Violence and Security

IS Repeats Tactics in Abducting Kurdish Civilians

June 28, 2016

In a move resembling the civilian abductions and enslavement of Christians and Yazidis by Islamic State forces in Iraqi territory, IS fighters have systematically abducted almost a thousand Kurdish civilians in the battle with the predominantly Kurdish Syria Democratic Forces for control of the Syrian province of Aleppo.
IS Attacks Christian Targets Inside Lebanon

June 28, 2016

A sequence of lethal suicide bombings by Islamist extremists believed to be associated with the Islamic State against a Lebanese Christian village along the Syrian border signaled that IS's footprint may be expanding into Lebanon and aimed at eliminating the country's Christians.
US Funds Jihadi University in Pakistan

June 28, 2016

Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government is giving $3 million of US aid intended to support mainstream and moderate Islamist schools to one of Pakistan's most infamous, extremist Islamist seminaries, known as the “University of Jihad.”
Islamist Hackers Release Internet Kill List

June 28, 2016

The recent release by the "Caliphate Cyber Army" of a 4,000-person "kill list" on social media points to a new frontier in the aggressive use of social media and the internet by the Islamic State and other Islamist extremist groups to recruit supporters and to plan violent attacks.
UN Official Condemns "Islamophobia" After Shootings

June 23, 2016

The UN Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, has condemned increased "Islamophobia" in the wake of the Orlando shootings and has criticized politicians who cite "radical Islam" as the cause of the attack.
Family of France Terror Victim Sues Tech Companies

June 22, 2016

Arguing that without the "material support" of social media companies, the Islamic State would have never gained its global influence, family members of a California student who was killed in last year's Paris attacks have sued Facebook, Twitter, and Google in US court for their alleged contribution to the attacks.
Facebook Censors Pages Critical of Islam in Wake of Orlando Massacre

June 20, 2016

Chris Tomlinson writes that, in the wake of the Islamic-State-inspired massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Facebook and Twitter have suspended pages and accounts criticizing Islamism and Islam for inciting violence against homosexuals.
Bombing Targets Syrian Christians in Genocide Memorial Service

June 20, 2016

A lethal suicide bombing targeted Syriac Orthodox Christians holding a memorial service commemorating the victims of Ottoman Turkish genocide against Christians at the Syrian-Turkish border city of Qamashli, where Islamist forces are fighting to expand control.
Belgian Police Arrest Three in Islamist Soccer Terror Plot

June 20, 2016

Police in Belgium arrested three individuals, considered to be linked to the Islamist assault in Brussels earlier this year and to the Islamic State's broader efforts to penetrate and undermine security in Europe, charged with plotting a terrorist attack on Belgian spectators of the Euro 2016 games.
Orlando Attack Highlights Need for US Global Response to IS Threat

June 20, 2016

The recent lethal attack in Orlando highlighted the capacity of the Islamic State threat, pushing some US policy experts to call for a more comprehensive strategy aimed at combating both the domestic and international reach of radical Islamist violence.