ABC News: After Foiled Taylor Swift Concert Plot, UN Official Calls ISIS-K 'Greatest' Terror Threat To Europe

“The United Nations counterterrorism chief said Europe faces a more acute threat from ISIS-K, the Islamic State affiliate to whom a 19-year old man pledged allegiance before plotting to terrorize Taylor Swift's concertgoers in Vienna this week. Vladimir Vorokov, the UN undersecretary for counterterrorism, said Thursday the ISIS-K threat, "regrettably," has "become manifest" in Vienna, where three of Swift's concerts were canceled when Austrian authorities arrested three suspects, and that the ISIS satellite is increasing in strength and influence. "The group is considered the greatest external terrorist threat to the continent," Vorokov told the UN Security Council, citing its "intensified" recruitment efforts and array of financial and logistical nodes.”

Voice Of America: US Commits To Freeing Americans Held By Taliban In Afghanistan

“The United States has promised to make every effort to secure the release of three Americans whom it says are being held “unjustly" by Taliban authorities in Afghanistan. Ryan Corbett, Mahmood Habibi, and George Glezmann were taken captive in separate incidents in Kabul in 2022, roughly a year after the Taliban stormed back to power in the Afghan capital. “My thoughts and prayers are with Ryan Corbett, Mahmood Habibi, and their families today,” Thomas West, the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, said on X, formerly Twitter, marking the two-year anniversary of the capture of the two men. “We will and we must continue every effort to bring them and George Glezmann home to their families,” he wrote Sunday. Roger Carstens, the U.S. special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, in separate remarks posted on X, said that the three “have been held for far too long and their families have endured unimaginable pain.””

CEP Mentions

The Washington Post: The Risky Bets Of The Paris Olympics Paid Off. Who Can Claim The Win?

“... “Was it embarrassing? Absolutely,” said Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project. “But was it a security threat to the Olympics and its participants? Absolutely not.” “They’ve done a fairly good job at making sure that everyone at the Games was safe,” he said. That’s good for Darmanin’s record — which had been tarnished by the 2022 Champions League final at the Stade de France, where poor crowd management resulted in dangerous congestion and police in riot gear deploying tear gas. Paris deputy mayor Pierre Rabadan said the Olympics had given French police an opportunity to increase public trust. “The relationship with the police has really evolved positively,” he said. “Usually, with the police, we are often in a relationship of conflict or concern. Here, we had police officers who provided information, who guided.””

SBS News: Extremists Volunteering In Soup Kitchens: How Ideologies Have Evolved To Attract Australians

“...The Counter Extremism Project has also warned of the threat from "active clubs", which were created in the United States in 2020 to "make fascism fun". "They are often founded by members of established openly extreme-right Neo-Nazi groups to attract members from mainstream society," the project's senior adviser Alexander Ritzmann told a Senate inquiry into right-wing extremist movements in Australia this year. The organisation explained in a submission that active clubs recruit people through focusing on brotherhood, fitness and self-defence, and were started as a way of avoiding scrutiny from authorities. They don't display obvious Nazi symbols in public and are asked to avoid threatening behaviour. But the Counter Extremism Project said there was increasing evidence to suggest the network's main objective was the creation of "shadow militias" that could be called upon for violent action.”

Independent Australia: Media, Government, Spies — Collectively They're Memory-Holing Neo-Nazism

“THE SECOND HEARING of a Senate Inquiry into Right-wing extremist movements in Australia was held in Canberra on 24 July. Individuals and organisations who made public submissions to the Inquiry are given the opportunity to present their contributions at these hearings. Many of these submissions are public if you care to look. That afternoon, one policy body, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), was invited to discuss its submission, which chiefly focuses on warning of what it describes as the “next challenge” to be posed by Australian neo-Nazis: the adoption of the "Active Club" model.”

Syria

Reuters: Syrian Army Attacks Islamic State Targets In Desert - Report

“The Syrian military has mounted air strikes against Islamic State militants and clashed with the jihadists in central Syria, the pro-Damascus al-Watan newspaper reported on Tuesday. The flare-up in the area of al-Sukhna, between Palymra and Deir al-Zor, on Monday points to the foothold the ultra-hardline Islamist group still has west of the Euphrates even as U.S.-backed fighters are poised to seize its last enclave east of the river. The Syrian air force mounted "a number of air strikes targeting Daesh movements in the eastern Badiya, specifically on one of the dirt roads leading to the town of al-Sukhna and southeast of the town", al-Watan said, citing a military source. Daesh is the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been laying siege to Islamic State's last enclave east of the Euphrates, the village of Baghouz, for several weeks.”

Turkey

Reuters: Turkey Says It Killed 12 Kurdish Militants In Northern Iraq

“Turkey's military has "neutralised" 12 militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, the Defence Ministry said on Friday. Turkey, which typically uses the term "neutralised" to mean killed, has been carrying out a cross-border operation called Claw-Lock in Iraq as part of the country's offensive against PKK militants. The PKK, which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.”

Pakistan

Associated Press: Attack On Pakistani Army Posts Leaves 3 Soldiers And 4 Insurgents Dead

“Militants attacked three army posts in northwest Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan on Friday, triggering intense shootouts that killed three soldiers and four insurgents, the military said. The attacks happened in the Tirah Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military said in a statement. It said a search operation was underway in the area to eliminate any other insurgents and security forces were “determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism.” The military gave no further details, but a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban in a statement claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Gul Bahadur group is based in Afghanistan, authorities say. The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021. Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks in recent years, predominantly in the northwest.”

Yemen

Associated Press: 4 Suspected Houthi Attacks Target A Ship Off Yemen, Authorities Say

“Four suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted a Liberian-flagged oil tanker in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, including one that saw private security guards shoot and destroy a bomb-loaded drone boat, authorities said Friday. The Houthis didn’t immediately claim the assaults, though they follow a monthslong campaign by the rebels targeting shipping through the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Since November, Houthi attacks have disrupted the $1 trillion of goods that flow annually through the region, while also sparking the most intense combat the U.S. Navy has seen since World War II. After a recent two-week pause, their attacks resumed following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, amid concerns of a wider regional war. Iran backs the Houthis as part of what it calls a regional “Axis of Resistance.””

Reuters: Yemen Border Strikes Kill Two Saudis, Yemen Death Toll Near 2,000: WHO

“Two Saudi border guards were killed and five wounded by shells fired from Yemeni territories, an Interior Ministry spokesman said late on Wednesday, as the United Nations said the war's death toll was close to 2,000. Saudi forces and the Houthis have been trading fire across the border since an Arab alliance began military operations against the Iranian-backed Shi'ite group in March to try to restore exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power. Saudi state news agency SPA said the border guards were killed at a military post in Dhahran al-Janoub, along the border with Yemen, when projectiles fired from the Yemeni side struck. Two of the soldiers died on the spot while five others were wounded and taken to a hospital, the agency said. The Saudi-led coalition says it began their campaign heeding a call by Hadi after the Houthis started advancing south towards the port city of Aden, where the president was based.”

Lebanon

Voice Of America: Hezbollah Says Two Fighters Killed In Israeli Strike

“Lebanon's Hezbollah movement said an Israeli airstrike on Sunday killed two fighters from the Iran-backed group, with the health ministry reporting another death from an attack days ago. Hezbollah has traded near-daily fire with Israel in support of its ally Hamas since the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza. Tensions have skyrocketed since a strike on Beirut's southern suburbs late last month killed Hezbollah's top military commander, Fuad Shukr, just hours before the assassination, blamed on Israel, of Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. An "Israeli strike that targeted the village of Taybeh today left two dead," the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement. Hezbollah confirmed they were group fighters, killed in Taybeh near the border with Israel. The official National News Agency reported that "a drone fired two missiles on the village of Taybeh."”

The Washington Post: Hezbollah Is Undeterred As Lebanon Braces For War With Israel

“An Israeli strike that killed a Hezbollah fighter traveling a rural road here earlier this month left a blasted car, a scorched patch of earth and the Israeli claim that the attack had dealt a “significant blow” to its enemy across the border. But there seemed to be plenty of young men willing to take the place of the fighter, Ali Abdul Ali, in his hometown in southern Lebanon, less than two miles from the spot where he was killed. They were seen crowding around his flower-decked coffin in footage of his funeral, where local grief and anger mingled with the party supporters’ zeal. “Hezbollah!” they chanted. Ten months after entering the conflict between Israel and its ally Hamas, Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group and political party, appears undeterred after absorbing withering blows from Israeli strikes and the killing of nearly 400 fighters and commanders. Hezbollah has only paused its strikes into northern Israel once, back in November.”

Middle East

Reuters: Israeli Strike Kills Nearly 100 In Gaza School Refuge, Officials Say

“An Israeli airstrike on a Gaza City school compound housing displaced Palestinian families killed around 100 people, the Gaza Civil Emergency Service said on Saturday, while Israel said the toll was inflated and 19 militants were among the dead. Video from the site showed body parts scattered among rubble and more bodies being carried away and covered by blankets. Empty food tins lay in a puddle of blood, and burned mattresses and a child's doll lay in the debris. In another video, men prayed over a dozen body bags laid on the ground of the Tabeen school complex. The Israeli strike drew condemnation from Arab states, Turkey, France, Britain and the European Union and an expression of deep concern from the U.S., which has been working with partners to prevent the 10-month-old Gaza conflict from escalating into a regional war.”

Associated Press: Israel Widens Evacuation Orders In Southern Gaza. Hamas Wants Plans For A Deal Instead Of More Talks

“The Israeli military ordered more evacuations in southern Gaza early Sunday, a day after a deadly airstrike on a school-turned-shelter in the north killed at least 80 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. The airstrike was one of the deadliest attacks in the 10-month war. Hamas appeared to push back against resuming negotiations on Thursday on any new cease-fire proposals. In a statement, it urged mediators United States, Egypt and Qatar to submit a plan to implement what was agreed on last month, based on U.S. President Joe Biden’s proposal, “instead of going to more rounds of negotiations or new proposals that provide cover for the occupation’s aggression.” Israel has repeatedly ordered mass evacuations as its troops return to heavily destroyed areas where they previously battled Palestinian militants.”

Nigeria

Reuters: Boko Haram Attacks Northern Nigeria Town: Military Sources

“Boko Haram Islamist militants have attacked the northern Nigerian town of Buni Yadi, which they lost to a Nigerian army offensive in March, military sources said. A Reuters correspondent saw a detachment of troops with armored personnel carriers and a fighter jet heading towards Buni Yadi in Yobe state on Friday morning. It was not clear if fighting was continuing in the area. There was no information on casualties after the attack, which started at around 9 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Thursday, the sources said on Friday. "Those boys (Boko Haram) came to Buni Yadi yesterday and attacked our people. They came in about nine Hilux (pick-up trucks) and opened fire ... Our people have mobilized for reinforcement," one of the sources said. Boko Haram has been trying to carve out a state adhering to strict sharia in the country's northeast since 2009. Buni Yadi was one of the towns captured by the insurgent group in 2014 and then reclaimed in March by Nigeria's army.”

Africa

Voice Of America: Death Toll In East DR Congo Attacks Climbs, Others Missing

“The death toll of two attacks in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has climbed to at least 18, with 14 people missing, local sources told AFP on Sunday. The attacks, which took place Saturday in the Beni territory in the troubled North Kivu province, were blamed on ADF rebels affiliated with the Islamic State group. The death toll of those killed "has been revised from 10 to 18 people," Kinos Katuo, a civil society leader of the area where the attacks took place, told AFP. He added that 14 people are missing, with four houses and two motorcycles also burned. Another local leader, Charles Endukado, told AFP the number of people killed in the attacks is "more than 18." "No one can go to recover the bodies that are still lying on the ground," he said.”

Associated Press: Militia Infighting Kills At Least 9 In Libya’s Capital, Officials Say

“Clashes between two heavily armed militia groups in Libya’s capital terrorized residents and killed about a dozen people, the latest bout of violence in the largely lawless North African nation, officials said Saturday. The hours-long clashes, which involved heavy weapons, happened Friday in Tripoli’s eastern neighborhood of Tajoura between the Rahba al-Duruae militia, which is led by warlord Bashir Khalfallah — known as al-Baqrah — and another militia al-Shahida Sabriya, the officials added. The Health Ministry’s Ambulance and Emergency Services said at least nine people were killed and 16 others were wounded in the hours-long clashes. The clashes stemmed from an attempted assassination of al-Baqrah on Friday, which his militia blamed on al-Shahida Sabriya, according to local media reports.”

United Kingdom

Bloomberg: White Supremacists Turn UK Riots Into Online Recruiting Pitch

“White supremacist groups have seized on riots in the UK as a recruiting opportunity, using the Telegram messaging site to promote conspiracy theories and incite violence in their bid to lure new members. Hard-line organizations previously designated by the UK as domestic terrorists are calling for an overthrow of the British government with posts that say “the revolution has started.” Some extremist Telegram users have openly discussed how to capitalize on anti-immigrant sentiment in the UK to steer Britons to radicalized communities, according to findings from Logically, a UK-based firm that tracks online disinformation. British authorities are trying to stamp out disturbances fueled by online instigators following the July 29 murder of three schoolgirls in the UK town of Southport.”

Europe

Associated Press: Israel-Hamas War Latest: Leaders Of France, Germany And Britain Endorse Calls For Cease-Fire In Gaza

“The leaders of France, Germany and Britain have endorsed calls for a cease-fire in Gaza, the return of scores of hostages held by Hamas and the “unfettered” delivery of humanitarian aid. In a joint statement released Monday, they endorsed the latest push by the United States, Qatar and Egypt to broker an agreement to end the 10-month-old Israel-Hamas war. The mediators have spent months trying to get the sides to agree to a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release the remaining hostages captured in its Oct. 7 attack in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and Israel would withdraw from Gaza. “The fighting must end now, and all hostages still detained by Hamas must be released. The people of Gaza need urgent and unfettered delivery and distribution of aid,” the statement said.”

Technology

The Guardian: Children To Be Taught How To Spot Extremist Content And Fake News Online

“Children in England will be taught how to spot extremist content and misinformation online under planned changes to the school curriculum, the education secretary has said. Bridget Phillipson said she was launching a review of the curriculum in primary and secondary schools to embed critical thinking across multiple subjects and arm children against “putrid conspiracy theories”. One example may include pupils analysing newspaper articles in English lessons in a way that would help differentiate fabricated stories from true reporting. In computer lessons, they could be taught how to spot fake news websites by their design, and maths lessons may include analysing statistics in context.”