Violence and Security

IS Fighters Seize Key Mozambique Port in Expanding Operations to Grab Natural Gas in Horn of Africa

August 18, 2020

Local IS militants advanced their goal of seizing key natural gas resource sites in the Horn of Africa region, seizing two military Mozambique military bases and a poet in the southern part of the country.
Al Shabaab Deadly Attack on Somalia Hotel Reminds That Jihadism Continues During COVID-19

August 18, 2020

A multiple-casualty attack in Somalia by Islamist extremist group al Shabaab on a high-end hotel frequented by government officials and tourists in the country’s capital city is reminder that jihadism continues unabated during the COVID-19 pandemic, evidenced by al Shabaab’s ongoing violence aimed at implementing sharia regimes across East Africa.
IS Jailbreak in Afghanistan Underscores Active & Diverse Radical Islamist Ecosystem in South Asia

August 10, 2020

The Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), the Afghan franchise of IS, staged a major prison breakout for ISKP and Taliban extremists in the country’s eastern province bordering Pakistan, an indication of the resilient, active, and diverse ecosystem of jihadist groups cooperating in the Afghanistan-Pakistan space of South Asia.
IS Genocide Against Yazidi Imperils Religious Minority Community

August 10, 2020

The Islamic State’s (IS) genocide committed against the Yazidi religious minority of northern Iraq’s Sinjar region has left the ancient community’s survival in peril, as the small number of survivors continue to live in refugee camps, families are fragmented by IS’ murder of male heads of households, women formerly enslaved by IS fighters struggle with trauma, and the children of rape of Yazidi women by IS captors confront rejection from the Yazidi community.
European Governments Consider Disengagement and Deradicalization Strategies to Mitigate Security Threats from Repatriation of IS Foreign Fighters

August 05, 2020

European governments dealing with the potential security threats associated with re-patriating citizens who became foreign fighters for the Islamic State (IS) are beginning to explore the importance of disengagement programs for prisoners and other returnees, especially women and children, as the optimal strategy for deradicalization and long-term reintegration into home-country societies.
Suffering of Yazidi Women & Children Exemplifies Long-term Damage by IS

August 04, 2020

According to a new Amnesty International report, Yazidi children who have been freed from captivity from Islamic State (IS) caliphate forces are suffering from profound mental and physical health problems deriving from their subjugation to the violent Islamists’ systematic rape, forcible conscription, psychological terror, and other forms of enslavement.
IS Prison Strike in Afghanistan Reveals Fragile State & Competing Islamists

August 04, 2020

Islamic State (IS) militants staged a major assault on a prison in eastern Afghanistan, breaking out jihadist prisoners in a signal of rejection of the Taliban’s peace negotiations with the state and of the state’s inability to control the security environment.
Brit Who Fought Against IS Warns Against Returning Foreign Fighters Who Are Tip of Spear for Islamist Terrorism

July 30, 2020

A British volunteer who fought with the Kurdish militia against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria is warning the British government about the security threat posed by British citizens seeking return after they fought for the caliphate forces.
Iran Threatens Retaliation Against U.S. for Killing Islamist Military Leader

July 28, 2020

Iran’s top Islamic cleric and head of state issued a direct threat against the United States, vowing that the Islamist theocracy will carry out a “reciprocal blow” as retaliation for the U.S. drone strike that killed the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in January of this year.
NATO Faces Islamic Republic From Within

July 28, 2020

NATO is facing the imminent possibility of a member that is an Islamist state, with Turkey’s steady move towards becoming an Islamic republic constituting an internal threat to the sustainability of the Transatlantic Alliance.