wise The wave of exploding pagers that injured nearly 3,000 and killed at least nine, including a (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/world/middleeast/lebanon-funeral-pager-attack.html) 9-year-old girl, in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday was a [...]

Paramount Pictures and its recently revived acquisitions label Republic Pictures have set the German historical drama “September 5” for a limited theatrical release on Thanksgiving weekend, with plans to expand [...]

Byline: Adina Genn New York State has launched a new initiative to help survivors of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks register for federal benefits, including through the World Trade Center [...]

What happened The Justice Department unsealed an indictment yesterday against two Americans it accused of running an online 'transnational terrorist group' dedicated to fostering attacks on public officials and infrastructure [...]

Byline: Just Earth News The US Justice Department announced today the unsealing of terrorism, murder conspiracy, and sanctions-evasion charges against six senior leaders of Hamas including Yahya Sinwar. 'The charges [...]

Nine Minutes Eleven Seconds, Raconteur 888, L. V. Pederson, 9.99 (320p), 979-8-9906885-0-6 Genre: Fiction/Mystery/Thriller Pederson delivers an irresistible thriller centered on Madison Maxwell, the fresh-faced recruit at Know Inc. replacing [...]

L’événement Profilages La nouvelle cartographie du terrorisme islamique EXCLUSIF Des jeunes d’origine tchétchène, des femmes, d’ex-détenus radicalisés… Les notes des renseignements que le JDD a pu consulter dessinent l’état de [...]

The attack on Tower 22--an outpost in Jordan used by the U.S. military--that killed three U.S. service members was an important reminder about the threat posed by stand-off weapons, especially armed one-way-attack drones. While few details have been publicly released about the location from which the hostile drone was launched, the U.S. military's response points to the drone having been operated by a nearby Iranian proxy. Over the past several years, this type of threat--the targeting of U.S. military facilities in Iraq and Syria by shorter-range stand-off weapons--has become common. But there have also been signs of a broader threat that has emerged, the threat of long-range stand-off terrorism. This article conceptualizes, and attempts to define, this emerging threat vector. It also traces signs of its emergence and initial evolution, and discusses implications associated with this coming, on-the-horizon problem. Recent long-range drone and missile attacks attributed to the Houthis, a capability that Iran has helped to strategically shape, highlight how the Houthis are both a first mover and a leading-edge indicator of the threat. While adoption will likely be limited and constrain the scope of the threat, at least initially, long-range stand-off terrorism will be attractive to some extremists because it opens-up new attack pathways, can enable surprise, and has the potential to deliver a potent psychological, 'we can strike you from afar' punch. Over the next decade advancements in commercial technologies and systems will also make range, and extended range, more accessible for violent non-state-entities, making it likely that in the future long-range terrorism will become more of a threat., In August 2003, in what was an important breakthrough in remote-control aviation, Maynard Hill--'a pioneer in unmanned and model aircraft' (1)--successfully flew a radio-controlled model airplane he built from commercial [...]

In what has been widely seen as the most significant prosecution against violent left-wing extremism in Germany in over two decades, four individuals were sentenced in May 2023 to prison terms for violent attacks. These attacks targeted real and alleged right-wing extremists. The case has raised fears that Germany is on the brink of a left-wing terrorism resurgence. The trial and in-depth media reporting sheds new light on Lina Engel, the alleged coordinator of the group; its other members; and the attacks they conducted in the years 2018-2020. Elements from the network continue to be active, with several members in hiding and authorities concerned over further radicalization., On May 31, 2023, the State-level Higher Regional Court in Dresden sentenced four individuals, including Lina Engel, (a) a female university student and leader of the violent left-wing extremist group, [...]

ON OCTOBER 26, the Biden administration expressed horror about the 'extremely disturbing pattern of anti-Semitic messages being conveyed on college campuses.' According to a White House spokesperson, 'delegitimizing the State [...]