Homeland Security Network Blog

  The Times Of Israel IDF Releases Photos Showing Terror Groups Put Rocket Launchers Next To Gaza Schools Military says the 3 schools are attended by over 1,000 students, accuses Hamas of intentionally putting ‘civilians and pupils in danger by using them as human shields’ By TOI staff The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday released photos showing what it said were rocket launch sites that Palestinian terror groups have positioned next to several schools in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The IDF released statements in English and Arabic that included satellite photos of three schools in Gaza City, outside which it said rocket launchers have been set up. “Over 1,000 innocent students attend these schools that Hamas uses for terrorist activities. Hamas purposefully puts civilians and pupils in danger by using them as human shields,” the IDF said. The military identified two of the launch sites as belonging to Hamas — including...

The Wall Street Journal U.S. Builds New Firewall To Stop Spread Of Militant Islamists By Michael M. Phillips “The front lines in the war between the West and militant Islamists have shifted to Africa, from Somalia on the continent’s eastern tip to the West African Sahel, a semidesert strip south of the Sahara. In the Sahel, the U.S. and its allies are betting that Niger, the worst-off country in the world by a U.N. measure, offers the best hope of stopping the seemingly inexorable spread of al Qaeda and Islamic State. In the heart of the region, the nations of Mali and Burkina Faso are losing ground, roiled by militant attacks and military coups. In contrast, the elected civilian government in neighboring Niger is making slow headway against insurgents with the help of Western forces, U.S. and Nigerien officials said. Mali’s ruling junta has hired Kremlin-linked mercenaries to provide security, while...

  Paul Wells The Progress Of Our Arms The Halifax International Security Forum in wartime The world’s a mess. Vladimir Putin still has no better idea than to keep grinding Russia’s army into Ukraine. North Korea has launched more than 30 missiles in November alone. Xi Jinping has consolidated his flinty hold on power in China. Europe is heading for a cold winter, disease stalks the world, food and energy are ever harder to find and deploy. So the big surprise at this weekend’s Halifax International Security Forum was the sound — tenuous, never dominant — of hope. I don’t want to overstate this. I know any hint of optimism might sound jarring in a gathering of soldiers, strategists, think tankers and academics while brutal war continues in the heart of Europe. But a thread connecting many discussions at this most urgent edition of a conference that has been taking place...

  NBC News North Carolina Substation Attack Raises Security Concerns For U.S. Electric Grid By Phil McCausland The recent attack on two North Carolina substations that cut power to thousands of people has raised concerns about security standards for the country’s electric grid and its numerous power stations, which have faced greater threats in recent years. Outside of weather, suspected and confirmed physical attacks on electric grid infrastructure have been the largest cause of electrical disturbance events since 2014 when, in response to an attack in California the year before, private companies that run power stations were required to increase security standards, according to an NBC News analysis of public Department of Energy reports. Nearly 600 electric emergency incidents and disturbances were caused by suspected and confirmed physical attacks and vandalism on the electric grid in those nine years, the reports show. There have been 106 attack or vandalism incidents from...

  Russia-Ukraine War Ukrainian Drones Hit 2 Bases Deep in Russia New York Times KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine executed its most brazen attack into Russian territory in the nine-month-old war on Monday, targeting two military bases hundreds of miles inside the country, using drones, according to the Russian Defense Ministry and a senior Ukrainian official. The drones were launched from Ukrainian territory, and at least one of the strikes was made with the help of special forces close to the base who helped guide the drones to the target, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to convey sensitive information. The strikes signaled a new willingness by Kyiv to take the fight to bases in the heart of Russia, raising the stakes in the war, and demonstrated for the first time Ukraine’s ability to attack at such long distances. Shortly after the attacks on the bases, Russia sent a barrage...

The Kansas City Star Kansas City area man among three indicted in alleged terrorist conspiracy in Cameroon By Bill Lukitsch Three U.S. citizens, including one from Lee’s Summit, face criminal charges for allegedly engaging in a conspiracy to support terrorism in the central African nation of Cameroon, federal prosecutors said Monday. Claude Ngenevu Chi, 40; Francis Chenyi Sr., 49, of St. Paul, Minnesota; and Lah Nestor Langmi, 46, of Buffalo, New York, are charged with conspiracy to provide material support for terrorism, receiving money from a ransom demand and money laundering. A grand jury indictment filed in the Western District of Missouri’s Kansas City office was unsealed Monday following the arrests and initial court appearances of all three men. Prosecutors allege the men, all of Cameroonian origin, worked in concert to provide support for a militant separatist group known as the Ambazonia Restoration Forces and other separatists based in the nation’s...

NBC News Inside The Syrian Refugee Camp Where Supplies Are Low And ISIS Fears Run High “ISIS can plant a seed in one of those areas based on the conditions and try and grow and foment its radical ideology,” Maj. Gen. Matt McFarlane told NBC News at the camp. By Courtney Kube AL-HOL, Syria — Inside the sprawling refugee camp in this arid corner of northeast Syria, the kids are everywhere. They’re playing soccer next to a sea of tattered white tents. They’re running along a fence littered with trash and empty bottles. And they’re holding up their middle fingers and throwing rocks as an armored U.S. military vehicle approaches. Of the roughly 54,000 residents in the al-Hol refugee camp, nearly half are children under the age of 12. Most fled here with their mothers and extended family members in late 2018 and early 2019 as the Islamic State terrorist group...

AP Witness: Walmart shooter seemed to target certain people By BEN FINLEY CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) — The Walmart supervisor who shot and killed six co-workers in Virginia seemed to target people and fired at some victims after they were already hit and appeared to be dead, said a witness who was present when the shooting started. Jessica Wilczewski said that workers were gathered in a store break room to begin their overnight shift late Tuesday when team leader Andre Bing entered and opened fire with a handgun. While another witness has described Bing as shooting wildly, Wilczewski said that she observed him target certain people. “The way he was acting — he was going hunting,” Wilczewski told The Associated Press on Thursday. “The way he was looking at people’s faces and the way he did what he did, he was picking people out.” She said that she observed him shoot at...

Newsweek Iran Considered Carrying Out Terror Attack At World Cup: IDF Intel Chief By Zoe Strozewski Iran allegedly considered carrying out a terror attack at the men's soccer World Cup in Qatar in an attempt to disrupt the event, the military intelligence chief of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Monday. Speaking at an Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, Major General Aharon Haliva said that the "only thing" stopping Iran from an act of terror was concern over how host country Qatar might respond, according to The Jerusalem Post. The 2022 World Cup kicked off Sunday and is set to last through December 18. Iran's national team is one of 32 that secured a place in the World Cup, but turmoil at home has shifted additional attention to its participation in the event. Iran began experiencing massive protests and civil unrest after the death in...

What we know about the Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub shooting By Emma Tucker, Eric Levenson, Michelle Watson, Andy Rose and Amir Vera, CNN A 22-year-old gunman killed five people and injured 25 others in an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, just before midnight Saturday, police said Sunday. The suspect in the shooting at Club Q was identified as Anderson Lee Aldrich, according to Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez. After entering the club, he immediately opened fire before at least two people inside the club confronted and fought him, preventing further violence, Vasquez said. The suspect is being treated at a hospital, police said. Officers did not shoot at him, police said. Colorado has seen some of the worst mass shootings in US history, including the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School. Last year in Colorado Springs, a mass shooting at a birthday party left six dead. Here's what we...

America’s Tactical Nuclear Stand-Down The Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal The Biden Administration has released an unclassified review of American nuclear forces, and buried in the bureaucratic prose is a contradiction. China and Russia are amassing large, diverse nuclear arsenals, but the U.S. is nixing a tactical nuclear missile that could help deter Vladimir Putin and other rogues. The 2022 Nuclear Posture Review says the Biden Team will cancel the nuclear sea-launched cruise missile, known as SLCM-N, which is a planned smaller “tactical” nuke that could be launched from U.S. Navy ships or submarines. The cancellation isn’t a surprise. The Administration zeroed out the missile in its budget proposal this year.   Full story https://www.wsj.com/articles/americas-tactical-nuclear-stand-down-china-russia-missile-nuclear-posture-review-11667573622

  Associated Press Police Officer Killed In Suspected Brussels Terror Attack By SAMUEL PETREQUIN and RAF CASERT BRUSSELS (AP) — A lone assailant killed one police officer and wounded another Thursday in a stabbing attack that two Belgian judicial officials said was suspected to be terrorism-linked. The suspect was shot and taken to a hospital. Eric Van der Sypt, from the federal prosecutor’s office, told The Associated Press the suspect was wounded by another police officers after the stabbing. Van der Sypt added that investigators suspected the attack took place in a “terrorist context.” The prosecutor’s office told AP it took over the case because there is “a suspicion of a terror attack.” “One of our patrols was attacked by a man armed with a knife,” police said, quoted by the newspaper Le Soir. “The two police officers then called for reinforcements. An officer from another patrol used his firearm to...

  Politico The U.S. military plan to keep ISIS down: Infrastructure By LARA SELIGMAN, ALEXANDER WARD, MATT BERG and LAWRENCE UKENYE The focus may be on the midterms and the Russia-Ukraine war, but the Pentagon is quietly starting to build infrastructure in Syria for a long-haul fight with the Islamic State. Roughly 900 special forces are still working overtime to help local forces hunt ISIS remnants to keep the terrorist group at bay. The Department of Defense’s latest weapon of choice, though, is improved facilities and services so ISIS can’t break out the 10,000 or so former fighters languishing in crumbling detention centers across Syria. ISIS fighters have targeted these areas multiple times in recent months, most brazenly attacking the Hasakah prison in northeastern Syria in January. Scores of prisoners escaped during the 10-day battle that ensued. “We know that ISIS sees the detention centers, the detainee population, as the path...

The Danger of a "Sleeping" Nuclear Deal: Stronger Russia, China, North Korea, Iran by Majid Rafizadeh • Gatestone Institute In spite of US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley's recently having said that the White House is not going to "waste our time" on the nuclear deal "if nothing's going to happen," he nevertheless stressed that the Biden administration is still committed to employing diplomacy, presumably to revive it at a later date. Pelosi might recall that although a "deal" would professedly "prevent" Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, the reality is quite different. Iran is acquiring nuclear weapons -- rapidly -- with a deal or without one. Any "deal" appears simply a bribe to the Iranian regime please just not to use their nuclear weapons on the Biden administration's watch. Pelosi might also recall that the nuclear deal will reward Russia by allowing it to cash in on a $10 billion...

  All Africa Somalia: US Targets Smugglers Supplying Islamic State In Somalia By Jeff Seldin Washington — The United States is trying to curb the flow of weapons to the Islamic State terror group's affiliate in Somalia, taking aim at a smuggling operation that is also helping to arm its al-Qaida-linked rival, al-Shabab, with weapons from Iran. The U.S. Treasury Department Tuesday announced sanctions against eight individuals and one company all involved in the yearslong effort to smuggle millions of dollars of weapons between Yemen and Somalia. Among those targeted are Abdirahman Fahiye, believed to lead IS-Somalia's day-to-day operations, Mohamed Ahmed Qahiye, who heads IS-Somalia's intelligence wing, and Isse Mohamoud Yusuf, a former pirate who continues to run weapons on behalf of IS. The sanctions "take direct aim at the networks funding and supplying both ISIS-Somalia and al-Shabab," Brian Nelson, the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement,...

The Jerusalem Post WATCH: Terrorist Kills Israeli 50-Year-Old, Injures Three In Saturday Terror Attack The terrorist, Muhammad al-Jabari, belonged to a terror group claiming to be affiliated with Hamas's al-Qassam Brigades. By ANNA AHRONHEIM, JERUSALEM POST STAFF IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi on Sunday toured the scene of the deadly terrorist attack that took place in Kiryat Arba late Saturday night and ordered forces to increase security in the area. Ronen Hanania, a 50-year-old resident of the Jewish community, was shot dead by the Palestinian terrorist outside a convenience store on Saturday vening. Kohavi was presented with additional steps to increase security in the area, including the deployment of additional troops and the blocking of roads in the area of Hebron. The Chief of Staff visited after Israeli troops mapped the terrorist’s home ahead of its possible demolition. The terrorist behind the attack The terrorist, identified as Hebron resident...

    National Defense JUST IN: Report Warns U.S. Needs Space-based Weapons to Defend JADC2By Meredith Roaten The Space Force needs to deter adversaries from attacking space infrastructure that is critical for data collection and communications, according to a new report from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. Satellites and space-based sensors will be a linchpin for joint all-domain command and control — the Pentagon effort to more quickly and effectively collect and transmit data to warfighters anywhere it's needed. This effort starts with the transport layer of satellites in low-earth orbit that the Space Development Agency will start launching in December, said Tim Ryan, a senior fellow at the institute and author of “The Indispensable Domain: The Critical Role of Space in JADC2.” Released last week, Ryan’s research found that there is currently no back up for the transport layer satellites, he said. While the satellites in space will be...

  Fox News ISIS Resurfacing In Iraq As Country Looks To Hit Back At Terror Organization 'Our eyes will stay focused on the terrorism,' one Iraqi leader says By Ali Kamal BAGHDAD, Iraq -The Islamic State caliphate, which held large swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq, was defeated in 2018, yet analysts are seeing signs, including a growing number of attacks in northern and western Iraq, of a resurgence, a cause for concern that needs to be watched closely. "The Islamic State has begun to regain its activity in an attempt to gather what remains of its members," Fadil Abu Ragheef, an Iraq-based expert on terrorist groups, told Fox News Digital. He said that while the organization had lost the main centers of power it held under the first generation of its leadership, it continues to pose a danger in the areas where it still has strength, the northern cities...

  The Washington Post ISIS Fighters Terrorize Mozambique, Threaten Gas Supply Amid Ukraine War By Sudarsan Raghavan PEMBA, Mozambique — The boy’s scars streak under his ears and circle his neck, dark razor marks left by the Islamic State militants who overran his village. The fighters tried to recruit him. When he refused, the torture began. He was 13. But the boy’s deepest trauma surfaces when he talks about what happened to his uncle. His eyes dim and his voice gets low, almost disappearing in the breeze. “They beheaded my uncle that day, along with others,” recalled R.A., who is now 16 and living in a refugee camp. “He was begging for help, but I could do nothing. I was too scared. I could hear the machete striking him. I could hear his screams.” In northern Mozambique, one of the Islamic State’s newest branches is fueling a brutal insurgency that has...

  The Daily Skeptic by Noah Carl During the last two weeks, there’s been a lot of talk about nuclear weapons in Ukraine: specifically, that the Russians might use them. In an interview with NPR, the political scientist Matthew Bunn said “his best estimate” of the chance Russia uses a nuclear weapon is 10 to 20 percent. And in a widely discussed article, the physicist and ‘existential risk expert’ Max Tegmark gave the chance as 30%. In a speech on October 6th, Biden referred to the “prospect of Armageddon” and claimed Putin is “not joking” when he talks about using nuclear weapons – comments the New York Times described as “highly unusual for any American president”. And in an article published four days later, the former CIA director Leon Panetta claimed, “Some intelligence analysts now believe that the probability of the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine has risen from...