New York Times: Houthi Drones Could Become Stealthier and Fly Farther
For more than a year, Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked merchant vessels and warships in the Red Sea with missiles, drones and speedboats loaded with explosives, disrupting global trade through one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. Claiming solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, the Houthis have hit vessels as far as 100 miles off the Yemeni coast, prompting retaliatory airstrikes by U.S. and Israeli warplanes. The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, largely discontinued their attacks when Israel and Hamas reached a cease-fire in January. But evidence examined by weapons researchers shows that the rebels may have acquired new technology that makes drones more difficult to detect and helps them fly even farther. “It could potentially give the Houthis an element of surprise against U.S. or Israeli military forces if they were to restart any of these conflicts,” said Taimur Khan, an investigator with Conflict Armament Research, a British group that identifies and tracks weapons and ammunition used in wars around the world.
CNN: Hamas says it is prepared to release American-Israeli hostage and bodies of four dual nationals
Hamas said it is prepared to release American-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander and the bodies of four dual nationals held hostage in Gaza. The militant group said it had received “a proposal” from mediators, without going into details. Qatar and Egypt have mediated indirect talks between Israel and Hamas. “The movement responded with responsibility and positivity, submitting its reply at dawn today, which included its approval to release Zionist soldier Edan Alexander, who holds American citizenship, in addition to the bodies of four others with dual nationality.”
UnHerd: Southport-style attacks don’t need a new terrorism definition
CEP Strategic Advisor Liam Duffy writes: To call something “terrorism” is no longer to merely describe a tactic, but instead issues the most severe form of moral condemnation. This was evident in last year’s announcement that the UK Government would treat misogyny as a form of extremist terrorism and consequently mobilise a raft of anti-terror resources to tackle it. Meanwhile, many called for the Southport murders perpetrated by Axel Rudakubana in July to be labelled as terrorism. Some on the Right wanted to pin them on Islamic terrorism, citing the fact that the killer had previously downloaded an al-Qaeda manual. On the other hand, those on the Left wanted to brand the stabbings as terrorism on the basis that the act had terrorised.
FAZ: Journalists attacked at “Pro-Palestine” demonstration in Berlin
There were at least around 100 attacks on members of the press at "pro-Palestinian" and anti-Israel demonstrations last year. According to a count by the German Journalists' Union (dju), half of the attacks took place at such demonstrations in Berlin alone. The managing director of dju Berlin-Brandenburg, Jörg Reichel, told the Evangelischer Pressedienst. There is violence against journalists at almost every demonstration by radical Islamists and left-wing militant splinter groups. "And we're not talking about insults and abuse here, but physical attacks and assaults." Alongside Berlin, Munich and the Ruhr region are the hotspots of the scene. In the most recent incidents on Saturday at demonstrations for Women's Day in Berlin-Kreuzberg, Reichel himself and two representatives of the Jewish Forum for Democracy and against Anti-Semitism (JFDA) were attacked. According to Reichel and JFDA video journalist Yalcin Askin, they were insulted and harassed by other guests in a café as Zionists, racists and enemies of Islam. Askin was punched in the chest and pushed down. Later, his colleague Levi Salomon was deliberately obstructed when he wanted to film a speech and was doused with hot tea by a woman.
Ministries warn: Right-wing extremist rock music as a threat to internal security
Music from the extreme right is not only brute, but also very sweet with a plucked wandering guitar. "We're getting more and more, and we're fighting back", sings Palatinate singer-songwriter Julia Juls in her song "Come out, come out". It is against the politicians who are supposedly "betraying" the country, against migrants, against all those who are not "the people". And again and again in the chorus: "We fight for our country. Hand in hand for the resistance." Right-wing extremist music - often called "right-wing rock" - is booming in Germany, says musicologist Thorsten Hindrichs from Mainz. The music, with various styles ranging from heavy metal to rap and singer-songwriters, serves to reassure and network the right-wing scene in Germany and throughout Europe. Their creators want to incite people to hate with racist and xenophobic lyrics, says the right-wing rock expert. Last year, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution was aware of around 130 active right-wing extremist music groups and around 60 right-wing extremist singer-songwriters or solo performers, according to the Federal Ministry of the Interior's response to a minor interpellation by Left Party MPs.
Independent: Arrests of young terror suspects hits seven-year high
Arrests of young terror suspects across Britain have reached their highest level since 2017, new data shows. Some 71 youths under 21 were arrested for terrorist-related activity in 2024, up from 69 the previous year and 60 in 2022. It is the highest annual number since 77 arrests in 2017, the year of the Manchester Arena suicide bombing, which left 22 dead and more than a thousand injured, along with other terror attacks that claimed lives in Westminster, London Bridge, Finsbury Park and Parsons Green in London.
BBC: New law needed for Southport-type attacks, says terror watchdog
A new offence to cover lone individuals planning non-terrorist mass killings should be considered in the wake of the Southport attacks, the UK's terror watchdog has said. The independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, suggested the offence, similar to that of preparing an act of terrorism, should have a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Independent: Police investigate potential Islamist terror link to stabbing in Belfast
Police in Northern Ireland are investigating a potential Islamist terrorist link to a stabbing in Belfast earlier this month, the PA news agency understands. Religious ideology is one of a number of potential motives being investigated. Detectives are also probing whether a mental health episode or hate were factors.
Counter terrorism police are investigating Northern Ireland’s first potential Islamic terrorism incident after a man was arrested following a stabbing incident in Belfast. PSNI armed response officers arrested the 18-year-old after the incident in the Ormeau Road area close to University Avenue on March 1.
GB News' Home and Security Editor Mark White said the "resurgence of terror organisations" is "worrying" as terror arrests in Britain reach a five-year high, with international conflicts and hostile states fuelling the surge. New Home Office figures show 248 people were arrested for terrorism-related offences in 2024, the highest number since 2019.
Express: Tributes pour in as hero who helped foil Glasgow Airport terror attack dies aged 59
Tributes have poured in for the “Secret Hero” who tackled a terrorist to the ground at Glasgow Aiport. He died last week following a battle with cancer. Stephen Clarkson was one of three civilians who helped to foil the 2007 terror attack at one of Scotland's biggest international airports.
Independent: Two men arrested after anti-Taliban Afghan activist attacked inside Home Office hotel
Two men have been arrested on suspicion of assaulting an anti-Taliban activist inside a Home Office asylum hotel. Natiq Malikzada, 29, an Afghan national who is a campaigner against Islamic extremism, says he was attacked in the late evening of 13 February in his hotel room by two men.
Deutsche Welle: South Sudan: What's led to renewed tensions?
Tensions are spiraling in South Sudan amid escalating militia violence in the Upper Nile state in the east of the country, cabinet reshuffles and the arrests of several senior officials in the capital, Juba. South Sudan's President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar are at the center of the renewed insecurity. In recent weeks, they've been embroiled in political disagreements that have led to deadly clashes. The rivals are party to a shaky 2018 peace deal that ended a five-year civil war between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar in which nearly 400,000 people were killed. Kiir dismissed several key government officials in February as part of a cabinet reshuffle, some of whom "were viewed by Riek Machar as violating the 2018 peace agreement," explained Daniel Akech, a South Sudan analyst at the International Crisis Group, a nongovernmental conflict prevention organization. "And in western Bahr al-Ghazal, there were some violence outbreaks in protest to these changes that the president made without consulting the vice president," Akech added, referring to a region in the northwest of the country.
AllAfrica: Somalia's PM Chairs Cabinet Meeting to Discuss Security and Key Appointments
The Prime Minister of the Federal Government of Somalia, Hamza Abdi Barre, chaired a cabinet meeting where key issues concerning the country's security and ongoing operations against Al-Shabaab were discussed. The meeting focused on efforts to accelerate military operations aimed at liberating areas controlled by Al-Shabaab militants, with notable successes reported from both the Somali National Army and local militia forces.
Somali Defense Minister, Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur, announced that more than 150 Al-Shabaab militants were killed in airstrikes carried out in southern Somalia over the past 48 hours.The strikes targeted areas where the militants had been hiding.
Syria’s interim president on Thursday signed a temporary constitution that leaves the country under Islamist rule for five years during a transitional phase. The nation’s interim rulers have struggled to exert their authority across much of Syria since the Islamist former insurgent group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, led a lightning insurgency that overthrew longtime President Bashar Assad in December. Former HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa is now the country’s interim president — a decision that was announced after a meeting of the armed groups that took part in the offensive against Assad. At the same meeting, the groups agreed to repeal the country’s old constitution and said a new one would be drafted.
Reuters: UN Security Council to condemn Syria violence, say diplomats
The United Nations Security Council has agreed to a statement condemning widespread violence in Syria's coastal region and calling on Syria's interim authorities to protect all Syrians, regardless of ethnicity or religion, diplomats said on Thursday.The Russian and U.S.-drafted presidential statement is due to be formally adopted on Friday, the diplomats said. Such statements are agreed by consensus. It comes after the 15-member council met behind closed doors on Syria on Monday.
Washington Post: Syrian refugees recount bloodletting as sectarian killings swept coast
The wave of killings in coastal Syria has posed the biggest test so far for the country’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose forces overthrew Assad in December. He has accused “remnants of the former regime” of trying to drag Syria into renewed civil war and vowed to hold accountable those who have “overstepped the authority of the state.”
Besides all of the “standard” disasters of October 7, around 300-500 Hamas terrorists, killing 47 Israelis and kidnapping 76, Nir Oz stands out because no IDF soldiers arrived there before the last Hamas attacker had already returned to Gaza, the IDF’s probe disclosed on Friday. The IDF probe concluded that, in addition to the failure that no top military officials realized that the slaughter at Nir Oz was even worse than in many other places that had more IDF support, additional reasons it was utterly abandoned included its geographic distance from Israel’s center and its perception as smaller than some other Gaza border villages.
The IDF says it carried out a strike against a group of terror operatives who were spotted attempting to plant bombs in the ground, near where troops were operating, in the central Gaza Strip earlier today.
Defense Minister Israel Katz says the IDF will stay at five strategic points in southern Lebanon “indefinitely,” regardless of negotiations over 13 disputed points on the border. During an assessment yesterday with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and other top military officials, Katz “clarified that the IDF will remain at the five points that control the buffer zone in Lebanon, indefinitely, for the sake of protecting the residents of the north, and this is without any connection to future negotiations on points of dispute on the border,” his office says.
Naharnet: Netanyahu says Israel ‘won’t give up’ 5 hills in Lebanon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel "will not give up" the five hills deemed “strategic” it occupies in south Lebanon. “We maintain five points on the Lebanese side of the border to protect our territory,” Netanyahu said, adding: “We will not relinquish control” of the five sites. “Last week, we killed five Hezbollah members for violating the ceasefire agreement we seek to implement firmly,” he added.
Agence France-Presse: Lebanon Appoints New Army Chief
Lebanon named a new head of the armed forces Thursday to succeed Joseph Aoun, who was appointed president earlier this year. “Brigadier General Rodolphe Haykal was named commander in chief of the armed forces,” Minister of Information Paul Morcos said after a cabinet meeting, also confirming a number of other security appointments.
Haaretz: Shebaa Farms, Rosh Hanikra: Lebanon's Key Demands in Land Border Talks With Israel
A four-way meeting took place under a shroud of secrecy on Tuesday at the United Nations' base in the Lebanese city of Naqoura. Representatives from Lebanon, Israel, the U.S. and France had met with the aim of jump-starting the negotiations on border adjustments between Lebanon and Israel.
Amu: UN meeting highlights challenges women face under Taliban rule
A United Nations meeting on Thursday, titled “From Afghanistan to New York: Afghan Women Calling for Action,” focused on the continued restrictions and challenges Afghan women and girls face under Taliban rule. The event, held on the sidelines of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69), was attended by representatives of various countries as well as Afghan women activists.
Amu: Taliban security commission meet in Kandahar amid internal rifts
he Taliban’s Central Security and Clearance Commission, led by Taliban Defense Minister Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, on Friday held a meeting in Kandahar, their stronghold, to discuss border security and counter-narcotics measures, according to a statement by the commission. The commission stated that key Taliban officials, including Ibrahim Sadr, Taliban deputy interior minister for security; Nazeer Ahmad Nasir, a representative from the office of the Taliban’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada; and Mullah Shirin, the Taliban governor of Kandahar, participated in the meeting.
Amu: Pakistan’s PM says Taliban freed thousands of ‘terrorists’ now fighting in Pakistan
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif accused the Taliban of releasing thousands of “terrorists” from prison, who he said are now waging attacks inside Pakistan. Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Sharif claimed that terrorism had been eradicated in Pakistan but resurged in 2021 after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. “The Afghan Taliban freed thousands of terrorist militants from prison, and now they are fighting in Pakistan,” he said. “At the time, we called their victory the breaking of the chains of slavery.”
Voice of America: Afghanistan denies link to train attack in Pakistan
The Afghan Taliban have rejected Pakistan's allegation that Tuesday's deadly hostage-taking of a train was planned and directed from Afghan soil. Afghanistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Pakistan's assertions "baseless," in a statement Thursday.
Labor and the Coalition have been accused of “bad politicking” by teaming up to pass tough hate crime laws in the wake of a series of antisemitic incidents, including one revealed this week to be a “fake terrorism plot”. Crossbench MPs also backed a review – or a reversal – of the laws, after the revelations about the caravan plot.
A Sydney man who fled Australia after being charged with drug importation offences is now a key suspect in the Dural caravan hoax. In January a caravan filled with explosives and a note referencing the Great Jewish Synagogue was found at Dural in Sydney's outer suburbs.
SBS News: Six years on - the Imam of the Al Noor mosque reflects on New Zealand's darkest day
It's been six years since a gunman entered Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch during Friday prayer and opened fire – killing 51 worshippers and injuring dozens more. The impact of the terror attack was felt right across the world. SBS spoke to the Imam of Al Noor Mosque, Gamal Fouda, who says his community is still navigating through the trauma.
Long War Journal: Houthis ramp up domestic attacks in Marib
The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, have gained global attention this month after renewed threats against Israel and the US State Department’s re-designation of the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). However, the Houthis’ increased domestic attacks against Yemen’s internationally recognized government (IRG) have received less international coverage.
Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.
Fact:
On October 7, 2023, Hamas invaded southern Israel where, in the space of eight hours, hundreds of armed terrorists perpetrated mass crimes of brutality, rape, and torture against men, women and children. In the biggest attack on Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, 1,200 were killed, and 251 were taken hostage into Gaza—where 101 remain. One year on, antisemitic incidents have increased by record numbers.
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