Violence and Security

Brussels Debate Heightens Europe's Focus on Extremist Funding

November 20, 2017

The current debate in the Belgian Parliament over taking control of the Grand Mosque of Belgium from its current management by Saudi Arabia has intensified concerns in Europe about how to support the development of a European Islam that promotes pluralistic values and non-violence in opposition to Saudi Arabia's export of Wahhabi Islamist extremism and violence.
IS Loses Final Territorial Remnants in Iraq

November 20, 2017

The anti-Islamic State (IS) coalition and the Iraq National Army have secured the final territorial remnants of the IS caliphate in Iraq as these forces captured the city of Rawa on the border with Syria, thereby definitively defeating IS jihadis in their core territories.
Pro-IS Media in Egypt Calls for Attacks on Christians

November 20, 2017

An Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) issued a call through its media channels for attacks on Coptic Orthodox Christians as "infidels" who deserve violence because they reject their second-class status as Christians under Islam.
YouTube Removes Videos Related to Yemeni Islamist

November 20, 2017

YouTube applied its anti-extremism policy of banning videos that incite violence or terrorism and of banning accounts for individuals named on terrorist lists to remove from the site the entire body of 70,000 works related to radical Yemeni Islamist extremist preacher Anwar al-Awlaki.
Tensions Escalate Between Israel, Jihadi Group

November 20, 2017

The war of words between Israel and the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad, which receives strong funding and materiel support from Iran and Lebanon-based Hezbollah, has intensified to the level of high alert for both Israel and the militant organization, which publicly warned its followers that Israel's destruction of a Gaza tunnel in October was "an act of war."
German Court Denies Islamic Lessons in Public Schools

November 20, 2017

A German court has ruled against the application by two of the country's Muslim Federations to have Islamic religious lessons introduced into the public school curriculum, raising questions about how to provide legal designation as a religious association to the country's religiously decentralized community of four-plus-million Muslim citizens.
Iranian Support Leads to Resurgent Al-Qaeda

November 15, 2017

As the Islamic State’s last strongholds in Syria fall, a resurgent al-Qaeda is now positioned with operational capacity from East Africa to Southwest Asia, enabled by two decades of support from the Iranian deep state that now amounts to global Sunni and Shiite networks of Islamist ideologies and jihadi synergies.
Islamist Sectarian War Shifts from Syria to Afghanistan

November 15, 2017

With the return to Afghanistan of thousands of Iranian-trained Shiite shock troops that fought against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, Sunni-Shiite sectarian tensions tensions are already rising as Saudi Arabia supports Sunni extremist groups such as the Taliban and the instability of Islamist sectarianism spreads across regional boundaries from the Near East to Southwest Asia.
British Somali Leads IS Expansion in East Africa

November 15, 2017

Jihadi competition is intensifying in East Africa, as a Somali imam with British citizenship and a history of radical preaching in London mosques has returned to Somalia to lead the expansion of Islamic State (IS) activities against the al-Shabab militants warring to make the country a sharia state.
NY Attack Renews US Debates over Islamist Radicalization

November 15, 2017

The aftermath of the Halloween attack in New York City by an Islamic State supporter who followed the group’s instructions to use vehicles as tools for jihad in the West has renewed debate among US officials about the optimal mix of intelligence gathering, law enforcement, and immigration regulations for preventing Islamist radicalization inside America.