Violence and Security

Islamist Militants Consolidating Control in Libya

August 04, 2014

Western diplomatic missions are being closed in Libya, as Islamist forces connected to the murder of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens are consolidating their control over the city of Benghazi in the wake of last week's collapse of the capital city of Tripoli to radical Islamist militias.
New Islamic Caliphate a Threat to US Homeland Security

August 04, 2014

Senior US defense and intelligence officials publicly expressed agreement at the recent Aspen Security Forum that the newly established Islamic State, the caliphate established by the Islamist terror group ISIS that now controls large swaths of Iraqi and Syrian territory, constitutes a threat to both U.S. strategic interests and the American homeland.
EU Issues Sobering Report on Globalization of Salafist-Wahhabist Terror Funding

August 04, 2014

The destabilizing geopolitical effects caused by the globalization of violent-extremist Islamist groups, whose operational capacity is related to steady funding streams from Wahhabi-Salafi regimes in the Arabian Gulf region, is the subject of a sobering report issued by the Directorate-General for External Policies of the European Union.
UN Human Rights Council Inquiry into Israeli Actions in Gaza Fails to Mention Hamas

August 04, 2014

The decision by the UN Human Rights Council to initiate an inquiry into alleged Israeli war crimes in its current military offensive in Gaza fails to mention Hamas, the militant Islamist organization widely considered a terrorist group, thereby evoking charges of bias in the Geneva forum.
UN Commission Could Consider ISIS for War Crimes

July 30, 2014

The United Nations may take aim at commanders of the Islamist extremist group/state ISIS for perpetrating war crimes (including summary executions, kidnappings, and torture) in Iraq and Syria, according to a member of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry for Syria, which has been appointed by the UN Human Rights Council.
Evidence of U.S. Failure to Take Preventive Action Against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

July 30, 2014

Criticism of Washington's unwillingness to provide preventive drone support against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, now known as The Islamic State, since recently establishing a caliphate) has gained traction and credibility from a recent hearing of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, which revealed the timing of Baghdad's requests for anti-ISIS drones had stretched back to last year.
UN Security Council Considers Sanctions on Entities Trading Oil with Militant Islamic State

July 30, 2014

The UN Security Council is reviewing a draft statement that condemns UN member-states for conducting "direct or indirect trade" with terrorist groups such as the terrorist group the Islamic State of Syria and the Levant (“ISIS,” now known as The Islamic State) and that calls on the UN to take "necessary measures" to prevent the current crude oil trade involving state and non-state actors and ISIS.
Nigeria's Islamist Militants Target Africa's Political Leaders

July 30, 2014

Boko Haram, the militant Islamist group committed to imposing sharia law throughout Nigeria, expanded the scope of its recent terror campaign against Nigerian Christians and domestic political leaders opposed to Islamicizing the state, with high-profile attacks and kidnappings aimed at government officials in neighboring Cameroon.
Islamist Militants Plan Attack in Norway

July 28, 2014

Norway's security forces have been mobilized in response to intelligence reports citing the credible threat of an imminent attack by Islamist militant fighters based in the NATO country and connected to jihadi networks in the Middle East.
Taliban Sunnis Kill Shiites as Apostates from Islam

July 28, 2014

A group of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan killed Shiites hauled from a bus leaving the Afghan capital of Kabul, targeting Shiites for death as apostates from the Sunni version of Islam followed by the Taliban militants.