Violence and Security

Taliban Targets Religious Scholars in Afghan Struggle

May 30, 2017

Taliban militants have augmented their jihadi war against the Afghan government with a move to slim the ranks of religious-intellectual dissenters, using a sharp increase in targeted killings of Islamic clerics who reject Talabani-style, violent Islamism.
Standoff in Philippines Produces Rights Violations

May 30, 2017

Civilian casualties are growing as Islamists battle the Philippines military for control of the key southern city of Marawi, while international and local human rights activists condemn jihadists for ransoming and murdering hostages and the country's president for apparently green-lighting rape by the military.
Coptic Pilgrims Suffer Lethal IS Attack in Egypt

May 26, 2017

The Islamic State's (IS) lethal assault on busloads of Coptic Orthodox Christians traveling on a daylong pilgrimage to a monastery south of Cairo continues the anti-Coptic Christian rampage by IS, which has declared Copts as the "favorite prey" in the effort to eradicate all Christians from Egypt.
Manchester Attack Reveals Terror Evolution, Challenges

May 26, 2017

This week's Islamic State (IS) attack at a Manchester concert reveals the extent to which Islamist terror groups such as IS and al-Qaeda have adapted their tactics, geographic scope, use of technologies, and commitment to territorial control to render obsolete previous state policies to eliminate non-Islamist forms of terrorism.
IS Attack Indicates Jihadist Competition in East Africa

May 26, 2017

A suicide bombing attack by an Islamic State (IS) affiliate group in Somalia points to renewed competition between al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda affiliated militant group waging war against Somalia's government, and IS to monopolize control in bringing sharia to the geopolitically sensitive region of East Africa.
UN Pushes "Human Security" Agenda to End Extremism

May 26, 2017

At the opening ceremony of the 4th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Azerbaijan, UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations Nassir Abdulaziz called for countries to focus on fulfilling the UN's "human security and sustainable development" agendas to achieve "peaceful and inclusive societies" and stamp out "violent extremism."
Lawyer Criticizes German "Hate Speech" Proposal

May 26, 2017

Lawyer Judith Bergman illustrates the concerns of free speech activists with proposed German legislation combating online "hate speech," asserting that bias of government authorities and platforms like Facebook toward eliminating "Islamophobic" speech would threaten the ability of observers to criticize government policy on migration and other issues.
Islamist Penetration in Philippines Continues with Siege

May 25, 2017

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law and ordered military action in the city of Marawi as part of an escalating counter-terrorism operation to degrade Islamic State forces that have penetrated the southern Philippines to expand Islamist militant ideas and practices throughout the island nation.
Iran's Levant Geopolitics Could Provoke Conflict with US

May 25, 2017

Iran's expansion of its brand of Islamist geopolitics throughout Syria and Iraq through its leadership of a coalition of anti-Islamic State (IS) Shiite forces in the region raises the possibility of a proxy confrontation between US-led coalition forces and Iran-led Shiite deployments from Iraq, Lebanon, and Afghanistan in the battle to oust IS from its Syrian headquarters in Raqqa.
Manchester Attack Raises Questions About IS Capacity

May 25, 2017

Following the claim of responsibility by the Islamic State (IS) for the suicide bombing attack this week in Manchester, England, Western security officials are presented with a security paradox involving the positive correlation between the contraction of IS's territorial control in its Mideast heartland and its capacity to expand its message and carry out jihad in Western countries.