Violence and Security

Chief Center of Sunni Education Turning to Social Media and Cyber Instruction to Counter Violent Islamism

July 01, 2015

The Grand Imam of Egypt's Al-Azhar University, the chief center of global religious instruction for Sunni Islam, announced the inauguration of a new, blended curriculum combining the use of social media tools designed to positively appeal to Muslim youth, as well as online training for imams, in order to counter charges of al-Azhar's failure to respond proactively against Islamist extremism and violence around the world.
Countering Spread of Islamist Extremism Requires Combination of Development and Security Policies

July 01, 2015

The recent spate of violent Islamist attacks from the Mideast to North Africa to Europe reveals the limitations of Western policies focusing entirely on security responses to religious terrorism, and reinforces the need to develop a more integrated set of economic development and security mechanisms designed to address the panoply of factors enabling Islamists to recruit for and execute jihadi-style violence.
US Law Enforcement Warns of Violent Islamism in US Provoked by Social Media

July 01, 2015

American law enforcement and security officials are warning that the Islamic State's ("IS") deliberate strategy of using social media to target US-based recruits for homegrown terror attacks inside the country has begun to produce results, with the recent shootings in Garland, Texas seen as a potential inspiration for ongoing radicalization and violence shaped by radical Islamist social-media campaigns.
Africa's Sahel Emerging as Major Zone of Islamist Extremism and Activity

June 26, 2015

International development and security analysts are raising urgent warnings about the entrenchment of Islamist extremist ideas and activities, as well as associated black market activities, in Africa's Sahel, the critical belt of countries connecting the Central and Saharan regions of the continent.
British Muslim Leaders Criticize Government's Focus on Values to Counter Homegrown Islamist Extremism

June 26, 2015

The British government's emphasis on public education as the optimal method for building British values that counter homegrown jihadist recruiting for violent Islamist causes has provoked accusations of "identityand religious engineering" by several well-known Muslim leaders in Britain.
Islamist Extremists Suspected in Gruesome Terror Attack in France

June 26, 2015

France remains on high alert and a suspect with known ties to violent Islamist extremists has been detained in the wake of a gruesome car-suicide terror attack on a US-affiliated Lyon factory, where police recovered a victim's decapitated head with Arabic script.
Islamist Extremist Groups Figure Prominently as Perpetrators in State Department Terrorism Report

June 24, 2015

The US State Department's newly released Annual Report on Terrorism reflects the overwhelming impact of Islamist extremist groups, headlined by the Islamic State ("IS") as the "self-styled leader of a global movement" aiming to expand the group's caliphate, as perpetrators of violent terror attacks that killed nearly 33,000 people in 2014 alone.
Taliban Attack Afghan Parliament in Ongoing Operations for Retaking Control of Country

June 24, 2015

Taliban fighters launched a series of assaults on Afghanistan's Parliament building at the moment when the country's new Defense Minister was about to take his oath of office, a brazen assault signalling the Islamist fundamentalist group's ongoing operations to retake control of the country and to make Afghanistan into a sharia state.
Boko Haram Looks to Islamic State to Expand Territorial Control in Africa

June 24, 2015

The period since the March 2015 presidential elections in Nigeria has witnessed a significant revitalization of operational actions and territorial control by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram, based on tactical changes and a rebranding effort associated with the group's collaboration with the Mideast-based, violent extremist movement known as Islamic State ("IS").
Cameroon Emerges as Strategic Player in African Security Response Against Boko Haram

June 24, 2015

Given that the rapid expansion of Boko Haram's operational area from Nigeria to the entire Lake Chad region of Africa is creating a geopolitical zone of military and economic instability that cuts across West and Central Africa, transatlantic strategic experts are moving to integrate Cameroon into regional and international security architectures aimed to counter the spread of extremist Islamism in Africa.