Violence and Security

EU Parliament Lifts MEP Immunity over Violent Photos

March 13, 2017

Reuters reports that the European Parliament has voted to lift the parliamentary immunity of French presidential candidate and Member of the European Parliament Marine Le Pen to permit an investigation of her tweets of violent Islamic State photos in response to a media figure's comparison of her to members of the jihadist group.
Philippines Locates Remains of German Hostage

March 08, 2017

Officials in the Philippines have confirmed they have located the remains of a German hostage who was beheaded in an online execution perpetrated last week by Abu Sayyaf, a violent Islamist jihadist group that targets civilians as part of broader separatist activities in the Southern Philippines.
Police Shutter Mosque Linked to Berlin Attack

March 08, 2017

German security officials have shut down a mosque linked to the perpetrator of the Islamic State (IS)-inspired Christmas market attack in Berlin and operated by the Fussilet organization, which has been on the radar of German police for reported links to jihadi networks in Germany, Turkey, Iraq, and Syria.
IS Uses Chemical Weapons in Fight for Mosul

March 08, 2017

Medical aid workers in Iraqi Kurdistan are reporting that burns on civilians transported from the city of Mosul are consistent with "blistering chemical agents," suggesting that Islamic State (IS) militants are using crude chemical weapons in the battle to hold the city against advancing Iraqi government forces.
Internet Debates Signal Mideast Culture Wars

March 08, 2017

Security experts anticipate that the launch of the first online forum for the LGBT community in the Middle East and North Africa will produce an intense "cultural tsunami" between hardline Islamists and their critics.
Coptic Christians Flee IS Cleansing Campaign

March 08, 2017

Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Christians are accelerating their exodus from the North Sinai in the face of an escalation in targeted violence against them by Islamic State (IS) militants carrying out a religious cleansing campaign to eradicate the Mideast's largest remaining Christian community.
Australian Police Arrest IS Weapons Researcher

March 08, 2017

The Australian police's arrest of an electrician charged with assisting Islamic State (IS) networks on research and design for laser-guided warning systems has raised concerns among Australian officials about the reach of radical Islamism as far afield as rural Australia.
IS Sites Urge Attacks on Western Jewish Targets

March 08, 2017

A widely known Islamic State (IS) internet chat room calls on the jihadi group's supporters to target Jewish sites in Western countries, providing detailed instructions for carrying out lone-wolf, high-casualty attacks against soft targets like synagogues, museums, businesses, and embassies.
Drone Capability Emerges as IS Threat

March 01, 2017

US counterterrorism experts warn that the Islamic State's (IS) use of commercial drone technology in the battle for Mosul indicates that the jihadi group is moving rapidly toward the use of "drone swarms" for increased lethality and heightened psychological impact against civilian targets in the West.
French Report: Deradicalization Program Is a Failure

February 28, 2017

A cross-party task force of the French Senate has characterized the government's program to deradicalize homegrown jihadists as a "total failure," calling for an overhaul of the methodology, costs, and assessment tools intended to address the causes of French radical Islamists perpetrating terrorists attacks in the country and going to Syria to join the Islamic State.