The leader of Islamic
State's branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan has been killed in a
U.S. drone strike, the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan said on
Friday, though the American military said it could not confirm
that.
If true, the death of Hafiz Saeed Khan would strike a blow to
efforts by Middle East-based Islamic State - also known as ISIS
and Daesh - to expand its control over territory and its jihadist
brand into Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It would also mark the second U.S. killing of a prominent
militant in the region within months. In May, a U.S. drone killed
Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a strike in
Pakistan.
Islamic State this week took credit for an attack on a hospital
that killed at least 74 people in the Pakistani city of Quetta. A
Pakistani Taliban faction also claimed responsibility.
Khan has been reported dead before. Last year, Afghan
intelligence agents claimed he had been killed, but the report
was never confirmed.
On Friday, Afghan Ambassador Omar Zakhilwal told Reuters he had
seen confirmation from Afghan security forces on Khan's death.
"I can confirm that ISIS Khurasan (Afghanistan and Pakistan)
leader Hafiz Saeed Khan along with his senior commanders and
fighters died in a U.S. drone strike on July 26 in Kot district
of Afghanistan's Nangharhar province," he said.
U.S. military spokesman Colonel Michael Lawhorn said American
forces in Afghanistan "are aware of those reports and we are
looking into it" but have not yet confirmed Khan's death.
Islamic State also claimed responsibility for an attack on a
rally in Kabul in July, which killed more than 80 people.
Afghan forces, backed by the American military, killed an
estimated 300 Islamic State fighters in an operation mounted two
weeks ago, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan said on
Wednesday, calling it a severe blow to the group.
Senior Russian security official: We can't find common
ground with the West, so we strengthen relations with Syria, Iran and
Iraq
Russia plans to build a full-scale military airbase and to deploy a permanent contingent of aircrafts in Syria, Izvestia
newspaper reported on Wednesday. The paper’s source at the Russian
Ministry of Defense confirmed the existing infrastructure of
Khmeimim—Russia’s current air base in Syria—will be expanded
substantially, enabling the deployment of heavy aircrafts
from Khmeimim in the near future.
Khmeimim will be surrounded by ramparts to protect against enemy fire
and bombing. The base will be outfitted with new radio-technical
equipment—including an air traffic control system—and a full-fledged
military town for the Russian troops stationed there.
The Russian Defense Ministry source told Izvestia that,
although Khmeimim’s expansion has been planned since the end of 2015,
the deal wasn’t official until two days ago. Last Tuesday, Moscow and
Damascus signed an agreement giving Khmeimim to Russia in perpetuity,
free of charge and out of the jurisdiction of the Syrian government.
Russian experts believe their military presence will benefit the
region, despite some inevitable pushback from nearby Arab monarchies.
According to the source, blueprints of the new Khmeimim include a loading dock for Antonov An-124 Ruslan heavy military transport aircrafts.
Franz Klintsevich, a Russian State Duma senator and first deputy
chairman of the Committee for the Defense and Security, told the
newspaper:
“When Russian air forces first entered Syria, Syrian armed forces
were demoralized. Our support has helped restore their
military capabilities. Russia understands that if we do not take these
necessary measures, large-scale terrorist threats will eventually be a
reality. We must do something—but we are not able to find common ground
with the West on joint actions. Therefore, we strengthen relations with
the regional players: Syria, Iran and Iraq.”
He continued: “Khmeimim will be the base for Russian armed forces and
appropriate infrastructure will be built there. Our soldiers will live
in dignity. Military air forces will be increased [in the future] in
accordance with the bilateral agreement [between Russia and Syria] but,
so far, in terms of solving the problems that exist [at the base], there
are enough forces and means there.”
Klintsevich told the newspaper that “[for now] the nuclear weapons
and heavy bombers will not be placed there on a permanent basis, because
it would be in violation of international agreements and
would create very severe problems.”
The words ‘on a permanent basis’ were immediately emphasized by the
media. “Russia Will Not Deploy at Khmeimim Nuclear Weapons on a
Permanent Basis” read a RIA Novosti headline.
Nurhan el-Sheikh, a Cairo University professor and member of the
Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs (ECFA), admitted to the newspaper
that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have been unhappy with
Putin’s decision to maintain a presence in Syria—they have their own
vision for the future, which Russia is violating.
Now that Buzzfeed has helpfully determined that I do indeed exist,
the notion of Russia placing nukes in the heart of the most volatile
place on earth represents the gravest Russian threat to world security
since one lowly writer in New Jersey. (It was funny to me that
Buzzfeed, in its article confirming my existence, pointed to “his name,
unusual in Russian, has raised eyebrows.” In fact, around
a hundred Klikushins were killed during WWII; there is a Judge
Klikushin serving on the Russian Supreme Court and my nephew Ivan
Klikushin just enlisted in the US Army. So much for my family’s low
profile!)
Meanwhile, the additional ‘surprise’ from the Russian president
regarding the possible deployment of Russian nukes from Khmeimim—albeit
on a ‘rotational basis’—will no doubt be met with zero enthusiasm by all
regional players.
Tensions in occupied Crimea are escalating as Russia accused Ukraine of
plotting “terror attacks” after an alleged shootout that broke out in
Armiansk on August 7 and dropped out of Minsk negotiations. As more and
more evidence appears that the accusations are fabricated, serving as a
reason to intensify repressions in Crimea, a peculiar post in Russian
social media suggests that the shootout was an internal one between the
Russian army contractors in occupied Crimea – a finding with which the
Ukrainian military intelligence concurs.
The gunfire at the border administration of occupied Crimea [on August
7] was staged by drunken military contractors rather than “Ukrainian
saboteurs” – so says Eduard Zhuravlev, the former advisor to “Governor” of occupied Sevastopol Sergey Menyaylo, on his Facebook page.
“With regards what really happened at yesterday’s border skirmish. The game continues. Somehowat the intuitive level I more and more agree with the version that the military contractors, overheated in the sun and with too much liquor, fired on their comrades and went out with weapons illegally,” he wrote.
Zhuravlev offers a curious document – a photocopy of an orientation
which was circulated to the heads of regional departments of the
Ministry of Interior in occupied Crimea on 7 August. The document
refers to a search for five people accused of a serious crime in the
city of Armiansk “dressed in camouflage uniforms bearing chevrons with the Russian Federation flag.”
Eduard Zhuravlev and his colleague Oleg Mateychev,
the political advisor of Sergey Menyaylo, are noteworthy for declaring
to the residents of Sevastopol that they should forget “the traditions
of direct democracy” and demonstrations similar to the Maidan protests
in Kyiv. Matveychev in January 2016 stated directly that “Sergey Menyaylo should make administrative decisions unilaterally, and not a bunch of deputies, taxi drivers, and hairdressers.”
“This is because we now see that Sevastopol is the most
ungrateful city in Russia and spreads the same disease that infects
Kyiv. A terrible spiritual sickness worse than physical ill health,” was Matveychev’s diagnosis.
This same Eduard Zhuravlev had already earned a bad reputation among
the opposition in his native Russian city of Yekaterinburg. Zhuravlev’s
party ally Feliks Rivkin, member of the regional council of the Russian
opposition party RPR-PARNAS, accused his former party colleague of
accepting a bribe to help Putin’s Yedinaya Rossiya Party against the Yabloko Party.
“Zhuravlev is a failed Yedinaya Rossiya member, although he has a Yedinaya Rossiya
mentality… I think that if I were stood against the wall and he were in
the firing squad, he would pull the trigger with no hesitation,” noted Rivkin at the time.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency says it has recorded hundreds
of attempts by radical Islamists to recruit immigrants hosted in the
country's refugee centres.
"We know of more than 340 incidences," the head of Germany's Federal
Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maassen, told
dpa. "But these are only the cases known to us.
Presumably there are
even more."
Workers at German refugee centres have already been made aware of the situation, Maassen said.
"It worries us that Salafists and other Islamists are promoting their
cause in asylum centres," Maassen said, referring to an
ultra-conservative reform movement within Sunni Islam.
"We know that there are very many young men of the Sunni denomination
among asylum seekers.
These often come from a conservative Islamic
background and want to go to an Arabic-speaking mosque every
Friday," the intelligence agency chief said, noting that there were also
numerous radical Salafist mosques in Germany.
"Arabic-speaking mosques in Germany are not regulated. From the
perspective of the state, there is very little we can influence,"
Maassen said.
Maassen said that Islamist-motivated attacks had also taken place
before a recent spate of violence in the past month in Germany, and that
a policeman in the city of Hanover as well as a Sikh temple in Essen
had also been targeted.
"The lesson to learn from this is that we should not concentrate only
on Islamic State, which may be sending terrorist units to Europe, as
with Paris or Brussels," Maassen said. "Instead it could be that
individuals that are radicalized on their own or are given orders."
At
A tip from the FBI triggered what Canadian police on Thursday called
a “race against time” as police scrambled to identify and locate a
balaclava-wearing would-be suicide bomber they feared was on the verge
of committing a terror attack in Canada. Aaron Driver, a Canadian man previously banned from associating with
Islamic State extremists, prepared a martyrdom video and was about to
commit a terrorist attack but was killed Wednesday after he detonated
his explosive device in a taxi and was shot at by officers who say they
thwarted the plot. Police say they were tipped off by the American
authorities, who provided a screenshot of the masked suspect threatening
a terror attack early Wednesday, police said.
The suspect planned to carry out a suicide bombing in a public area
in an urban center during rush hour, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Deputy Commander Mike Cabana said. He identified the suspect as Driver,
24, originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba.
RCMP Commander Jennifer Strachan said Driver was intercepted by
police as he entered a taxi with a backpack and said Driver detonated an
explosive device, injuring himself and the taxi driver, before police
shot at him. It was unclear whether Driver died as a result of the
shrapnel or a police bullet.
After being tipped off by the FBI, Canadian police worked furiously
to find out who it was. Police said Driver was quickly identified as the
person in the so-called martyrdom video and that he planned an attack
within 72 hours.
“It was a race against time,” Cabana said.
In the video, aired during a news conference in Ottawa, a masked
Driver is seen railing against Western “enemies of Islam” and warning
that the only solution would be the “spilling of your blood.”He pledges
allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State leader, and
threatens an attack against Canada.
Driver had been under the spotlight for at least a year, as
authorities believed he was a threat because he could help terror
groups. He gave a media interview in which he expressed support for
prior terror attacks in Canada and expressed interest in traveling to
join the Islamic State. But Driver, who was living with his sister, was
not under surveillance at the time.
The police operation involving Driver took place Wednesday night in
the southern Ontario town of Strathroy, 140 miles (225 kilometers)
southwest of Toronto.
“If he had gotten out of that residence before we got there, the
scenario would have ended a lot differently. I’m positive of that,”
Strachan said.
Transit agencies in Toronto, Canada’s largest city, were warned of a
security threat before police confronted the suspect. Brad Ross,
spokesman for the Toronto Transit Commission, said the agency was made
aware of a terror threat investigation early the previous day, but noted
that it had no specifics attached.
He said that as a precaution, a “vigilance notice” was issued to all
staff, encouraging them to speak up if they saw something of concern.
Regional transit lines were also advised of a security threat.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police block the entrance to Park Street as they investigate the residence of Aaron Driver.Photo: Reuters
“This case is an example of the strong cross-border law enforcement
cooperation that exists between Canada and the United States. Our
partnership reflects our joint commitment to protecting the safety of
our citizens,” US Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman said in a statement.
Driver was under a court order from earlier this year to not
associate with any terrorist organization, including the Islamic State
group. In February, Driver’s lawyer and the prosecutor agreed to a peace
bond stating there are “reasonable grounds to fear that he may
participate, contribute directly or indirectly in the activity of a
terrorist group.”
Driver was first picked up in Winnipeg in June 2015.
Amarnath Amarasingam, a post-doctoral fellow at Dalhousie University
who studies radicalization and terrorism, maintained in 2015 that Driver
had posted for several months on social media about disliking Canada
and about a desire to move overseas.
Canadian police applied for the peace bond, which can impose limits
on a person’s activities, alleging in provincial court documents that
investigators believed Driver might help with terrorist group
activities.
When Driver was released later that month, he was ordered to wear a
GPS tracking device and banned from going on the internet or having any
communication with the Islamic State group, including wearing or
carrying anything with an IS logo. His bail conditions drew criticism from the Manitoba Association of
Rights and Liberties. Later, the government announced that some of his
strict bail conditions had been lifted and that he would not be going to
trial.
Driver was allowed to remove his monitoring bracelet but continued to
be prohibited from using a computer or cellphone — rules that were to
be in place until the end of August. Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said he had spoken to
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the police operation Wednesday night
“to confirm that public safety has been and continues to be properly
protected.” He said the RCMP, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and
other police and security agencies were involved in the operation. He
also said the national terrorism threat level for Canada remains at
“medium,” where it has stood since the fall of 2014.
Coalition
forces, including American military operatives, killed a senior ISIS
leader when conducting an operation on the Iraqi-Syrian border
Wednesday, officials said.
Killed
was Sami Jassim Mohammed Al-Jabouri, known by the nom de guerre Haji
Hamad, said the Kurdistan Region Security Council. His reported death is
the latest victory in the coalition's ongoing fight against the
terrorist organization's financial staying power.
Jabouri
was responsible for ISIS operations regarding natural resources in Iraq
and Syria. He and an aide were killed in the operation. The United
States has not verified Jabouri was the man killed in the mission but
verified he was a key figure in ISIS oil operations.
All coalition forces returned safely, the Kurdish statement said.
A US defense official confirmed to CNN
an operation against an ISIS target and said it was coordinated with the
Iraq government and the Kurdistan Regional Government forces.
The
Pentagon's secret expeditionary targeting force conducted a mission
Thursday to capture an ISIS operative, according to the defense
official. It appears the man the team went after may have killed himself
rather than be captured, but that has not been verified, the official
said.
ETF operations are conducted
by US special operations forces and rarely acknowledged openly. But this
time officials acknowledged the operation took place after the Kurds
disclosed it. Jabouri was a key figure in ISIS oil operations. But the
official said the mission was to capture an individual for intelligence
reasons.
"We are assessing the
results of the operation and will provide additional information as and
when appropriate," the US official said.
The mission took place near Qaim near the Iraqi-Syrian border, where there is an ISIS presence, the official said.
The Kurds have been battling with ISIS over control of oil fields. Less than two weeks ago, Kurdish forces repelled an ISIS hostage taking at an oil field near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
Kurds killed the attackers and freed the hostages, according to witnesses.
The
Khabbaz oil field produces around 20,000 barrels of oil per day and is
situated between areas disputed by opposing fighters from the Iraqi
Kurdish Peshmerga forces and ISIS.
The
standoff was the second armed attack on an energy facility in the
Kirkuk region Sunday, after an earlier deadly attack on a nearby gas
compression facility owned by the same company.
Four
staff members were killed and another was injured during that attack on
the gas facility, known as AB, in the Bajwan area in northwestern
Kirkuk, police Gen. Sarhad Qader said.
Meanwhile, US forces have been striking
ISIS targets in Libya to further erode its territorial potential natural
resources gains in north Africa.
U.S.
Special Forces and surveillance flights are operating on the ground and
over Libya as the West moves to boost security operations in the
country to bolster Libya's increasingly desperate fight against ISIS.
By April of this year, ISIS' monthly revenue had fallen by 30% -- down from an estimated $80 million a month in mid-2015.
ISIS
has ceded more than 22% of its territory to Kurdish, Syrian and Iraqi
forces over the past 19 months, according to IHS. During that time, the
population living under ISIS rule has fallen from 9 million to 6
million.
To offset those losses
ISIS has halved its fighters' salaries, increased taxes and fees for
people remaining under its control and resorted more to such tactics as
kidnapping for ransoms and smuggling stolen archeological artifacts.
SIS is so strapped for cash it has also started giving people accused of
violating Sharia law the option of paying a cash fine instead of
suffering severe physical punishments, reports IHS, which monitors the
conflict.
Ukrainian intelligence and defense
officials are sharing intelligence with Britain about cutting-edge
Russian military tactics in the Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine.
Since the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine, observers have
noted the sophisticated tactics used by Moscow. The Russian forces seem
to be combining their advanced conventional arsenal with electronic
warfare and information operations. The latter include the use of
deception, spreading propaganda through social media, and computer
hacking. Some experts have described Russia’s tactics in the Crimean
Peninsula and the Donbass region of Ukraine as a form of “hybrid warfare”,
which has its roots in Soviet times. The difference in the contemporary
operational landscape is the prominence of electronic resources, which
the Russians are simultaneously employing as disinformation channels and
tools of sabotage. Following the Ukrainian crisis of 2014, the former
Soviet republic is today seen as being at the forefront of Russia’s
experimentation with “hybrid warfare”.
According to British newspaper The Times,
a delegation of Ukrainian military officials, with considerable
experience in studying Russia’s war tactics in Donbass and Crimea,
secretly visited the United Kingdom in July for consultations. The paper
quoted
an anonymous British military source saying that the visit was part of a
series of meetings between Ukrainian and British officials. The goal of
the meetings, it said, is to understand Russia’s military tactics in
the 21st century. The agenda of the secret meetings includes
discussion on topics such as the use of radio-electric weapons that
disrupt GPS and drone signals, the deployment of sabotage and covert
action, or the use of social media to spread disinformation. Russian
tactics that have been discussed include the use of acoustics to locate
snipers in an urban battlefield, tactical coordination of drones in
fleets, and the widespread use of cellular telephone messages to target
civilian populations.
A representative of the UK’s Ministry of Defense, who was contacted by The Times,
admitted that “a small delegation from Ukraine was hosted” in Britain
“as part of a think-tank sponsored visit”, but refused to provide
further details. The paper said the meetings will probably continue and
may even widen in scope to include staff from North Atlantic Treaty
Organization member states.
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