Associated Press: Biden Says US Won’t Supply Weapons For Israel To Attack Rafah, In Warning To Ally

“President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he would not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to launch an all-out assault on Rafah — the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza — over concern for the well-being of the more than 1 million civilians sheltering there. Biden, in an interview with CNN, said the U.S. was still committed to Israel’s defense and would supply Iron Dome rocket interceptors and other defensive arms, but that if Israel goes into Rafah, “we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells used.” The U.S. has historically provided enormous amounts of military aid to Israel. That has only accelerated in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 in Israel and led to about 250 being taken captive by militants. Biden’s comments and his decision last week to pause a shipment of heavy bombs to Israel are the most striking manifestations of the growing daylight between his administration and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.”

Associated Press: IS Group Claims Bombing In Afghanistan That Killed Officers Involved In An Anti-Poppy Crop Campaign

“The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a bombing in Afghanistan’s northeast that killed police officers who were part of an anti-poppy crop campaign. A motorcycle was booby-trapped and exploded, targeting a Taliban patrol in Faizabad town in Badakhshan province, killing and wounding 12 members of the patrol as well as destroying a four-wheel drive vehicle, the group said in a statement late Wednesday. Abdul Mateen Qani, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said the officers were on their way to destroy poppy crops in the area. The Islamic State group’s affiliate in Afghanistan, a major Taliban rival, has conducted attacks on schools, hospitals, mosques and Shiite areas throughout the country. In March, the group said one of its suicide bombers detonated an explosive belt among Taliban gathered near a Kandahar bank to receive their salaries.”

CEP Mentions

The West Australian: Parents Claim Rossmoyne Students Watched Fundamentalist Islamic Preacher Zakir Naik In School Prayer Room

“... According to the international organisation Counter Extremism Project, Dr Naik follows a conservative brand of Wahhabi Islam and has allegedly “expressed sympathy for terrorists”. Rossmoyne Senior High School parents sent letter to WA Police amid concerns about radicalised teen Willetton stabbing: Terrorism expert Greg Barton expects authorities to declare a terror incident Video clips have been widely circulated of him saying “I tell Muslims that every Muslim should be a terrorist” — but he has since claimed that was taken out of context and he was totally against terrorism or killing fellow humans. “When I said a terrorist is a person who terrorises someone, I also gave an example that a policeman terrorises a robber. So, for a robber a policeman is a terrorist,” the India Times reported he said in 2016. “In this context, every Muslim should be a terrorist to the anti-social element.”

DW News: US Pauses Delivery Of Bombs To Israel In Opposition To Israel's Plans To Attack Rafah

“US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the White House paused a large shipment of bombs to Israel. He said the decision was due to opposition to Israel's plans to assault Rafah, in southern Gaza. Austin told a US Senate hearing the Biden administration was concerned about Israel launching a major offensive in Rafah, without a plan to protect civilians there. Meanwhile, Israel continues to bombard the city. The army says it's conducting a limited operation to kill Hamas fighters and dismantle the group's remaining infrastructure. For more on this, we talk to Hans-Jakob Schindler. He is the Senior Director of the Counter Extremism Project.”

WTOP News: The Hunt: The Consequences Of A U.S. Military Exit From Niger

“The government of Niger has asked the U.S. military to leave — even though there’s a critical drone base there that’s keeping terrorism in check. On this week’s edition of “The Hunt with WTOP national security correspondent JJ Green,” Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director at the Counter Extremism Project, breaks down the consequences.”

United States

Voice Of America: Congressman: US Needs Counterterrorism Partners In Central Asia

“In a rare discussion of Central Asia policy on Capitol Hill, a senior legislator told VOA that the United States needs to look past the abysmal human rights records of the countries in the region to confront terrorism and Russian and Chinese influence. "If we want their help somehow, we need to be able to help them," Representative Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a one-on-one interview. The 27-year House lawmaker was part of the most recent congressional delegation to visit Uzbekistan, along with Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers, Salud Carbajal and Veronica Escobar. The message they carried to the region was clear: Washington wants to enhance security cooperation while backing political and economic reforms.”

Associated Press: Biden Says US Won’t Supply Weapons For Israel To Attack Rafah, In Warning To Ally

“President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he would not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to launch an all-out assault on Rafah — the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza — over concern for the well-being of the more than 1 million civilians sheltering there. Biden, in an interview with CNN, said the U.S. was still committed to Israel’s defense and would supply Iron Dome rocket interceptors and other defensive arms, but that if Israel goes into Rafah, “we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells used.” The U.S. has historically provided enormous amounts of military aid to Israel. That has only accelerated in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 in Israel and led to about 250 being taken captive by militants. Biden’s comments and his decision last week to pause a shipment of heavy bombs to Israel are the most striking manifestations of the growing daylight between his administration and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.”

Syria

Associated Press: Scores Of Syrians Return Home After Years At Camp Housing People Linked To The Islamic State Group

“Scores of Syrian women and children linked to the Islamic State group left a sprawling camp in northeast Syria Wednesday and headed home to the eastern province of Deir el-Zour following mediation by tribal leaders. The latest batch of people to leave al-Hol camp, which houses wives, widows, children and other family members of IS militants, came as repatriations by foreign countries have increased in recent months in an attempt to reduce the population of the facility that at its peak five years ago housed 73,000 people. Beginning in the early hours of the day, 254 people from 69 families piled their belongings into trucks before climbing on board and moving south under the protection of members of the local U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led police force to their hometowns in Deir el-Zour.”

Pakistan

DW: Pakistan: 7 Workers Shot Dead In Their Sleep In Balochistan

“Unidentified gunmen shot and killed at least seven workers in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan, police said on Thursday. According to police official Mohsin Ali, gunmen stormed into a house some 25 kilometers (15 miles) east of the port city of Gwadar, and shot the workers while they were asleep.  The coastal town of Gwadar is the site of several Beijing-backed projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor investment, which is part of the Belt and Road Initiative. The victims, who were from the central Pakistani province of Punjab, were running a barber shop, Ali said. However, police said they believed the attack was not related to their jobs. Previous attacks claimed by the Pakistani Taliban near the Afghan border in the north were believed to have been motivated by a militant ban on Western-style beard trimming and haircuts.”

Yemen

Reuters: Yemen's Houthis Say They Targeted Ships In Gulf Of Aden, Indian Ocean

“Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis targeted two ships, the MSC DEGO and the MSC GINA, in the Gulf of Aden using a number of ballistic missiles and drones, the group's military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech on Thursday. Sarea said the group also targeted the MSC VITTORIA in the Indian Ocean and again in the Gulf of Aden.”

Lebanon

Associated Press: UN Food Agency Fears An Escalation On The Lebanese-Israeli Border Can Cripple Aid Efforts In Lebanon

“If the monthslong conflict playing out on the Lebanese-Israeli border continues to escalate, the United Nations food agency won’t be ready for the spike in nutritional needs across crisis-hit Lebanon, its deputy executive director said Wednesday. Clashes between the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces began on Oct. 8, a day after Israel started bombarding the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ deadly rampage in southern Israel, and the tensions between the two sides continue to intensify. “So far we’ve been able to manage based on the existing resources we have,” UN World Food Program’s Carl Skau, who is on a brief visit to the small Mediterranean nation, told The Associated Press. The WFP provides aid to over 158,000 people in Lebanon affected by the hostilities, including 93,000 displaced from their homes. But the agency does not have the funding to address the growing humanitarian needs “should the situation further escalate and further deteriorate,” Skau said.”

Qatar

The Guardian: Amnesty Urges Fifa To Publish Report On Qatar Migrant Worker Compensation

“Fifa must publish an independent report into its responsibilities to migrant workers in Qatar and begin the process of providing financial compensation, Amnesty International has said. The human rights organisation has called on Fifa to finally publish the report by Michael Llamas, president of the Gibraltar Football Association, before its congress in Bangkok next week. It claims the Llamas report has found Fifa has a responsibility to provide financial remedy to workers or the families of workers involved in 2022 World Cup projects in Qatar and that its conclusions were approved by the executive Fifa council in March. The Guardian understands the report is under review by Fifa stakeholders but that the governing body remains committed to its publication.”

Somalia

Garowe Online: NISA Parades 12 Al-Shabaab Suspects In Somalia

“Somalia's spy agency; the National Intelligence Security Agency (NISA) has paraded 12 suspected Al-Shabaab militants as the fight against the group garnered momentum across the Horn of Africa nation, which is battling with instability. The suspected militants were rounded by security forces in Baidoa, the regional administrative capital of Southwest state, following intensive search mounted by local troops. Southwest is a major terror hotbed in Somalia. According to NISA, the 12 individuals were arrested following a coordinated crackdown by national security forces in Baidoa city and its surroundings were extorting money from members of the public in the region. The suspects, NISA added, will be charged in the military court in line with traditions set by security operatives in Somalia. Besides extortion, they are accused of killing members of the public along with endangering the lives of security teams.”

Mali

Associated Press: An Extremist Group And Ethnic Militias Committed Atrocities In Mali, Human Rights Watch Says

“An extremist group linked to al-Qaida carried out mass killings in two villages in central Mali in January, Human Rights Watch said in a report Wednesday, in an apparent war crime that caused thousands to flee their homes. The group known as JNIM killed at least 32 people, including three children, during attacks on Jan. 27 on the villages of Ogota and Ouémbé, and set fire to over 350 homes, the report said, quoting villagers who described the carnage as ethnically motivated. The report also documented a separate incident in which an ethnic armed group killed 13 people and abducted 24 civilians in two other villages in central Mali on Jan. 6. “Islamist armed groups and ethnic militias are brutally attacking civilians without fear of prosecution,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities need to act to end the deadly cycles of violence and revenge killings and better protect threatened civilians.””

Africa

ABC: Militants Have Committed Crimes Against Humanity In Sudan, Human Rights Watch Report Warns

“Ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity have been committed in El Geneina, West Darfur, against ethnic Massalit and non-Arab communities, according to a report released Thursday by Human Rights Watch. The Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, paramilitary group and allied militias have committed "numerous serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law" as part of their campaign against the Massalit people of El Geneina, the report said. Between April and November 2023 "at least thousands of people" were killed, "hundreds of thousands" left as refugees and civilian infrastructure methodologically destroyed, the report said. It said Entire neighborhoods housing primarily Massalit-displaced communities were looted, burned, shelled and razed to the ground.”

United Kingdom

Associated Press: British Government Tries To Head Off The Type Of Unrest Seen On American Campuses

“British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is calling for an end to “antisemitic abuse” at U.K. universities as protests against the war in Gaza expand and the government tries to head off the type of unrest seen on American campuses in recent weeks. The comments came as Sunak and his education secretary prepared to meet with university leaders on Thursday at the prime minister’s offices in Downing Street. “A vocal minority on our campuses are disrupting the lives and studies of their fellow students and, in some cases, propagating outright harassment and antisemitic abuse,” Sunak said in a statement. “This has to stop.” Pro-Palestinian protesters have begun building encampments at universities around the U.K. over the past two weeks as students and academics call on the institutions to cut ties with Israel over its offensive in the Gaza Strip.”

BBC: Men Arrested For 'Preparing Acts Of Terrorism'

“Three men have been arrested on suspicion of planning terrorism offences. Officers from Counter Terrorism Policing North West (CTPNW) carried out raids at about 19:30 BST. Four warrants were executed across Bolton and Great Lever and in the Abram and Hindley areas of Wigan. CTPNW said the men had been arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism. The suspects are aged 35, 36 and 51 and are in custody being questioned by detectives. Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts, lead for counter terrorism policing in the North West, said the raids were part of an ongoing investigation. ACC Potts added: "Today’s activity has been the culmination of much detailed planning and we have put measures in place to minimise disruption to local residents as much as possible.”

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).”