The Wall Street Journal: Israel Says It Has Killed Half Of Hamas’s Battalion Commanders

“The Israeli military has killed about half of Hamas’s midlevel commanders in Gaza, Israeli officials said, as its troops pressed forward Wednesday into the suspected hiding place of the group’s leader in a bid to eliminate its top brass. Israel is deploying a deliberate strategy to find and kill the militant group’s midlevel operatives to disrupt Hamas’s ability to fight in Gaza, though military analysts caution doing so is unlikely immediately to deliver the victory it craves.  Israel has so far failed to assassinate the U.S.-designated terrorist group’s senior leadership, which includes Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas in Gaza, and Mohammed Deif, the head of the group’s armed wing. But fighting is now coalescing around Khan Younis, one of Hamas’s strongholds in the southern strip, where the Israeli military says Sinwar and others could be hunkering.  Late on Tuesday, Israel’s military said it killed senior commanders hiding in a tunnel in northern Gaza, frustrating the group’s ability to direct operations in that part of the strip. Israeli forces released a photo of what they said was a group of operatives who led battalions and brigades, likely overseeing thousands of Hamas fighters. The military said it had found the photo during fighting and highlighted those in the picture whom it claims to have killed, including the commander of the northern brigade in Gaza.”

Politico: ISIS Propaganda Seducing ‘New Generation Of Teenagers,’ French Domestic Intel

“A new generation of French teenagers is being wooed by the Islamic State terrorist group — infamous for its on-camera immolations of captives in Iraq — and seems ominously susceptible to the group’s propaganda, according to the head of France’s DGSI internal security directorate, Nicolas Lerner. France — home to Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim populations — has suffered multiple terrorist attacks in the past few months, most recently last weekend near the Eiffel Tower in Paris when a German man was killed and two others were injured. A French prosecutor said the perpetrator had pledged allegiance to Islamic State. “The three attack plots foiled by the DGSI in 2023 involved individuals who were all under the age of 20,” Lerner said in a Thursday interview with Le Monde, in which he claimed they were members of this group. Lerner used the terms Islamic State and ISIS interchangeably. “The youngest was 13 years old. Two others were 14 years old. In several of these cases … these young people did not go to mosques or places of socialization: They structured themselves online, on social networks, through a very worrying ideological and digital confinement.” Lerner said the current conflict between Israel and Hamas has had “undeniably” direct consequences for France.”

CEP Mentions

WTOP News: The Hunt: Qatar Pressured To Hand Over Hamas Leaders

“Qatar has played a major role in getting Israeli hostages out of Gaza, but it’s facing growing pressure to distance itself from Hamas. In this week’s episode of “The Hunt with WTOP national security correspondent J.J. Green”, Fran Townsend, president of the Counter Extremism Project, says her organization believes Qatar is harboring terrorists.”

DW News: How Israel Plans To Track Down Hamas-Mastermind Yehya Sinwar

“Israel has vowed to find and kill the alleged mastermind of the October 7th terrorist attack, Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar. He has not been seen in public since the start of the war but Israel believes he is hiding in his home town of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by multiple countries. “The house of Sinwar is in the area of Khan Younis. You have their terror infrastructure, command centers. Sinwar is not above ground. He is underground. I don’t want to elaborate where and how and what we know in terms of intelligence. This is not the place to talk about such things in the media. Our job is to find Sinwar and kill him.” Interview with CEP Senior Director Hans-Jakob Schindler.”

United States

Fox News: Chicago Gang Leader Admits To Repeatedly Attempting To Provide Money To ISIS, Trafficking Fentanyl

“The leader of a Chicago-area street gang admitted in federal court that he attempted on three separate occasions to provide financial support to ISIS. Jason Brown, who also went by Abdul Ja'Me, attempted to provide $500 in support of ISIS — aka the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham — three separate times in 2019, according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) release. According to court documents, the 41-year-old believed that he had given the money to a confidential source, believing it would be sent to an ISIS soldier in combat in Syria. However, the individual to whom he provided the money was confidentially working with law enforcement, and the ISIS fighter was actually an undercover law enforcement officer. Along with attempting to support the terror group, Brown admitted that in 2019 he trafficked fentanyl and other illegal drugs from California to the Chicago suburbs. The drug trafficker also admitted to illegally possessing several loaded handguns to further his illegal activities.  According to the criminal complaint, Brown was the leader of the AHK street gang, which is based in the Chicago suburb of Bellwood, and comprised of former members of other gangs, including the Black P Stones, Gangster Disciples, and Four Corner Hustlers.”

CBS: Arizona Man Charged For Allegedly Inciting "Religiously Motivated Terrorist Attack" That Killed 2 Officers, Bystander In Australia

“Arizona man charged for allegedly inciting "religiously motivated terrorist attack" that killed 2 officers, bystander in Australia A U.S. citizen has been charged in Arizona over online comments that allegedly incited what police describe as a "religiously motivated terrorist attack" in Australia a year ago in which six people died, officials said Wednesday. Queensland state police officers Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold and innocent bystander Alan Dare were fatally shot by Gareth Train, his brother Nathaniel Train and Nathanial's wife Stacey Train in an ambush at the Trains' remote property in the rural community of Wieambilla last Dec. 12, investigators say. Four officers had arrived at the property to investigate reports of a missing person. They walked into a hail of gunfire, police said at the time. Two officers managed to escape and raise the alarm. Police killed the three Trains, who have been described as conspiracy theorists, during a six-hour siege. The siege involved "many weapons" and continued for hours, before the suspects were shot by specially trained officers, authorities said, the BBC reported. Investigators say the attack was premeditated, and that it involved "advanced planning and preparation against law enforcement."”

Yemen

Reuters: Yemen's Houthis Say They Launched Ballistic Missiles At Israel

“Yemen's Houthi group launched several ballistic missiles at military posts in the southern Israeli city of Eilat, the group's military spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday Earlier Wednesday, the Mason, a U.S. Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, shot down a drone that originated from a part of Yemen controlled by the Houthi group, a U.S. official said. There were no injuries or damage and it was not clear what the drone was targeting. It is the sixth time the U.S. Navy has fired upon drones in the southern Red Sea since war broke out between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Oct. 7 and comes amid a series of attacks on commercial vessels in Middle Eastern waters. The Houthi group's statement said it would continue to "carry out their military operations against the Israeli enemy, as well as implementing the decision to prevent Israeli ships from navigating the Arab and Red Seas in support of the oppressed Palestinian people." The Houthis, an ally of Tehran, have been launching long-range missile and drone salvoes at Israel and Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with the Palestinian Hamas militants fighting in the Gaza Strip. Earlier on Wednesday, Britain's Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency and British maritime security company Ambrey reported an incident involving a suspected drone over the Red Sea west of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.”

Middle East

Reuters: Saudi Arabia Urges US Restraint As Houthis Attack Ships In Red Sea

“Saudi Arabia has asked the United States to show restraint in responding to attacks by Yemen's Houthis against ships in the Red Sea, two sources familiar with Saudi thinking said, as Riyadh seeks to contain spillover from the Hamas-Israel war. The Iran-aligned Houthis have waded into the conflict that has spread around the Middle East since war erupted on Oct. 7, attacking vessels in vital shipping lanes and firing drones and missiles at Israel itself. The group which rules much of Yemen says its attacks are a show of support for the Palestinians and has vowed they will continue until Israel stops its offensive on the Gaza Strip - more than 1,000 miles from their seat of power in Sanaa. The Houthis are one of several groups in the Iran-aligned "Axis of Resistance" which have been attacking Israeli and U.S. targets since the start of the conflict on Oct. 7, when their Palestinian ally Hamas sparked the war by attacking Israel. Their role has added to the conflict's regional risks, threatening sea lanes through which much of the world's oil shipped, and worrying states on the Red Sea as Houthi rockets and drones fly towards Israel. Riyadh, the world's top oil exporter, has watched with alarm as Houthi missiles have been fired over its territory. With the Houthis stepping up attacks on shipping over the past weeks, two sources familiar with Saudi thinking said Riyadh's message of restraint to Washington aimed to avoid further escalation. Riyadh was so far pleased with the way the United States was handling the situation, the sources added.”

ABC: Israeli Defense Minister Predicts 2 More Months Of War, Then 'Mop Up'

“Israel's war with Hamas in the neighboring Gaza Strip is expected to continue at its current intensity for two more months, followed by what Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called multiple months of "mop up" operations that would see the country's military "taking out pockets of terrorist resistance." Gallant made the comments during a briefing with ABC News over the weekend, where, in light of multiple warnings by top U.S. officials about soaring civilian casualties in Gaza, he insisted: "Israel is not fighting the Palestinian people." "We are fighting the Hamas terrorist organization," he added, echoing a message the Israel Defense Forces have delivered since the current conflict began with the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that left 1,200 dead, most of the civilians. According to Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health, nearly 16,000 people have been killed there since the IDF launched a counteroffensive on the heels of the terrorist rampage, with the death toll rising daily. Gaza, a 140-square-mile territory, is home to some 2.3 million Palestinians who have lived under a blockade imposed by Israel and supported by Egypt since Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that the United States has designated a terrorist organization, came to power in 2007.”