Associated Press: US Repatriates 11 Citizens From Notorious Camp For Relatives Of Islamic State Militants In Syria

“The United States has repatriated 11 of its citizens from sprawling camps in northeastern Syria that house tens of thousands of family members of suspected Islamic State militants, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday. The repatriation was the largest Washington has carried out from the camps to date, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. Five of the 11 citizens brought back were children, and one non-U.S. citizen child -- the 9-year-old sibling of one of the other children -- was also brought with them. As part of the same operation, the U.S. facilitated the repatriation of 11 other camp residents, eight of them children, to Canada, the Netherlands and Finland, the statement said. Although the pace of repatriations has picked up -- neighboring Iraq recently returned hundreds of its citizens -- many countries remain reluctant to bring back citizens from the al Hol and al Roj camps, which now hold about 30,000 people from more than 60 countries, most of them children.”

Associated Press: Taliban Reject Claims Of Afghan Involvement In Recent Attacks In Pakistan

“The Taliban on Wednesday rejected claims of Afghan involvement in recent attacks in Pakistan, calling it “irresponsible and far from the reality.” Pakistan’s military said Tuesday a suicide bombing that killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistandriver in March was planned in neighboring Afghanistan and that the bomber was an Afghan citizen. Maj. Gen. Ahmad Sharif, a spokesman for Pakistan’s army, has said that four men behind the March 26 attack in Bisham, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, had been arrested. Enayatullah Khawarazmi, a spokesman for the Taliban’s Ministry of Defense, said in a statement Wednesday that “blaming Afghanistan for such incidents is a failed attempt to divert attention from the truth of the matter and we strongly reject it.” “The killing of Chinese citizens in an area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that is under tight security cover by the Pakistan Army shows the weakness of the Pakistani security agencies, ” said Khawarazmi.”

CEP Mentions

Conservative Home: An Election-Year Debate The Party Has Chosen To Have: How Many Criminals Should We Let Out Of Prison Early?

“... Prisons aren’t a new problem. Ian Acheson wrote about the decay of the high-sec estate for us last month; David Gauke painted a bleak portrait of the current spending settlement in December. A year ago, I examined the abject failure of the Government’s promise to have delivered 10,000 new jail places by 2020 (actual number delivered at that point: 206). But it is remarkable the way ministers have allowed the situation to reach the point where the Ministry of Justice is simultaneously refusing to release any details about how many prisoners have been released or what they were inside for whilst battling the Prime Minister over the Sentencing Bill, which will ease pressure on places by scrapping short sentences altogether. In a general election year!”

EurasiaReview: US Policy In Northeast Syria: Toward A Strategic Reconfiguration – Analysis

“... Despite the loss of ISIS’s territorial caliphate, the group remains active in Syria and beyond. Official estimates by the US Central Command and the United Nations put the number of ISIS fighters between 2,500 and 7,000 as of late 2023 and early 2024. According to the Counter Extremism Project, March 2024 marked the deadliest month of ISIS’s insurgency in the Syrian desert since late 2017, with eighty-four Syrian soldiers and forty-four civilians killed. The escalation of ISIS activity coincides with reports of potential US withdrawal from Syria (denied by the Biden administration) and ongoing Turkish attacks in NE Syria, raising questions as to whether the group has been emboldened by these developments.”

United States

Reuters: U.S. Pauses Some Weapons To Israel As Battles Rage Around Rafah

“Hamas said it was battling Israeli troops on the outskirts of the Gaza Strip's crowded southern city of Rafah on Wednesday after a U.S. official said Washington had halted a shipment of powerful bombs that Israel could use in a full-scale assault. The United States, which is seeking to stave off an Israeli invasion of Rafah, said it believes a revised Hamas ceasefire proposal may lead to a breakthrough in an impasse in negotiations, with talks resuming in Cairo on Wednesday. Israel has threatened a major assault on Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas fighters it says are holed up there, but Western nations and the United Nations have warned a full-scale attack on the city would be a humanitarian catastrophe. Hamas said its fighters were battling Israeli forces in the east of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge from combat further north in the enclave. Residents said the fighting was still on the outskirts.”

Afghanistan

Associated Press: Taliban Reject Claims Of Afghan Involvement In Recent Attacks In Pakistan

“The Taliban on Wednesday rejected claims of Afghan involvement in recent attacks in Pakistan, calling it “irresponsible and far from the reality.” Pakistan’s military said Tuesday a suicide bombing that killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistandriver in March was planned in neighboring Afghanistan and that the bomber was an Afghan citizen. Maj. Gen. Ahmad Sharif, a spokesman for Pakistan’s army, has said that four men behind the March 26 attack in Bisham, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, had been arrested. Enayatullah Khawarazmi, a spokesman for the Taliban’s Ministry of Defense, said in a statement Wednesday that “blaming Afghanistan for such incidents is a failed attempt to divert attention from the truth of the matter and we strongly reject it.” “The killing of Chinese citizens in an area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that is under tight security cover by the Pakistan Army shows the weakness of the Pakistani security agencies, ” said Khawarazmi.”

Pakistan

Associated Press: Pakistan’s Military Says March Attack That Killed Chinese Engineers Was Planned In Afghanistan

“Pakistan’s military on Tuesday said a suicide bombing that killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani driver in March was planned in neighboring Afghanistan and that the bomber was an Afghan citizen. At a news conference, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Ahmad Sharif said four men behind the March 26 attack in Bisham, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, had been arrested. Sharif said the attack that killed the Chinese engineers, who were working on Pakistan’s biggest Dasu Dam, was an attempt to harm the friendship between Pakistan and China. Thousands of Chinese are working on projects relating to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Sharif also said Pakistani Taliban who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan were behind a surge in attacks inside Pakistan since January that killed 62 security forces nationwide, and that Pakistan had solid evidence of the group’s inovlevemnt in the rising violence.”

Yemen

Business Insider: A US Navy Aircraft Carrier Is Rearmed And Back In The Red Sea Amid A Houthi Missile Crisis With No End In Sight

“The US Navy aircraft carrier that spent months battling the Houthis in the Red Sea is rearmed and back in the waterway after a short break. The warship's return comes as American intelligence officials warn the conflict may go on for a while. The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely are back in the Red Sea to continue their maritime security mission after a recent port visit in Souda Bay, Greece, a Navy spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider on Tuesday. US Naval Support Activity Souda Bay, located on the Mediterranean island of Crete, is a decades-old forward-operating station where American and NATO vessels can receive maintenance, cargo, food, fuel, supplies, and ammunition. During the brief port visit, the two ships were resupplied and rearmed while their sailors enjoyed some relaxing downtime, the spokesperson said. It marked their first stop since their ongoing deployment began in mid-October.”

Middle East

Associated Press: Israel Says It Reopened A Key Gaza Crossing After A Rocket Attack But The UN Says No Aid Has Entered

“The Israeli military said Wednesday that it has reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza, a key terminal for the entry of humanitarian aid that was closed over the weekend after a Hamas rocket attack killed four Israeli soldiers nearby. But the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said no aid has yet entered and there is no one to receive it on the Palestinian side. Workers fled during an incursion by an Israeli tank brigade on Tuesday that captured the nearby Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which remains closed. That limited incursion did not appear to be the start of the full-scale invasion of Rafah that Israel has repeatedly promised. But the prolonged closure of the two main crossings could exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the U.N. says a “full-blown famine” is already underway in the north.”

Germany

BBC: Going To The Extreme: Inside Germany’s Far Right

“It is a spring evening in Germany's eastern city of Cottbus, and dozens of people have crowded into a small venue to hear a man who once dubbed himself the "friendly face" of National Socialism (Nazism). Two other men with prior links to extremist groups are also in the room, including a candidate for forthcoming state elections. They're all there to hear Matthias Helferich at a youth event organised by members of the prominent far-right party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). The AfD has repeatedly rejected accusations of extremism. However, by investigating the past of these three men, the BBC has found a clear crossover between AfD figures and far-right networks, some of which are classed as anti-democratic or racist by German authorities. Stephan Kramer, a regional spy chief in eastern Germany, has told the BBC the AfD now poses a danger to the "roots" of democracy, as the party eyes electoral gains in three states in the east this autumn: Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg.”