Top Stories

Wall Street Journal: U.S. Toughens Demands on Syria’s New Islamist-Led Leadership

The Trump administration is threatening to take a hard line with Syria’s new Islamist-led government, issuing demands that include cracking down on extremists and expelling Palestinian militants in return for a limited easing of sanctions, U.S. officials said. The White House issued policy guidance in recent weeks calling on the Syrian government to take steps that also involve securing the country’s chemical-weapons stockpile, several U.S. officials familiar with the policy said. The U.S. in exchange would consider a renewal of a narrow sanctions waiver issued by the Biden administration that was intended to speed the flow of aid to the country, they added. The guidance reflects skepticism among administration officials of Syria’s government, which is led by former rebel commanders who ousted President Bashar al-Assad from power in December, ending the country’s 13-year-long civil war.

 

Associated Press: Yemen’s Houthi rebels report US strikes in the capital and a coastal city

Yemen’s Houthi rebels said Saturday that the U.S. military launched a series of airstrikes on the capital, Sanaa, and the Houthi-held coastal city of Hodeida, less than two days after a U.S. strike wrecked a Red Sea port and killed more than 70 people. The Houthis’ media office said 13 U.S. airstrikes hit an airport and a port in Hodeida, on the Red Sea. The office also reported U.S strikes in the capital, Sanaa. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The U.S. military’s Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said it continues to conduct strikes against the Houthis in Yemen. Thursday’s strike hit the port of Ras Isa, also in Hodeida province, killing 74 people and wounding 171 others, according to the Houthi-run health ministry. It was the deadliest strike in the U.S. ongoing bombing campaign on the Iranian-backed rebels.

CEP Mentions

The Times: Islamist gangs exploit vacuum of authority in Britain’s prisons

The threat of violence has never been far away from crowded jails but the problem is now endemic. The rehabilitation of offenders cannot happen within an unstable system. As the former prison governor Ian Acheson says: “Broken staff cannot help fix broken people.” A key factor in the crisis of authority in UK jails has been the rise of Islamist gangs after the jailing of radicals for terrorist attacks and plots. Almost 16,000 inmates in England and Wales now ­identify themselves as Muslim after a 190 per cent rise in their numbers in 22 years due to sentencing and religious conversions behind bars. Almost a decade ago, Mr Acheson warned the Commons justice committee that “all the ingredients for radicalisation” in jails were present. Islamist gang culture, sometimes expressed in loyalty to the Muslim Brotherhood, mixes with ordinary criminality. Conversion to Islam behind bars is driven partly by the protection offered by gang membership in increasingly anarchic settings.

 

LBC: 'Put Manchester Arena terrorist in total isolation' for seriously injuring prison guards, ex-governor urges

Hashem Abedi, 28, inflicted "life-threatening" injuries on the officers at HMP Frankland in County Durham on Saturday. He is being held at the jail for his role in the deadly bombings eight years ago and his latest attack has outraged many, including former prison governor Ian Acheson. Mr Acheson, who carried out a review of Islamist extremism in jails in 2016, called Abedi "the second most dangerous prisoner in the UK" and claimed he should be left in total isolation because "we don’t have the death penalty". "The only other alternative is extreme custody - if it turns him mad then so be it," he told the Times.

Analysis

Egmont Institute: Silence in the Sahel does not Equal Stability

The Sahel is no longer on the frontpages. In the past few years – even in the past few months – the geopolitical context has changed radically. The Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine understandably turned European attention to the East in 2022. The Israel – Palestine armed conflict which restarted in 2023 and has taken unprecedented proportions has also called for attention, while the last three years of Rwanda- supported rebel invasion in the East of the DRC recently caught the news. In more recent weeks, the new US administration’s deeply disturbing dismantling of national institutions and international order has predictably stolen the headlines. Yet, in the meantime the different crises which have plagued the Sahel over more than a decade are continuing and the situation is worsening.

 

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy: Settler Violence Is Turning the West Bank Into a Tinderbox

The early months of 2025 have seen a significant rise in extremist right-wing violence against Palestinians in the West Bank—an estimated 30 percent increase over the same period last year according to analysis of recent incidents. This surge is occurring at a time when Palestinian terrorism has significantly decreased, to an average of six major attacks per month between January and March, versus twenty-four per month during the same period in 2024. The decline in Palestinian attacks is a result of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations since October 7, 2023, aimed at dismantling terrorist networks in the West Bank, primarily in the northern part of the territory but also in the south. The increase in settler violence at a time when Palestinian terrorism is decreasing lends credence to the assessment that settler attacks are not simply a response to terrorism, as some have claimed.

United States

New York Times: Trump Waved Off Israeli Strike After Divisions Emerged in His Administration

Israel had planned to strike Iranian nuclear sites as soon as next month but was waved off by President Trump in recent weeks in favor of negotiating a deal with Tehran to limit its nuclear program, according to administration officials and others briefed on the discussions. Mr. Trump made his decision after months of internal debate over whether to pursue diplomacy or support Israel in seeking to set back Iran’s ability to build a bomb, at a time when Iran has been weakened militarily and economically. The debate highlighted fault lines between historically hawkish American cabinet officials and other aides more skeptical that a military assault on Iran could destroy the country’s nuclear ambitions and avoid a larger war. It resulted in a rough consensus, for now, against military action, with Iran signaling a willingness to negotiate.

 

Times of Israel: ADL says 2024 antisemitic incidents in US shattered records for fourth year in a row

Antisemitic incidents in the United States reached unprecedented levels in 2024, breaking annual records for the fourth consecutive year, according to a report released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League. The 9,354 recorded cases of harassment, vandalism, and assault were the highest total since the ADL began tracking incidents in 1979, and five percent higher than in 2023, when the previous record was set, the antisemitism watchdog said.

 

Associated Press: US to withdraw 600 troops from Syria, leaving fewer than 1,000 to help counter IS militants

The U.S. will withdraw about 600 troops from Syria, leaving fewer than 1,000 to work with Kurdish allies to counter the Islamic State group, a U.S. official said Thursday. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet announced publicly. The U.S. troops have been critical not only in the operations against the Islamic State but as a buffer for the Kurdish forces against Turkey, which considers them to be aligned with terror groups. President Donald Trump tried to withdraw all forces from Syria during his first term, but he met opposition from the Pentagon because it was seen as abandoning allies and led to the resignation of former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. The departure of the 600 troops will return force levels to where they had been for years, after the U.S. and its allies waged a multiyear campaign to defeat IS. The U.S. had maintained about 900 troops in Syria to ensure that the IS militants did not regain a foothold, but also as a hedge to prevent Iranian-backed militants from trafficking weapons across southern Syria.

 

Jerusalem Post: America's rushed Afghan pullout allowed Taliban to traffic US weapons to Houthis

When American troops pulled out of Kabul in a hasty moved under the Biden administration in 2021, the military left behind a trove of US weapons. Many of the weapons left in the hands of the Taliban have since been sold to terror groups across the region, including the Houthis, sources told the BBC on Thursday. Around one million weapons and pieces of military equipment were left by the US to the Taliban, a former Afghan official, and it is currently believed that half a million weapons have been lost, sold or smuggled since. The sources claimed that during a UN Security Council's Sanctions Committee meeting in Doha last year, Taliban officials admitted half of the weapons left by the US were now unaccounted for. The weapons have been transferred to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, and Yemen's Houthis, according to a February UN report.

 

Vox: The right-wing conspiracy behind Trump’s war on Harvard

Back in 2021, far-right blogger Curtis Yarvin, who supports abolishing American democracy and replacing it with a dictatorship, went on a podcast to discuss how a hypothetical “American Caesar” might successfully carry out a power grab if elected president. His interlocutor, then-former (and now, current) Trump official Michael Anton, argued that any such effort would fail because “the real power centers” in the US — the elite media and academic institutions exemplified by “Harvard and the New York Times” — would fight back. “That’s right,” Yarvin agreed. “That’s why, basically, you can’t continue to have a Harvard or a New York Times past the start of April.”

 

KGAN: Neo-Nazi march in Marion sparks legal debate, bipartisan backlash

A white supremacist march in Marion over the weekend has drawn swift condemnation from residents, state lawmakers and legal experts, sparking a debate over free speech protections. Four masked men marched along Seventh Avenue in Marion’s uptown district Saturday, carrying a flag associated with the Aryan Freedom Network, a known neo-Nazi organization. The group distributed flyers that read, “Who’s working in the interest of white Americans?” and included a link to a white supremacist website. The event lasted just under 90 minutes. Police monitored the march but made no arrests, stating the individuals remained peaceful and did not violate any laws.

 

Associated Press: Anti-Defamation League says anger at Israel is now the driving force behind antisemitism in the US

The Anti-Defamation League says the number of antisemitic incidents in the United States reached a record high last year and notes that 58% of the 9,354 incidents related to Israel, notably chants, speeches and signs at rallies protesting Israeli policies. In a report released Tuesday, the ADL, which has produced annual tallies for 46 years, said it’s the first time Israel-related incidents — 5,422 of them in 2024 — comprised more than half the total. A key reason is the widespread opposition to Israel’s military response in Gaza after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

 

USA Today: Anti-Defamation League calls Trump administration Harvard reprimand an 'overreach'

A major organization that combats antisemitism denounced the Trump administration for withholding funds from Harvard University after the administration alleged the university has allowed antisemitism to flourish on campus. "Antisemitism on college campuses is a genuine crisis that demands serious attention, but we are concerned about the extent and scope of the current approach taken by the Administration to Harvard," wrote Jonathan Greenblatt, president and CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, in an open letter Friday. "Denying federal funds (whether in part or in total) is an extremely serious and rightfully rare punishment that should be used only in the most severe situations with institutions incapable or unwilling to improve," Greenblatt added.

Canada

Global News: Domestic extremists pushing ‘corrosive’ narratives in Canada’s election: report

Canadian domestic extremists are using the federal election to amplify “corrosive” narratives around democracy, immigration and conspiracy theories, a new report suggests. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) found Canadian extremists are capitalizing on the deteriorating relationship between Canada and U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to draw people towards their movements.

France

BBC: French jails have come under attack. Are violent drug gangs to blame?

But the conviction is growing that the attacks - 12 since Sunday night - can only have been the work of drugs gangs, hitting back at the government's latest crackdown. That is certainly the belief of the government itself. Speaking on Thursday morning, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said he was "certain that what we're dealing with is the drugs-yobs [in French, narco-racaille]". "It's not they who have declared war on us. It's we who declared war on them with our new law on drugs trafficking. They know we're going to be hitting their wallets." In what was obviously a co-ordinated plan over three nights, gangs set fire to cars outside prisons and a prison officer training centre. In two locations, guns were used. In many attacks, the perpetrators sprayed graffiti bearing the initials DDPF, which stands for Droits des Prisonniers Français - Rights for French Prison Inmates.

Germany

Berliner Morgenpost: Motive anti-Semitism - Verdict in Shapira trial: 24-year-old gets harsh sentence

Mustafa El-H.'s defense strategy did not work out. On Thursday, the 24-year-old former student at the Freie Universität (FU) was dealt a heavy blow. After attacking the Jewish student Lahav Shapira on February 2, 2024, he has now been sentenced to three years in prison - more than the public prosecutor's office had demanded. The Tiergarten District Court found the victim's fellow student guilty of causing grievous bodily harm and also assumed an anti-Semitic motive to aggravate the sentence. This is precisely what the martial artist had always denied. The German government's anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, was once again in the audience on Thursday to urge the judiciary to consistently punish anti-Semitism. According to the indictment and Shapira's statement, the attack was sudden, due to his Jewish faith and his commitment to Israel's right to exist. The defendant, who was born in Berlin and whose parents are from Lebanon, stated that the attack was "not about politics".

 

The Guardian: Berlin reports rise in attacks on refugees amid surge in far-right crime

Berlin has reported a marked increase in attacks on asylum seekers and refugee shelters, amid a sharp rise in far-right crime and a hardening of German migration policy. Official figures provided at the request of two local Green party lawmakers showed there were 77 assaults on asylum seekers and refugees in 2024 and eight instances of deliberate damage to residences housing them. This compares with 32 targeted attacks on people and none on residences in 2023, one of the deputies, Ario Ebrahimpour Mirzaie, told the news agency dpa.

 

Deutsche Welle: Teen's home searched over suspected ricin plot

Police in Germany searched the home of a 16-year-old in the eastern state of Saxony on Thursday on suspicion of possessing the highly toxic biological warfare agent ricin. The teenager is alleged to have manufactured and stored several vials of a mixture of the plant toxins ricin and aconitine in a specially equipped laboratory in the attic of his family's house. The Saxony State Office of Criminal Investigation and the Dresden Public Prosecutor's Office said proceedings were underway into a suspected offense under the Weapons of War Act. Investigations to date have not revealed any indications as to the purpose for which the suspect was manufacturing the substances. Police said they were sifting through the "purpose-built laboratory," seeking "to seize all toxic substances and other evidence." Experts from Germany's disease control agency, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), were also at the scene. The emergency services cordoned off a large area of ​​the premises, and all access roads were also closed. The 16-year-old was said to be at large.

The Netherlands

NL Times: 14 arrested across Netherlands for inciting terrorism on social media, including minors

Fourteen individuals between the ages of 14 and 30 were arrested across the Netherlands on Tuesday in connection with multiple investigations into incitement to terrorism through social media. Some of the suspects are minors, according to the Dutch Public Prosecution Service. The suspects are accused of attempting to incite others to commit terrorist acts, with some of the alleged activity taking place on TikTok. The arrests were carried out in various locations throughout the country and involved multiple regional police units.

United Kingdom

BBC: FM defends excluding Reform UK from anti-far right summit

First Minister John Swinney has defended his decision not to invite Reform UK to a political summit to discuss the threat from the far right. Reform, which denies being far right, claims the meeting is really an "anti-democratic" attempt to curb its growing electoral support. Swinney said the summit, being held on Wednesday, would focus on shared values and Reform's approach to immigration caused him "enormous concern".

 

BBC: Tories push to ban recording of non-crime hate incidents

The recording of non-crime hate incidents by police forces in England and Wales should be scrapped in all but a few cases, the Conservatives have said. The party will try to amend the government's Crime and Policing Bill to ban forces from logging such incidents, except in limited circumstances. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) had "wasted police time chasing ideology and grievance instead of justice". But Policing Minister Diana Johnson said the plan was "unworkable" and "would prevent the police monitoring serious antisemitism and other racist incidents".

 

The Sun: 'ARM US' Prison officers demand power to use Tasers in UK’s toughest jails after Manchester bomb plotter attacked staff

PRISON officers want the power to use Tasers inside our toughest jails after an attack on staff by the Manchester bomb plotter. Union bosses want specially-trained staff armed with stun guns to deal with violent lags in high-security wings. It comes after Hashem Abedi hurled boiling oil and used improvised weapons to attack and injure three guards at HMP Frankland. He was jailed for a minimum of 55 years for murder for helping his suicide bomber brother Salman plan the 2017 arena concert attack which killed 22. Mark Fairhurst, chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association, will make the case to Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood on Wednesday.

Israel

New York Post: Israeli PM Netanyahu vows to continue war against Hamas after terrorists reject temporary cease-fire, hostage deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed never to “capitulate” to Hamas, after the terror group this week rejected another temporary truce that would have brought half of the living hostages home. “As your prime minister, I will not capitulate to the murderers who committed the worst massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Netanyahu said in a recorded message aired on Saturday. The terror group is demanding it holds onto power amid a permanent end to the war and Israeli withdrawal, as well as “vast sums of money” to rehabilitate Gaza, which Netanyahu said would only help enable future attacks on Israel. Hamas released its latest propaganda video Saturday showing Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot making a mock phone call to his family urging them to keep fighting for his release, according to reports.

 

Wall Street Journal: A Depleted Hamas Is So Low on Cash That It Can’t Pay Its Fighters

Hamas is facing a new problem in Gaza: coming up with the cash it needs to pay its rank and file. Israel last month cut off supplies of humanitarian goods to the enclave, some of which Hamas had been seizing and selling to raise funds, according to Arab, Israeli and Western officials. Its renewed offensive has targeted and killed Hamas officials who played important roles in distributing cash to cadres and sent others into hiding, Arab intelligence officials said. In recent weeks, the Israeli military has said it killed a money changer who was key to what it called terrorist financing for Hamas as well as a number of top political officials in rapid succession. The result for Hamas has been a debilitating squeeze.

 

Times of Israel: Hamas claims it won’t develop weapons, dig tunnels during long-term truce with Israel

Hamas told Arab mediators last week that it is willing to enter a long-term truce with Israel during which it would halt all military operations, including the development of weapons and the digging of tunnels, two officials familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel on Sunday. The truce would be part of a comprehensive deal that the terror group is seeking in order to end the Gaza war sparked by its October 7, 2023, onslaught, a senior Palestinian official and a diplomat from an Arab mediating country said. Hamas is also willing to cede governing control of Gaza to an independent body of Palestinian technocrats, as envisioned by an Egyptian proposal for the postwar administration of the Strip, the officials said.

 

New York Times: Israeli Minister Says Freeing Hostages Not ‘Most Important’ Aim of the War

A far-right Israeli politician said on Monday that saving the hostages in Gaza was not Israel’s “most important goal” in its war with Hamas, further stoking the debate in Israel over its objectives for the war. Bezalel Smotrich, the country’s powerful finance minister, suggested in a radio interview that ensuring that Hamas no longer ruled the Gaza Strip after its deadly 2023 attack in southern Israel was a higher priority. “We have promised the Israeli people that at the end of the war, Gaza will no longer be a threat to Israel,” said Mr. Smotrich, who has called for building Jewish settlements in the Palestinian enclave. “We need to eliminate the problem of Gaza.”

 

Times of Israel: In third Hamas video, Elkana Bohbot pleads for his release, says he fears for his life

Hamas on Saturday released a propaganda video of hostage Elkana Bohbot — the third time it has published footage of the captive held in Gaza. Hamas has previously issued similar videos of hostages it is holding, in what Israel says is deplorable psychological warfare. Shortly after the video was published by the terror group, Bohbot’s family approved the publication of the video in Israeli media, which does not share images of hostages without their families’ permission.

 

Jerusalem Post: IDF officer G'haleb Sliman Alnasasra killed by Hamas ambush in northern Gaza

CWO G'haleb Sliman Alnasasra was killed in battle while fighting in the northern Gaza Strip, the IDF announced on Saturday. CWO Alnasasra, 35, from Rahat, served in the Northern Brigade in the Gaza Division. During the incident in which CWO Alnasasra fell, a tracker in the Northern Brigade, Gaza Division, was severely injured. In addition, two soldiers in the 414th Battalion, Border Protection Corps, were severely injured during combat in the northern Gaza Strip. According to Walla, CWO Alnasasra fell while helping female combat soldiers from the 414th Battalion who had been wounded.

Lebanon

Times of Israel: IDF: Hamas-allied terror operative killed in strike on vehicle south of Beirut

An Israeli drone strike targeting a vehicle south of the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Tuesday killed a prominent member of a terror group that has taken part alongside Hezbollah in fighting against Israel. According to the Israel Defense Forces, the strike in the Lebanese coastal town of Haret en-Naameh, just south of Beirut, targeted Hussein Izzat Mohammad Atwi, a member of the al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group) organization, which is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in Lebanon.

 

Naharnet: Hezbollah official urges state to stop being an 'impotent spectator' as to Israel attacks

Hezbollah Islamic relations official Sheikh Abdel Majid Ammar on Tuesday strongly condemned an Israeli drone strike that killed a senior Jamaa Islamiya military commander near Damour, calling it an attack on Lebanese sovereignty and on “resistance with all its affiliations.” “The enemy’s insistence on its crimes with a blatant U.S. cover and encouragement is the result of the indifference of the states sponsoring the ceasefire agreement and the international community’s failure to perform its responsibilities, which encourages the enemy to press on with its barbaric hostility,” Ammar added.

 

Naharnet: Hezbollah hails the late pope over his stances on Palestine

Hezbollah has offered condolences over Pope Francis' death to the Christians of the world and Lebanon, hailing the late pontiff's "clear positions calling for an end to the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip... and his support for the Palestinian cause." President Joseph Aoun has meanwhile called Francis' death "a loss for all humanity, for he was a powerful voice for justice and peace" who called for "dialogue between religions and cultures."

 

Naharnet: 4 killed, 4 hurt as ordnance explodes in Lebanese Army vehicle in South

Four people were killed and four others wounded when unexploded ordnance blew up inside a Lebanese Army vehicle in the southern town of Braiqaa on Sunday, media report said. The reports said the dead include an army officer and two soldiers. A soldier had been killed Monday in an explosion inside a Hezbollah tunnel in south Lebanon.

 

Naharnet: Army says foiled rocket attack on Israel, seized weapons

Lebanese authorities have detained several people who they say were planning to launch rockets into Israel and confiscated the weapons they were intending to use, the military said Sunday. The army said in a statement that the arrests are linked to other detentions announced earlier this week. It added that as military intelligence was investigating that case they got information that a new rocket attack was being planned.

Syria

Reuters: Syria detains two leaders of Palestinian Islamic Jihad

Syrian authorities have detained two senior members of the Palestinian militant faction Islamic Jihad, which took part in the October 2023 attacks on Israel from Gaza, the group's armed wing and a Syrian official said on Tuesday. In a statement, the Al Quds Brigades said Khaled Khaled, who heads Islamic Jihad's operations in Syria, and Yasser al-Zafari, who heads its organisational committee, had been in Syrian custody for five days.

 

Kurdistan24: ISIS Resurgence Alarms Western Kurdistan: 66 Attacks Recorded Since Start of 2025

In a troubling sign of renewed militant activity, Islamic State (ISIS) cells have carried out 66 attacks across areas under the control of the Autonomous Democratic Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) since the beginning of 2025, with the latest incidents targeting Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions in Deir ez-Zor and Hasakah provinces Northeastern Syria (Western Kurdistan). According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), these operations have resulted in the deaths of 23 individuals, including 13 SDF members and affiliated military personnel, 5 ISIS fighters, and 5 civilians. The attacks have been carried out using a variety of tactics—including improvised explosive devices, armed assaults, and targeted bombings—amid a broader security vacuum.

Turkey

Times of Israel: Turkey’s spy chief meets with Hamas leaders for talks on Gaza aid delivery

Turkey’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met with Hamas leaders on Saturday for talks about how to deliver aid to war-ravaged Gaza where Israel resumed its military offensive last month. Kalin held talks with Mohammad Darwish, head of the terror group’s political council and his delegation, Turkey’s Anadolu state news agency reported, without saying where the meeting took place. Media reports said it was in Turkey. As well as discussing ways to deliver humanitarian aid, they also spoke of initiatives to secure a permanent ceasefire along with ways to counter any plans to forcibly displace Gaza’s population, Anadolu said, citing security sources.

Afghanistan

Amu: Taliban expand religious education network, launching three new madrassas in one month

Data from Taliban-run education ministry shows that Taliban have begun construction on three new religious schools in Logar, Farah and Ghazni provinces over the past month. Another madrassa has been inaugurated in Kabul during this time. The data includes the first month of the solar year that expands from March 21 to April 20. The religious school inaugurated in Kabul is named the Mohammad ibn Hasan al-Shaybani Madrassa, and is located in Kabul’s District 5, where girls in grades 10 to 12 are receiving religious education. The new projects include the Abdullah Almas Madrassa in Logar’s Charkh district, the Fayz-ul-Uloom Madrassa in Farah’s Khak-e-Safid district, and the Aafia Siddiqah Madrassa for girls in Ghazni’s Muqur district.

 

Amu: Taliban minister says Islamic laws must apply to all, including ‘officials’

Addressing a gathering in Kabul on Sunday, where filming was prohibited Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s vice and virtue minister, who explained their leader’s recent decree, said that Islamic laws must be applied equally to all citizens, including Taliban officials. “It is not the case that those who are senior or hold positions are exempt from this religion while it is enforced only upon the rest of the people,” he said in an audio message released by the Taliban-run media, RTA. Meanwhile, he said that scholars and Taliban officials are the leaders of society, and their actions and guidance determine the future course of the community.

 

Amu: Taliban’s Siraj Haqqani returns to Interior Ministry after 37 days

Thirty-seven days after his return to Kabul, Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s interior minister and one of their senior leaders, appeared at the Ministry of Interior for the first time. The ministry released photographs showing Haqqani alongside senior Taliban officials, announcing that he presided over a leadership meeting at the ministry. According to a statement from the Taliban-run Ministry of Interior, deputy ministers and directors were present at the meeting, where Haqqani emphasized the importance of coordination among Taliban police forces. His reappearance comes after more than a month of absence, during which time speculation grew amid reports of deepening internal divisions within the Taliban.

 

Daily Star: 'My Taliban holiday ended with passionate gun-toting terrorist fling in hotel'

A British tourist walked across the one of the most dangerous border in the world to spend his holiday with the Taliban – and had a holiday fling with a terrorist. After falling in love with “extreme travel” two years ago, Toyosi Osideinde, 30, has visited 69 countries so far – with an upcoming trip to Ukraine. He decided his trips to Iraq, Syria and Belarus were “not enough”, and he prepared for his ultimate “dangerous and thrill-seeking” experience – Afghanistan.

Yemen

Jordan News: Houthis Claim Strikes on Two U.S. Aircraft Carriers in the Red and Arabian Seas

The Houthi group in Yemen announced on Monday that it had carried out two military operations, one targeting a critical site inside Israel in the occupied Ashkelon area using a "Yafa-type" drone. In a statement issued Monday morning, the group said a second operation targeted an Israeli military position with a “Samad-1” drone. The Houthis added that their armed forces conducted two “qualitative” military operations as part of their response to what they described as “American aggression” on Yemen, and in retaliation for alleged massacres against the Yemeni people—the latest being an airstrike in the capital Sana’a that resulted in dozens of casualties.

 

Financial Times: US says Chinese firm is helping Houthis target American warships

A Chinese satellite company linked to the country’s military is supplying Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen with imagery to target US warships and international vessels in the Red Sea, according to American officials. The Trump administration has repeatedly warned Beijing that Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co Ltd, a commercial group with ties to the People’s Liberation Army, is providing the Houthis with the intelligence, according to the US officials. “The United States has raised our concerns privately numerous times to the Chinese government on Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co Ltd’s role in supporting the Houthis in order to get Beijing to take action,” said a senior state department official.

 

I24News: Houthis fear operation similar to pager explosions in Yemen – report

The Houthis fear falling victim to an operation similar to the Israeli pager operation against Hezbollah last autumn, according to a report in the Qatari Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on Tuesday. The operation, which took place last September, continues to arouse curiosity and reactions worldwide. Thousands of Hezbollah operatives were maimed and dozens died as the pagers went off at the same time.

 

New York Times: U.S. Airstrike Hits Yemeni Capital, Killing 12, Local Health Officials Say

An American airstrike hit a densely populated area of the Yemeni capital on Sunday, killing 12 people and injuring 30, according to the health ministry of the Houthi-led government. Two witnesses who live in the capital, Sana, said that the attack struck a neighborhood near the Old City, a densely populated Unesco world heritage site that is filled with ancient towers. One witness, who identified himself only by his first name Yahya, said that a bakery in the Farwah neighborhood had burned down, killing its owner, and that the damage to nearby homes had displaced many people.

India

Reuters: Suspected militant attack in Indian Kashmir kills five tourists, police source says; eight hurt

Suspected militants opened fire in India's Kashmir region on Tuesday, killing at least five tourists and wounding eight other people, a police source told Reuters, in the worst such attack in the territory in nearly a year. The attack took place in Pahalgam, a popular destination in the scenic Muslim-majority territory that has drawn thousands of summer visitors as militant violence has eased in recent years.

 

India Today: NIA links 2022 Coimbatore blast to ISIS plot targeting 'kafirs' in India

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) said that the Islamic State (ISIS) continues to actively plan attacks on places of worship belonging to non-believers, or ‘kafirs’, as part of a broader campaign to spread Salafi jihad across India. According to sources in the NIA, these plots are aimed at fuelling sectarian violence and avenging the arrests of ISIS-linked operatives. NIA Investigators have linked the 2022 Coimbatore car bomb blast in Tamil Nadu to this pattern of radicalisation and retaliation. The explosion, which killed suicide attacker Jamesha Mubeen, was allegedly carried out in response to the earlier arrest of Salafi extremist Mohammed Azharuddin by the NIA in 2019. Mubeen, the NIA claims, had pledged allegiance to ISIS’s self-styled Caliph Abu-Al-Hasan Al-Hashimi Al-Qurashi, and aimed to target non-believers in line with extremist ideology.

Pakistan

Amu: Pakistan invites Taliban foreign minister to Islamabad amid migrant tensions

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said it has formally invited Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s acting foreign minister, to visit Islamabad, as tensions escalate between the two sides over migrant expulsions, cross-border insecurity and militant activity. The invitation came during a phone call between Ishaq Dar, Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, and Muttaqi, following Dar’s one-day visit to Kabul on Saturday. Muttaqi accepted the invitation, according to a senior Taliban official at the Foreign Ministry who spoke to Amu TV.

Benin

Reuters: Al Qaeda affiliate says it killed 70 soldiers in Benin, SITE reports

Al Qaeda affiliate JNIM said it killed 70 soldiers in raids on two military posts in north Benin, the biggest death count claimed by jihadists in the country in over a decade of activity in West Africa, the SITE Intelligence Group said on Saturday. The West African state and its coastal neighbour Togo have suffered a series of attacks in recent years as groups linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda have expanded their presence beyond the Sahel region to the north.

Burkina Faso

BBC: Burkina Faso army says it foiled 'major' coup plot

Burkina Faso's military government has said it foiled a "major plot" to overthrow junta leader Capt Ibrahim Traoré, with the army alleging the plotters were based in neighbouring Ivory Coast. Security Minister Mahamadou Sana said the coup attempt was led by current and former soldiers working with "terrorist leaders". The intention was to attack the presidential palace last week, he added. The aim of the plan was to "sow total chaos, and place the country under the supervision of an international organisation", Sana said on state television on Monday.

Nigeria

Reuters: ISWAP claims responsibility for deadly attacks in Nigeria

The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks targeting Nigerian security forces as well as Christian civilians in Nigeria’s northeastern regions earlier this month. Through seven messages posted on its news agency "Amaq," ISWAP claimed it conducted these operations, backing up the statements with a video depicting one of the assaults and two photo albums documenting two other operations.

 

Reuters: Death toll in Nigeria attacks by herders rises to 56

The death toll in attacks by suspected cattle herders on communities in central Nigeria's Benue State has risen to 56, Governor Hyacinth Alia said on Saturday, underscoring a resurgence of such deadly clashes in Africa's most populous nation. Local media quoted the governor as citing the figure while visiting the villages in Logo and Ukum Local Government Areas (LGAs) that were attacked. Police had earlier put the figure at 17.

Somalia

Eastleigh Voice: Puntland forces kill over 40 militants in major blow to ISIS

Puntland Defence Forces have killed more than 40 members of the Islamic State (ISIS) fighters during a targeted operation in the Togga Miiraale area, officials confirmed on Saturday. The offensive, part of Operation Hillaac, has been ongoing for over 24 hours in the Calmiskaad mountain range, targeting remnants of the ISIS-affiliated group who were hiding in natural fortifications.

South Sudan

Reuters: South Sudan's military recaptures key town from White Army militia

South Sudan's army said it had recaptured a key town in Upper Nile state that it lost to an ethnic Nuer militia in March in clashes which led to the arrest of First Vice President Riek Machar and a spiralling political crisis. President Salva Kiir has served in an uneasy power-sharing government with Machar since a 2018 peace deal ended a civil war between fighters loyal to the two men which killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Australia

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Former ASIO spy outs himself to reveal Australian preacher Wisam Haddad as the spiritual leader of pro-IS network

A former ASIO spy is breaking his cover to expose the activities of a notorious preacher at the centre of Australia's resurgent pro-Islamic State (IS) network, including his work with global terrorist leaders to inspire a new generation of young Australian jihadists. The former secret agent, codenamed Marcus, has taken the extraordinary step of risking prosecution to give Four Corners the first inside accounts of Wisam Haddad's operations and the undercover counter-terrorism work of Australia's domestic spy agency, ASIO.