French counter-terrorism officer charged with selling forged documents online

An officer in France’s elite counterterrorism agency is to be tried along with four accomplices for selling forged identity documents and private data on the darknet. The case first emerged in 2018, after officers with France’s Central Office for the Prevention of Illegal Immigration (OCRIEST) detected a seller of high quality forged copies of official documents on the darknet.

The seller, who went by the nickname Haurus, offered French identification cards, drivers’ licenses, birth certificates and even bank documents, in exchange for between €100 and €300 ($110 and $330). The quality of the documents on sale was substantially higher than most forgeries sold on the darknet. According to French government investigators, the fake documents qualified as what anti-forgery experts call “the gold standard”. Haurus also sold private phone records and other information to track the whereabouts of individuals.

Government investigators eventually received an anonymous tip that helped identify Haurus. According to prosecutors, Haurus was an officer in the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI), which serves as France’s main counterterrorism agency. In accordance with France’s strict privacy laws, he has been identified only as “Cédric D.”, 33. According to Le Parisien newspaper, Cédric D. worked as a counterterrorism investigator specializing on jihadist terrorist networks.

Upon his arrest, Cédric D. led prosecutors to four more people, including a private investigator, all of whom were eventually apprehended. Cédric D. was kept in pre-trial detention for several months. He was released five months ago and remains under judicial supervision. The investigation into his activities has now concluded, and a trial is expected to commence soon in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.

Author: Ian Allen

https://intelnews.org/2020/01/23/01-2709/

Western intelligence agencies see non-Arab as new head of ISIS

Western intelligence agencies have reportedly confirmed that a non-Arab is now leading the Islamic State for the first time in the organization’s history. Rumors of a new leader of the group began to circulate just hours after American forces killed its self-styled Caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. On October 27, 2019, Newsweek magazine reported that the militant group, which is also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), had appointed a man known as Abdullah Qardash (pictured) at its helm. According to the magazine, Qardash’s name was sometimes spelled in English as Karshesh. Additionally, he was sometimes referred to by his ISIS moniker, Hajji Abdullah al-Afari.

However, the names reported by Newsweek were not immediately recognizable to Western intelligence officials and other experts who monitor the Islamic State. But now British newspaper The Guardian reports that Western intelligence services have concluded that the man referred to as “Abdullah Qardash” in October is indeed the new leader of ISIS. The paper said on Monday that the new ISIS leader’s birth name is Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi. He is allegedly not an Arab, but rather an Iraqi Turkman whose family comes from Tal Afar, a northwestern Iraqi city that is close to the borders of Syria and Turkey. In fact, al-Salbi is reported to have a brother in Turkey, who is a prominent member of an ethic political grouping called the Turkmen Iraqi Front.

Al-Salbi, who was allegedly appointed as leader of ISIS just hours after al-Baghdadi’s demise, is believed to be the first non-Arab to ever lead the militant group. Like most of ISIS’ original founders, al-Salbi is believed to have met Baghdadi in 2004 in Camp Bucca, an American-administered prison in Umm Qasr. Similarly to al-Baghadi, al-Salbi’s background is in Islamic education —something that enabled him to quickly rise in the ranks of ISIS ideologues and command significant influence. By 2018, al-Salbi had become a central decision-maker within the group and was able to shape its activities and policies within its territory in the Middle East and beyond. The Guardian article concludes that al-Salbi is “a hardened veteran in the same vein as al-Baghdadi”, which implies that no major changes in the Islamic State’s strategy are expected to take place under his leadership.

Author: Joseph Fitsanakis 

https://intelnews.org/2020/01/21/01-2707/

Britain warns its citizens following detention of alleged Russian spies in Switzerland

A Swiss newspaper has revealed previously unreported detention of two Russian diplomats in the luxury Swiss Alpine resort of Davos, which is currently hosting the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF). The development prompted British authorities to warn some British citizens participating in the WEF meeting that they may be in physical danger.

The brief detention of the two Russians allegedly occurred in August of last year in Davos, a mountain resort in the canton of Graubünden, which is located in Switzerland’s eastern Alps region. According to the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, local police detained two Russians during the period between August 8 and 28 of last year. Citing anonymous sources from the police and security services, the paper said that the authorities were alerted about the two Russians by employees at a local resort. The employees reportedly found it strange that the Russians had booked hotel rooms for over three weeks, which is unusually long for Davos’ ultra-luxury resort setting.

When police officers approached the two men and inquired about their background, one of them said he worked as a plumber. However, when asked to provide identification papers, both men reportedly produced Russian diplomatic passports. However, none had received accreditation by the Swiss government, which means they had not been formally registered as diplomats in the Alpine nation. When Swiss police officials contacted the Russian embassy in Bern to inquire about the two men, Russian officials “threatened diplomatic consequences if the men were arrested” said Tages-Anzeiger.

The two Russians were eventually released, as Swiss police “could not ascertain any reason to detain them”, said the paper. However, Swiss officials said that the two Russians “obviously […] had their sights on the WEF” and were probably planning to install surveillance equipment around the Swiss resort town. Soon after the Tages-Anzeiger report was published, British counterterrorism police reportedly warned a number of British citizens attending the WEF meeting that they might be in physical danger.

But the Russian embassy in Switzerland dismissed the Tages-Anzeiger report as “one more attempt to undermine Swiss-Russian relations”. Russian officials at the embassy accused Western countries of trying to “whip out a scandal out of nothing”, adding that Russian authorities had not been officially notified of the incident and that there was “no evidence of espionage” by the two men.

Author: Joseph Fitsanakis
https://intelnews.org/2020/01/22/01-2708/

The second most powerful person in Iran: A profile of Qassem Soleimani

Major General Qassem Soleimani, the architect of Iran's intelligence and military operations abroad, was hailed as a hero at home and considered one of the most powerful figures in the country.

The commander of the elite Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards was killed in a US air strike on his convoy at Baghdad airport.

Maj Gen Soleimani, 62, is understood to have directly reported to Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader.

Outside of domestic affairs, controlled by President Hassan Rouhani, the major general was seen as the second most powerful person in the country. Commentators have compared his status to that of the US vice president.

He had been spearheading Iran's growing military influence in the Middle East. His movements were closely watched by the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia. The force he led could be compared to a combination of America's CIA and special forces.

The US believes he was behind attacks on American forces in the region for the past two decades. Last year, it designated the Revolutionary Guards as a foreign terrorist organisation.

In 2018, Soleimani was seen in a video clip warning the US president: "I'm telling you Mr Trump the gambler, I'm telling you, know that we are close to you in that place you don't think we are. You will start the war but we will end it."

In recent years Soleimani deployed his forces in Syria's war to support President Bashar al Assad. He was also seen on battlefields, guiding Iraqi Shia groups in the war against Islamic State.

Here are some of the main details of his life and career:

• Soleimani was born into an agricultural family in the town of Rabor in southeast Iran on 11 March 1957, going on to work in construction aged 13 and then for a city water department
• When the revolution to oust the Shah of Iran began in 1978, Soleimani organised demonstrations against the monarch
• He joined the Revolutionary Guards shortly after it was formed in 1979
• Gaining a reputation for bravery, Soleimani rose through the ranks during the war with Iraq which broke out in 1980. Known as the Sacred Defence, the war lasted until 1988 and left as many as a million people dead.
• He became head of the Quds Force in 1998
• In 2007, at the height of the civil war between Sunni and Shia militants in Iraq, the US military accused Soleimani's Quds Force of supplying improvised explosive devices to Shia fighters, leading to the deaths of scores of American soldiers
• He and the overall head of US forces in Iraq at the time, General David Petraeus, were in communcation. Gen Petraeus in 2010 recalled one message from the major general: "You should know that I, Qassem Soleimani, control the policy for Iran with respect to Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza and Afghanistan."
• Soleimani was frequently described as quiet and inconspicuous; a 2013 New Yorker profile quoted a former CIA officer in Iraq, John Maguire, as saying: "Soleimani is the single most powerful operative in the Middle East today... and no one's ever heard of him."
• In summer 2015 he visited Moscow in what was said to be the first step in planning for Russia's military intervention to support President al Assad, a move that reshaped the Syrian civil war
• Soleimani frequently travelled into Syria, reportedly compiling his own international team of officers to work out of a bland but heavily fortified building in Damascus. This led to a notable increase in Iranian supplies into the country
• The US Treasury sanctioned him for the Quds Force's support for Hezbollah in Lebanon and other armed groups, and for his role in Syria's crackdown against protesters
• Soleimani is alleged to have been involved in a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States.
• Before Friday's attack, he was rumoured to have been killed a number of times - and was believed to have survived assassination attempts
• He was pictured not wearing flak jackets in war zones and out of uniform, taken as a sign of his lack of fear of death
• Ayatollah Khamenei awarded him the Order of Zolfiqar medal, Iran's highest military honour, last year

https://news.sky.com/story/who-was-irans-major-general-qassem-soleimani-11900100

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