Asharq Al-Awsat Iraqi Security Forces Thwart ISIS Infiltration Attempt On Border Baghdad- Asharq Al-AwsatThe Iraqi National Security Forces thwarted an infiltration attempt of ISIS terrorists on the western border with Syria, in Nineveh. The Security Media Cell issued a statement Monday, announcing that units of the National Security Agency received intelligence information about possible infiltrations in various spots. The intelligence teams set several ambushes and were able to arrest three terrorists, including a Syrian national.During interrogation, they admitted to being members of the ISIS terrorist organization and that they participated in most of the battles against the Iraqi forces. Based on their confessions, the terrorists were planning to form new military detachments to carry out terrorist operations.In addition, the intelligence agency announced that it arrested 10 terrorists in Saladin governorate, north of Baghdad.The agency said in a statement that through continuous monitoring, its units arrested 10 wanted terrorists, in accordance...

Deutsche Welle Somali: Al-Shabab Attacks Intensify As Election Looms In the past week alone, Somalia has been the scene of over a dozen deadly terror attacks by al-Shabab. The Islamist militant group is seen to be bent on thwarting the forthcoming elections in the Horn of Africa country. More than a dozen attacks by the Islamist militant group al-Shabab were recorded in Somalia this week, with civilians and military officers among the casualties. The upsurge in violence comes despite ongoing airstrikes by the US military on the group. The attacks come as Somalis prepare to go to the polls for a staggered general election. The process is due to start with legislative elections on November 1 and culminate in a presidential election by the beginning of 2021.  The dates were announced on Thursday following the resolution of a drawn-out dispute over the electoral model between the federal government in Mogadishu...

Bahrain Says Foiled 'Terrorist Attack' Backed By Iran In Early 2020 DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain’s interior ministry said on Sunday it had foiled a “terrorist attack” early this year that was backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.The statement confirmed earlier media reports about an alleged planned attack and added a timeframe.Earlier on Sunday Saudi state television Al-Ekhbariya and Bahraini newspaper Akhbar al-Khaleej reported that interior ministry investigations found that a new group called the “Qassem Soleimani Brigade” had planned to attack several public and security structures in Bahrain. The reports had not given a time frame.“We want to make clear that this case goes back to early 2020 and it is currently being looked into by the relevant court,” the ministry statement said.Iranian authorities were not immediately available for comment. In the past, Tehran has denied any involvement in Bahrain’s domestic affairs. Bahrain, host to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth...

  Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, September 21, 2020 Department Of Justice Identifies New York City, Portland And Seattle As Jurisdictions Permitting Violence And Destruction Of Property Identification is Response to Presidential Memorandum Reviewing Federal Funding to State and Local Governments that are Permitting Anarchy, Violence, and Destruction in American Cities The U.S. Department of Justice today identified the following three jurisdictions that have permitted violence and destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract criminal activities: New York City; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle, Washington. The Department of Justice is continuing to work to identify jurisdictions that meet the criteria set out in the President’s Memorandum and will periodically update the list of selected jurisdictions as required therein. The list was published on DOJ’s website today in response to President Trump’s memorandum of September 2, 2020, entitled “Memorandum...

Iran's Offer of Nuclear Cooperation is a Sham by Con Coughlin  •  Gatestone Institute This effort [lifting the arms embargo on Iran] has prompted Iran to launch a diplomatic offensive to have the arms embargo lifted, a move that would allow Tehran to increase its ability to supply arms to terror groups such as Hizbollah and Hamas, as well as the Houthi rebels in Yemen fighting US-backed coalition forces "Iran is desperate to get the arms embargo lifted at the UN, and so has decided to cooperate with the IAEA to improve relations with the UN," a senior Western diplomat who is familiar with the negotiations told me. "Tehran believes that if it cooperates with the UN, there is a greater possibility that the arms embargo will not be renewed." As a senior Gulf official... told me earlier this week, lifting the ban would simply allow Iran to continue arming...

Fox News Defense Secretary Esper: Since Sept. 11 Attacks, Our Heroic Military Has Successfully Fought Terrorism We cannot forget that America’s safety over the past two decades has come at a great costBy Mark T. Esper Exactly 19 years ago, Al Qaeda launched a vicious attack on our homeland by using four hijacked airlines as tools to murder nearly 3,000 innocent men, women and children at New York City’s World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, and on a quiet field near Shanksville, Pa.No one could have fathomed on that bright and clear September morning just how much the world would change in the wake of the darkest and most vicious terrorist attack in our nation’s history. It was an evil assault on our citizens, our institutions, and on our fundamental ideals themselves — freedom, human rights and respect for the American way of life.In their attempt to break the spirit...

  2 Los Angeles County deputies are ‘fighting for their lives’ after being shot in Compton7News Miami (CNN) — The two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies who were shot and critically injured Saturday night are out of surgery, according to a LACSD spokesperson.The deputies, one male and one female, were “ambushed” as they sat in their vehicle, police said.Sheriff Alex Villanueva said at a press conference Saturday night that the shooting in Compton was done “in a cowardly fashion” and that both deputies were being treated at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood.Capt. Kent Wegener said the shooting happened at 7 p.m. Wegener said the suspect approached from behind the deputies’ vehicle and walked along the passenger side. He acted as if he was going to walk past the car, raised a pistol and shot multiple times hitting both deputies, Wegener said. Video of the incident, tweeted by the...

InHomelandSecurity.com  In Their Own Words – What 9/11 Means to the Servicemembers Who Lived It By Wes O’DonnellManaging Editor of In Military, InCyberDefense and In Space News. Veteran, U.S. Army & U.S. Air Force.It’s been said that September 11th, 2001 was our generation’s Pearl Harbor, our defining moment. But that bold and shameful attack against America in 2001 was different from Pearl Harbor in one key aspect: Most casualties on that day were civilians.It was like a dagger in the heart of the world’s most preeminent military power. If we can’t even protect our citizens, how can we be expected to honor our alliances? It was clear then, that the 20th century was over. Whether the United States would maintain its status as the world’s sole superpower going into a new century would be decided on what our next actions would be.What followed was one of the largest reorganizations in...

The Jerusalem Post Russia, US, Turkey and EU have military tensions that border Middle East Major powers are now seeking confrontation globally and the borders of the Middle East are one place that they are pushing up against one another, like tectonic plates. By SETH J. FRANTZMAN A convergence of incidents has seen both the US and Russia carry out jet interceptions with each other, while Turkey and its adversaries in the Mediterranean conduct military drills. The messages are clear: Major powers are now seeking confrontation globally and the borders of the Middle East are one place that they are pushing up against one another, like tectonic plates.Recently the US flew B-52 bombers over Ukraine and skirted Russian-controlled territory in Crimea and elsewhere. This came after Russia intercepted American B-52s over the Black and Baltic seas in late August. The interceptions of the B-52 Stratofortress bombers took place as the...

The Jakarta Post Charlotte Van Ouwerkerk Agence France-Presse Qatar Backed ‘Terrorism And Extremism’, UAE Tells UN Court The United Arab Emirates accused Qatar on Monday of backing "terrorism and extremism" as the three-year-old Gulf diplomatic crisis returned to the UN's top court. Abu Dhabi urged the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) to throw out a case brought by Doha claiming measures taken against Qatar amounted to racial discrimination. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and several other allies severed ties with Qatar in a shock move in 2017, accusing Doha of backing terrorism and siding with their regional rival Iran. They imposed an effective blockade by land, air and sea, and ordered the expulsion of Qatari nationals. Qatar dragged the UAE to the ICJ a year later seeking to get the measures lifted. The allies faced a "grave threat brought by Qatar's support for terrorism and extremism," Abdallah al-Naqbi, director...

The Clarion Project Intelligence Network Identifying and monitoring violent and criminal extremists The Clarion Intelligence Network (CIN) is a division of the Clarion Project that identifies and monitors violent and criminal extremists. Led by CIN Director Ryan Mauro, Clarion Project’s national security analyst and prominent media commentator, the CIN team uses Open Source Intelligence, undercover investigators, confidential sources and other methods to identify extremists of all stripes. CIN also contributes to Clarion Project’s public in-depth reports and analyses, which are often used to brief policymakers and law enforcement personnel. Research into Islamberg & its Islamic VillagesCIN has special expertise in the Islamist cult known as “Muslims of the Americas” (MOA), previously known as Jammat ul-Fuqra. The group claims to have 22 “Islamic villages” in North America, including its 70-acre “Islamberg” headquarters in upstate New York. FuqraFiles.com, the most comprehensive and authoritative source of information about the group, was launched to...

The Jerusalem Post ISIS Spreading In Africa, Seizes A City In Mozambique This slow process of ISIS radicalization has taken place for a year or more. By SETH J. FRANTZMAN Three years after ISIS appeared to be on its last legs in Iraq and Syria it has seized a city in Mozambique. The city is called Mocimboa da Praia and now there are fears it may have a foothold that is growing in the country. This slow process of ISIS radicalization has taken place for a year or more. However it was largely dismissed as fear mongering. Now the group has infiltrated and some are concerned that it may be on the cusp of a larger offensive. Much like in the ISIS offensive in Iraq in the summer of 2014 the attacks in southeast Africa have displaced hundreds of thousands. There are questions about how the port city might be...

Homeland Security Secretary Says It May Deploy Federal Troops Into Portland After Protest Fatality Forbes Matt Perez, Forbes StaffFollowing clashes between Black Lives Matter protesters and a pro-Trump caravan that left one individual dead on Saturday night, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said on ABC's This Week on Sunday that "all options to continue to be on the table" regarding sending federal troops back to the city, in defiance of local leaders. Key Facts "I believe all options continue to be on the table, specifically as we talk about Portland," Wolf said, adding that the mayor and Oregon's governor "continue to refuse any type of federal assistance." On August 28, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler told Trump in a letter to "stay away" from the city, citing the controversial deployment of troops into Portland in July that fueled clashes with protesters as videos of federal law enforcement pulling people into...

Clarion Project What Will It Take to Rein In the Violence? Far Right groups face off with Antifa amid more violence by Meira Svirsky Antifa faced off with two Far Right groups this weekend as well as exacted violence in Brooklyn and Portland, where they stormed a residential neighborhood.In Georgia, local news reported that outside of Stone Mountain, demonstrating militias were confronted by counterprotesters. Both groups were armed with guns and neither one had applied for a protest permit.Park officials said a Far Right group out of Alabama, the “3 Percenters,” applied for a permit but were denied because of past violence. The group, which claims its ideology is to defend the Constitution, said they were there to defend the local Confederate monument.After heated shouting, the two groups began shoving each other and fights erupted. At that point, police and a SWAT team moved in, stopping the violence but making...

American Military Times US Airstrike Takes Out Terrorist Bomb-Maker In Somalia by Ryan Morgan The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has taken out a high-value member of the Al Shabaab terror group in Somalia on Thursday.AFRICOM confirmed the successful airstrike in an emailed statement to American Military News. The Al Shabaab member, who was not named, had a history of making explosives and was reportedly working to place Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) on a public road at the time of the strike near the vicinity of Kurtun Warey, Somalia.The AFRICOM statement assessed they successfully killed the Al Shabaab bomber and destroyed a nearby motorcycle. No civilians were assessed to have been injured or killed as a result of this airstrike.“Al-Shabaab continues to put Somali people in danger by ruthlessly attempting to place explosive devices in public areas,” U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Joel Tyler, AFRICOM director of operations said of Al Shabaab....

New York Post BLM protesters set Portland police station on fire as riot intensifiesBy Lee Brown Black Lives Matter militants set fire to a police station in Portland Sunday night during yet another night of violence in the Oregon city.The march on the Portland Police Bureau’s north precinct had already been declared an unlawful assembly as police say they were pelted with “rocks and bottles” and had “powerful green lasers” pointed at them.But a mob of at least 300 continued to advance despite repeated warnings by police — and lit an awning on the precinct ablaze, The Oregonian said.“Criminal Activity has continued. This event is now a RIOT,” police warned via social media as well as repeated loudspeaker announcements. Full Story: https://nypost.com/2020/08/24/blm-protesters-set-portland-police-station-on-fire/...

  Fox News Radical Islamic Cleric Accused Of Recruiting For ISIS Extradited To NYC On Terrorism Charges The defendant is widely seen as one of the most influential English-speaking Muslim extremists in the world By Paul Best Abdullah al-Faisal, a radical Islamic cleric known as Shaikh Faisal, was arraigned in New York City Friday on charges that he supported terrorism by plotting to recruit for the Islamic State. He pleaded not guilty.The cleric has been linked to other high-profile terrorists, including the attempted Times Square bomber in 2010, the “Underwear Bomber” in 2008 and several other convicted or suspected terrorists in New York, London and elsewhere.Federal authorities normally lead investigations of international terrorism cases, but Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. and the NYPD led this investigation. The NYPD's investigation started when al-Faisal tried to recruit an undercover NYPD officer who was posing as a wannabe jihadist in December 2016,...

Cincinnati Enquirer 2 mass shootings in Cincinnati amplify a violent and deadly summer in the city by Terry DeMio and Cameron Knight Cincinnati joins cities such as Detroit, Chicago and Minneapolis in having more than one mass shooting on a single day in 2020, following an outbreak of shootings in the dark hours of Sunday morning. Four people were dead and 18 wounded in four separate shootings Sunday, according to city police and the Hamilton County coroner. Police identified four of the victims as part of three separate shootings. No one had been arrested by 4 p.m. Sunday.Two of Sunday's shootings – one in Over-the-Rhine in which 10 people were shot with at least two killed, and the other a quadruple shooting in Avondale – qualified as mass shootings. Read more: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2020/08/16/cincinnati-has-two-mass-shootings-less-than-24-hours-joining-detroit-chicago/5594657002/...

  China: Military Experts Urge Beijing to Prepare for War with U.S.   by Lawrence A. Franklin  •  Gatestone Institute   Wang further warns that U.S. President Donald J. Trump is likely to initiate a military conflict in the South China Sea region before the November 3 U.S. presidential election, speculating that "stirring up external frictions, especially military conflicts with China, will help the incumbent president for his re-election campaign." The leaders of China's Communist Party (CCP) also see that nothing was done by anyone, including the U.S., to stop China's grab of Hong Kong this year -- 27 years early. This paralysis of the West must have looked to the CCP like a green light to keep on grabbing. China, however, has been the party with the hostile intent, not only with Hong Kong, but also with an attack on northern India, an extensive military base build-up in the...

The Jerusalem Post Scholar Presents Global Map Of Hezbollah Terrorist Operations The map “divulges the little-known fact that in 2010, Hezbollah stored ammonium nitrate intended for making explosives in a house purchased by a French Lebanese professor." By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL  A leading expert on the Lebanese terrorist movement Hezbollah’s operations across the globe presented last week the first-ever interactive multimedia tool chronicling the Shi’ite organization’s malign activities. “Hezbollah is active not only along the Blue Line, not only in Syria, but in other military conflicts throughout the region and in terrorist activity around the world,” Matthew Levitt, the Hezbollah expert, told The Jerusalem Post on Friday.“The group goes to great lengths to publicize the other activities it wants people to know about, social welfare activity and political activity for example. But it goes to still greater lengths to hide its covert, illegal activities, from terrorist operations to narcotics trafficking in...