Anwar al-Awlaki’s Ties to Extremists
In the Counter Extremism Project’s online resource, Anwar al-Awlaki’s Ties to Extremists, CEP has counted 99 extremists with ties to Anwar al-Awlaki.
Anwar al-Awlaki was a U.S.-Yemeni dual citizen and longtime cleric, propagandist, and operative for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). On September 30, 2011, Awlaki was targeted and killed in Yemen in the first U.S. drone strike to deliberately target a U.S. citizen. While he was alive, Awlaki directed a number of terrorist plots against the United States, and disseminated English- and Arabic-language videos, audio recordings, and articles online.
In the Counter Extremism Project’s online resource, Anwar al-Awlaki’s Ties to Extremists, CEP has counted 99 extremists with ties to Anwar al-Awlaki.
YouTube's features has served to lure users to extremist content on YouTube, despite CEP's calls for YouTube to cease hosting Awlaki content.
In February 2016, Google (YouTube’s parent company) announced plans to divert its users away from extremist content towards counter-narratives meant to challenge the appeal of extremist material.
Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.
Fact:
On January 23, 2019, two car bombs exploded outside of a mosque in Benghazi, Libya, killing 41 people and injuring 80 others. No group claimed responsibility for the blast, but remnants suggested an ISIS affiliate was responsible.
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