Tag: Islamic State group

US sending F-16 fighter jets to protect ships from Iranian seizures in Gulf region

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is beefing up its use of fighter jets around the strategic Strait of Hormuz to protect ships from Iranian seizures, a senior defense official said Friday, adding that the U.S. is increasingly concerned about the growing ties between Iran, Russia and Syria across the Middle East.

Speaking to Pentagon reporters, the official said the U.S. will send F-16 fighter jets to the Gulf region this weekend to augment the A-10 attack aircraft that have been patrolling there for more than a week. The move comes after Iran tried to seize two oil tankers near the strait last week, opening fire on one of them.

The defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of military operations in the region, said the F-16s will give air cover to the ships moving through the waterway and increase the military’s visibility in the area, as a deterrent to Iran.

The U.S. Air Force says Russian fighter jets flew dangerously close to U.S. drone aircraft over Syria again Thursday, setting off flares and forcing the MQ-9 Reapers to take evasive maneuvers.

The wrecks of the Titanic and the Titan sit on the ocean floor, separated by 1,600 feet and 111 years of history.

Talk to someone who went on previous trips on the Titan submersible and they’re likely to mention a technology glitch.

The desperate search for a submersible that disappeared and imploded while taking five people to view the Titanic wreckage has drawn attention to other deep-sea rescues.

The U.S. Navy said in both instances the Iranian naval vessels backed off when the USS McFaul, a guided-missile destroyer, arrived on the scene.

In addition, the defense official told reporters the U.S. is considering a number of military options to address increasing Russian aggression in the skies over Syria, which complicated efforts to strike an Islamic State group leader last weekend. The official declined to detail the options, but said the U.S. will not cede any territory and will continue to fly in the western part of the country on anti-Islamic State missions.

The Russian military activity, which has increased in frequency and aggression since March, stems from growing cooperation and coordination between Moscow, Tehran and the Syrian government to try to pressure the U.S. to leave Syria, the official said.

The official said Russia is beholden to Iran for its support in the war in Ukraine, and Tehran wants the U.S. out of Syria so it can more easily move lethal aid to Lebanese Hezbollah and threaten Israel. The U.S. has seen more cooperation, collaboration, planning and intelligence sharing, largely between mid-level Russian and Iranian Quds force leaders in Syria, to pressure the U.S. to remove troops from Syria, the official added.

There are about 900 U.S. forces in the country, and others move in and out to conduct missions targeting Islamic State group militants.

The U.S. does not believe Russian aircraft plan to drop bombs on U.S. troops or shoot down manned aircraft. But there are concerns that Russian pilots will knock a Reaper drone out of the sky and that Moscow believes that type of action would not get a strong U.S. military response, the official said.

As an example, in March, a Russian warplane poured jet fuel on a U.S. surveillance drone and then struck its propeller, forcing the U.S. military to ditch the MQ-9 Reaper into the Black Sea. The incident spiked tensions between the two countries and triggered a call between their defense chiefs, but led to no direct military response.

Last week, Rear Adm. Oleg Gurinov, head of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria, said the Russian and Syrian militaries have been doing joint training. In comments carried by Syrian state media, he said Moscow is concerned about drone flights by the U.S.-led coalition over northern Syria, calling them “systematic violations of protocols” designed to avoid clashes between the two militaries.

U.S. and Russian military commanders routinely communicate over a deconfliction phone line that has been in place for several years to avoid unintended clashes in Syria, where both sides have troops on the ground and in the air.

There are often many calls a day, and at times result in angry threats as commanders argue over an ongoing operation, said the U.S. official. Describing a conversation, the official said the Russians will often declare an area of space a restricted operating zone and say they are doing military exercises there.

The U.S. sees no exercises, and tells Russia that American forces are on a counterterror mission against the Islamic State group and plan to fly in that area. The Russians then say they can’t guarantee U.S. aircraft safety if they go there. And once the mission begins, and the aircraft move into the zone, “it sometimes gets very heated,” said the official, as both sides loudly protest and reject the other’s assertions.

The most recent incident was Friday morning, when a Russia aircraft flew repeatedly over the at-Tanf garrison in eastern Syria, where U.S. forces are training Syrian allies and monitoring Islamic State militant activity. The official said the Russian An-30 aircraft was collecting intelligence on the base.

The U.S. did not have fighter aircraft in the area and took no direct action against the Russian flight.

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July 14, 2023
France returns 35 citizens from camp in Syria housing thousands linked to Islamic State extremists

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PARIS (AP) — France has returned 35 people — 10 women and 25 minors — from a sprawling camp in northeast Syria housing thousands of people linked to Islamic State extremists.

Al-Hol Camp — named after a town near the Iraqi border — holds about 51,000 people, including many widows, wives and children of Islamic State fighters. Iraqis make up nearly half the population, but a sizeable minority are from outside the Middle East.

Part of the camp called the Annex holds around 8,000 women and children from 60 nationalities who are considered the most die-hard among the residents, and experts have warned for years that the camp’s wretched conditions and confined spaces risk creating another generation of Islamic State fighters.

Myanmar’s military-controlled government is accusing pro-democracy fighters of killing 15 civilians in a mortar attack in a restive central area of the country.

Thousands of thrill seekers have taken part in this year’s first running of the bulls at the San Fermín festival in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has criticized China’s treatment of U.S. companies and new export controls on metals used in semiconductors during a visit to Beijing to try to revive strained relations.

Israeli forces killed two wanted Palestinians in a flashpoint West Bank city, days after Israel concluded a major two-day offensive meant to crack down on militants.

French citizens made up the largest European contingent of people who joined the Islamic State at the height of the extremist group’s reach. With its territorial defeat in 2019, France has brought home women and children in successive waves.

All 10 of the adults, women aged 23 to 40 years old, who returned and a 17-year-old girl were detained upon arrival or scheduled to go immediately before a judge Tuesday. The statement from the French anti-terrorism prosecutor said the other children would be taken into state custody.

There are also around 8,000 women and children from 60 other nationalities who live in a part of the camp known as the Annex. They are generally considered the most die-hard IS supporters among the camp residents.

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July 4, 2023
Supreme Court seems to favor tech giants in terror case

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seemed skeptical Wednesday of a lawsuit trying to hold social media companies responsible for a terrorist attack at a Turkish nightclub that killed 39 people.

During arguments at the high court several justices underscored that there was no evidence linking Twitter, Facebook and Google directly to the 2017 attack on the Reina nightclub in Istanbul. The family of a man killed in the attack says the companies aided and abetted the attack because they assisted in the growth of the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for the attack . A lower court let the lawsuit go forward.

What the court does with Wednesday’s case and a related one it heard a day earlier is important, particularly because the companies have been shielded from liability on the internet, allowing them to grow into global giants.

If the court bars the lawsuit involving the attack in Turkey from going forward it could avoid a major ruling on the companies’ legal immunity. That outcome would leave the current system in place, but also leave open the possibility that the justices could take up the issue again in a later case.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett was among the members of the court who suggested that the suit against the companies lacks the kind of facts required under a federal anti-terrorism law to hold platforms responsible.

Barrett suggested that a lawsuit against a company such as Twitter would need to have more, such as direct messages, comment threads or other evidence that the platform was being used to coordinate activities for a terrorist attack, “not just general recruitment or radicalizing people.”

Justice Neil Gorsuch, participating remotely for a second straight day because of illness, said he was having difficulty with the argument of a lawyer for the family of Nawras Alassaf, who was killed in the nightclub attack. Gorsuch told lawyer Eric Schnapper that he was “struggling with how your complaint lines up with the three requirements of the statute” that the companies knowingly helped a person commit a terrorist act.

The justices seemed more willing to accept the arguments of a lawyer for Twitter, Facebook and Google, Seth Waxman. At one point during two and a half hours of arguments, Justice Sonia Sotomayor told Waxman to help her sketch out what an opinion would look like if the court ruled for his clients. “Write it for me,” she said.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh summarized Waxman’s argument this way: “When there’s a legitimate business that provides services on a widely available basis … it’s not going to be liable under this statute even if it knows bad people use its services for bad things.”

Seeming to agree with that idea, Justice Samuel Alito suggested that it would be outlandish if telephone companies were held responsible for criminal activity of people using their phones. What if, he said, the phone company “knows that a particular person is — has a criminal background and is probably engaging in criminal activity and is using the phone to communicate with other members of that person’s gang. Is that aiding and abetting the crimes that they commit?”

The law the case involves is the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which allows Americans injured by a terrorist attack abroad to sue for money damages in federal court.

A decision in the case — Twitter v. Taamneh, 21-1496 — is expected by the end of June before the court recesses for its summer break.

___

Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

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February 22, 2023
Islamic State claims Afghanistan airport checkpoint bombing

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ISLAMABAD — The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a bombing near a checkpoint at the Afghan capital’s military airport that killed and wounded several people.

IS said in a statement late Tuesday that Sunday’s attack on the checkpoint in Kabul was carried out by the same member who took part in an assault on a hotel in the capital in mid-December.

The regional affiliate of the Islamic State group — known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province and a key rival of the Taliban — has increased its attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in 2021. Targets have included Taliban patrols and members of Afghanistan’s Shiite minority.

IS published a photo of the attacker identifying him as Abdul Jabbar, saying he withdrew safely from the attack on the hotel after he ran out of ammunition. It added he detonated his explosives-laden vest targeting the soldiers gathered at the checkpoint.

The military airport is around 200 meters (yards) from the civilian airport and close to the Interior Ministry, itself the site of a suicide bombing last October that killed at least four people.

Abdul Nafi Takor, a spokesman at the Taliban-run Interior Ministry, said the explosion left “several” people dead and wounded, without providing figures or further information. He said details of an investigation will be shared later.

Takor and Khalid Zadran, spokesman for the Kabul police chief, did not respond to requests on Wednesday asking for further comment.

The checkpoint — located on Airport Road, which leads to high-security neighborhoods housing government ministries, foreign embassies and the presidential palace — appeared damaged but intact.

Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Taliban government, said at least seven IS members were killed during a Taliban operation in Kabul on Wednesday. He added that seven IS fighters were arrested from their hideout in the neighborhood of Shahdai Salehin.

A separate operation in western Nimroz province resulted in two more IS arrests, Mujahid said. Local residents from the area reported sounds of several explosions and an hourslong gunbattle. No other details were immediately available.

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January 4, 2023
Taliban: Kabul checkpoint bomb blast kills, wounds several

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A spokesman for the Taliban-led government says a bombing at a military airport checkpoint in the Afghan capital, Kabul, has killed and wounded several people

KABUL, Afghanistan — A bomb exploded near a checkpoint at Kabul’s military airport Sunday morning killing and wounding “several” people, a Taliban official said, the first deadly blast of 2023 in Afghanistan.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the regional affiliate of the Islamic State group — known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province — has increased its attacks since the Taliban takeover in 2021. Targets have included Taliban patrols and members of Afghanistan’s Shiite minority.

The military airport is around 200 meters (219 yards) from the civilian airport and close to the Interior Ministry, itself the site of a suicide bombing last October that killed at least four people.

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor said the blast left several people dead and wounded. He gave no exact figures or further information about the bombing, saying details of an investigation will be shared later.

Although Taliban security forces prevented photography and filming directly at the blast site, the checkpoint appeared damaged but intact. It is on Airport Road, which leads to high-security neighborhoods housing government ministries, foreign embassies and the presidential palace.

A spokesman for the Kabul police chief, Khalid Zadran, was not immediately available for comment.

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January 1, 2023
Former IS families face neighbors’ hatred returning home

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RAQQA, Syria — Marwa Ahmad rarely leaves her run-down house in the Syrian city of Raqqa. The single mother of four says people look at her with suspicion and refuse to offer her a job, while her children get bullied and beaten up at school.

She and her children are paying the price, she says, because she once belonged to the Islamic State group, which overran a swath of Syria and Iraq in 2014 and imposed a radical, brutal rule for years.

Ahmad is among tens of thousands of widows and wives of IS militants who were detained in the wretched and lawless al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria after U.S.-led coalition and Syrian Kurdish forces cleared IS from the region in 2019.

She and a growing number of families have since been allowed to leave, after Kurdish authorities that oversee the camp determined they were no longer affiliated with the militant group and do not pose a threat to society. But the difficulties they face in trying to reintegrate back in Syria and Iraq show the deep, bitter resentments remaining after the atrocities committed by IS and the destructiveness of the long war that brought down the militants.

There also remains fear of IS sleeper cells that continue to carry out attacks. IS militants in Raqqa on Monday attacked and killed six members of the Kurdish-led security forces, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. The attack came following a surge of SDF and U.S. raids targeting IS militants in eastern Syria.

Near Ahmad’s house, an IS slogan, “The Islamic Caliphate is coming, God willing,” is graffitied on the wall of a dilapidated building.

It’s an ideology that Ahmad once believed in. She said she and her sister joined IS after their brother, an IS member, was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2014. She married a member of the group, though she says he was a nurse, not a fighter. He has been detained since 2019.

Ahmed says she now rejects IS. Her community doesn’t believe that though, and she claims it’s because she wears the conservative niqab veil that covers most of her face.

“Now, I have to face people, and many of the people in this society have been hurt by (IS),” Ahmad said. “Of course, it was not only the organization that did so. We, the people who live in Syria, have been hurt by the Free Syrian Army, the regime, and IS, right? But they don’t say that.”

She says the neighborhood bakery sometimes refuses to give her bread. Even her own father, who did not approve of her joining the extremist group, threatened a shop owner who employed her that he would accuse him of communicating with IS if he didn’t fire her.

After IS overran Raqqa, large parts of northern and eastern Syria and western Iraq in 2014, the group declared a so-called Islamic caliphate over the territory. Thousands came from around the world to join. Raqqa became the “Caliphate’s” de facto capital.

U.S.-backed Kurdish-led authorities battled for years to roll back IS. Finally in March 2019, they captured the last sliver of IS-held territory in Syria, the small village of Bahgouz. Ahmed’s husband was captured by the SDF at Bahgouz, and Ahmed and her children were sent to al-Hol camp.

Ever since, what to do with the women and children at al-Hol has been a conundrum for the Kurdish-led authorities. Most of the women are wives and widows of IS fighters. Thousands of Syrians and Iraqis have been released and sent home, as well as a number of foreigners.

Still some 50,000 Syrians and Iraqis, half of whom are children, remain crowded into tents in the fenced-in camp in a barren stretch of desert. Several thousand foreigners from dozens of countries also remain.

Conditions are dire. Kurdish-led authorities and activists blame IS sleeper cells for surging violence within the camp, including the beheading of two Egyptian girls, aged 11 and 13, in November. Ahmad says life in al-Hol was similar to life under IS, “except you’re fenced in.”

Armed militants affiliated to IS still control large parts of the camp, Human Rights Watch said in a recent report, citing camp authorities.

The U.S. Central Command said it conducted 313 raids targeting IS militants in Syria and Iraq over the past year, detaining 215 and killing 466 militants in Syria, mostly in cooperation with the SDF.

The Kurdish-led forces announced Thursday, citing a surge in IS attacks, that they launched a new military campaign against the extremist group, dubbed “Operation Al-Jazeera Thunderbolt,” to target sleeper cells in al-Hol and nearby in Tal Hamis.

Despite all this, Ahlam Abdulla, another woman released from al-Hol, says life in the camp was better than in her hometown of Raqqa.

“In general, everyone is against us. We are fought wherever we go,” she said. She says husband joined IS and worked in an office for the militant group, while she just looked after the house.

With the support of her tribe’s elders, the mother of five returned to Raqqa in 2020 without her husband, who has been missing for four years. She says local authorities have watched their every move with suspicion and asked for their personal information.

“We are scared,” she said. “If anyone asks, I just say my husband died at the Turkish border.” She tells no one she was at al-Hol.

Saeed al-Borsan, an elder of the al-Walda tribe, says that reintegrating women and children from al-Hol has been a huge challenge, both because of a lack of job opportunities and because residents struggle to accept them. Tribe elders like al-Borsan have been trying to help women find housing and livelihoods.

“The children especially have faced difficulties, lack of education, and disconnection from society for five years,” he explained, sitting in a room with other tribesmen with a set of prayer beads in one hand. “They’re victims.”

Local charities and civil society groups have tried to help the children reintegrate into schools and help their mothers improve their skills to find better jobs.

“They stayed under the rule of IS, and many of them are relatively still influenced by them,” Helen Mohammed of Women for Peace, a civil society organization supporting women and children, told The Associated Press. “They were victims to extremist ideology.”

But she believes the women can be successfully reintegrated with the right services and support.

Abdulla says she attended a few workshops but feels her job prospects haven’t improved yet. In the meantime, she earns a little by cleaning carpets and homes and selling traditionally jarred pickled or dried seasonal food, known locally as “mouneh.”

Meanwhile, Ahmad got rejected from yet another job. She said she didn’t get a clear reason why, but believes it’s because her husband was with IS.

“We have to live with the IS label in this society,” Ahmad said as she let her kids out of her dim house to play. “No matter how hard we try to be part of this community, to embrace the people and be nice to them, they still look at us the same way.”

———

Chehayeb reported from Beirut.

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December 29, 2022
IS claims Afghan car bombing that killed local police chief

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KABUL, Afghanistan — The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a car bombing that killed a local police chief in Afghanistan.

The IS regional affiliate — known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province — has increased its attacks since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.

Abdulhaq Abu Omar, the police chief of the country’s northeastern Badakhshan province, died on Monday morning when a car bomb exploded near his headquarters.

The Interior Ministry spokesman, Abdul Nafi Takor, said two others were killed in the blast and two people were wounded. Four suspects were arrested in connection with the incident, he said.

In a brief statement late on Monday, IS said it parked an explosive-laden car on the road used by the police chief on his way to work and detonated it when he was close by.

Earlier this month, the militant group claimed responsibility for a coordinated attack on a Chinese-owned hotel in the Afghan capital, Kabul, which left three assailants dead and at least two guests injured as they tried to escape by jumping out of a window.

The assault on the Kabul Longan Hotel, in the central Shar-e-Naw district, prompted the Chinese government to urge its citizens to leave Afghanistan.

The advisory appeared to be a setback for Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers who seek foreign investments in hopes of halting the country’s downward economic spiral since their takeover.

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December 26, 2022
Syrian Democratic Forces say 6 fighters killed in IS attack

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QAMISHLI, Syria — An attack by Islamic State militants in the city of Raqqa on Monday killed six members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which has played a prominent role in the fight against the group, SDF officials said.

SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said in a statement that an IS cell had targeted security and military buildings in the city, killing six fighters and wounding an unspecified number of others.

He added that intelligence gathered by the group “indicates serious preparations by (IS) cells.”

Siamand Ali, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, told The Associated Press that a group of five people believed to be part of an IS sleeper cell, two of them wearing explosive belts, had attacked checkpoints and guard points of Raqqa’s Internal Security Forces.

During the ensuing clashes, he said, one of the attackers was killed and another arrested. SDF and Internal Security Forces units are searching for the remaining attackers, he said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition war monitor, reported that the attack targeted an area containing the headquarters of the SDF’s Internal Security Forces, anti-terrorism units, and a military intelligence prison where about 200 IS prisoners are housed.

The observatory noted that the attack was the 16th operation carried out by suspected IS sleeper cells in SDF-controlled areas since the beginning of this month.

The Islamic State group’s territorial control in Iraq and Syria was crushed by a years-long U.S.-backed campaign, but its fighters continued with sleeper cells that have killed scores of Iraqis and Syrians in past months.

Also on Monday, the observatory and the National Front for Liberation, a coalition of Turkish-backed rebel groups reported that six members of the coalition were killed in clashes with the SDF and the Syrian army in the Aleppo countryside.

Abdi cast blame for the IS attack in Raqqa partially on Turkey, which has carried out a campaign of airstrikes against the SDF in northeast Syria since late November and threatened a ground operation.

Abdi said the “terrorist activity coincides with the continuous Turkish threats to target the security and stability of the region.”

Ankara blames Kurdish groups in Syria for a deadly Nov. 13 explosion in Istanbul, an allegation the groups deny.

SDF units briefly halted joint anti-IS patrols with U.S.-led coalition forces due to the Turkish strikes but resumed them earlier this month.

Last week, U.S. Central Command said that American forces had arrested six Islamic State group militants in three raids in eastern Syria. The SDF said separately that its fighters had detained an IS militant who managed cells in eastern Syria.

———

Associated Press writers Ghaith al-Sayed in Idlib, Syria, and Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

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December 26, 2022
Official: 8 killed in attack by gunmen on an Iraqi village

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Eight people were killed and three injured Monday in an attack by gunmen on an Iraqi village previously held by the Islamic State extremist group, officials said.

The attack took place in the village of Albu Bali northwest of Fallujah in Iraq.

Uday al-Khadran, commissioner of the al-Khalis district where the attack occurred said “a group of terrorists riding motorcycles” had attacked the village at around 8:30 p.m. and that dozens of residents, some of them unarmed, had rushed to confront the attackers, the official Iraqi News Agency reported.

Security forces are searching for those responsible, he said.

The violence came a day after an explosive device went off in northern Iraq, killing at least nine members of the Iraqi federal police force who were on patrol. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the village of Ali al-Sultan in the Riyadh district of the province of Kirkuk.

On Wednesday, three Iraqi soldiers were killed when a bomb exploded during a security operation in the Tarmiyah district, north of Baghdad. Among the dead was the commander of the 59th Infantry Brigade.

No one claimed responsibility for that attack either, but remnants of the militant Islamic State group are active in the area and have claimed similar attacks in Iraq in the past.

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December 19, 2022
Today in History: December 19, Bill Clinton impeached

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Today in History

Today is Monday, Dec. 19, the 353rd day of 2022. There are 12 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Dec. 19, 1998, President Bill Clinton was impeached by the Republican-controlled House for perjury and obstruction of justice. (Clinton was subsequently acquitted by the Senate.)

On this date:

In 1777, during the American Revolutionary War, Gen. George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to camp for the winter.

In 1907, 239 workers died in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.

In 1946, war broke out in Indochina as troops under Ho Chi Minh launched widespread attacks against the French.

In 1950, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was named commander of the military forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

In 1960, fire broke out on the hangar deck of the nearly completed aircraft carrier USS Constellation at the New York Naval Shipyard; 50 civilian workers were killed.

In 1972, Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, winding up the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.

In 2001, the fires that had burned beneath the ruins of the World Trade Center in New York City for the previous three months were declared extinguished except for a few scattered hot spots.

In 2002, Secretary of State Colin Powell declared Iraq in “material breach” of a U.N. disarmament resolution.

In 2003, design plans were unveiled for the signature skyscraper — a 1,776-foot glass tower — at the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.

In 2008, citing imminent danger to the national economy, President George W. Bush ordered an emergency bailout of the U.S. auto industry.

In 2011, North Korea announced the death two days earlier of leader Kim Jong Il; North Koreans marched by the thousands to mourn their “Dear Leader” while state media proclaimed his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, a “Great Successor.”

In 2016, a truck rammed into a crowded Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 12 people in an attack claimed by Islamic State. (The suspected attacker was killed in a police shootout four days later.) A Turkish policeman fatally shot Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov at a photo exhibit in Ankara. (The assailant was later killed in a police shootout.)

Ten years ago: Four State Department officials resigned under pressure, less than a day after a damning report blamed management failures for a lack of security at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, where militants killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. Park Geun-hye (goon-hay), daughter of late South Korean President Park Chung-hee, was elected the country’s first female president.

Five years ago: A bus carrying cruise ship passengers on an excursion to Mayan ruins in southeastern Mexico flipped over on a narrow highway, killing 11 travelers and their guide and injuring about 20 others; eight Americans were among those killed. U.S. health officials approved the nation’s first gene therapy for an inherited disease, a treatment that improves the sight of patients with a rare form of blindness. David Wright, a Massachusetts man who was convicted of leading a plot inspired by the Islamic State to behead conservative blogger Pamela Geller, was sentenced in Boston to 28 years in prison.

One year ago: Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said he could not support his party’s signature $2 trillion social and environment bill, dealing a seemingly fatal blow to President Joe Biden’s leading domestic initiative. (Congress would approve a smaller but still substantive compromise measure in August 2022.) The NHL and its players association temporarily clamped down on teams crossing the Canadian border and shut down operations of two more teams in hopes of salvaging the season as COVID-19 outbreaks spread across the league. Gabriel Boric, a leftist millennial who rose to prominence during anti-government protests, was elected Chile’s next president. Despite rising concerns over the omicron variant, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” achieved the third best opening of all time; studio estimates showed that the Sony and Marvel blockbuster grossed $253 million in ticket sales in North America.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Elaine Joyce is 79. Actor Tim Reid is 78. Musician John McEuen is 77. Singer Janie Fricke is 75. Jazz musician Lenny White is 73. Actor Mike Lookinland is 62. Actor Scott Cohen is 61. Actor Jennifer Beals is 59. Actor Robert MacNaughton is 56. Magician Criss Angel is 55. Rock musician Klaus Eichstadt (Ugly Kid Joe) is 55. Actor Ken Marino is 54. Actor Elvis Nolasco is 54. Actor Kristy Swanson is 53. Model Tyson Beckford is 52. Actor Amy Locane is 51. Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Sapp is 50. Actor Rosa Blasi is 50. Actor Alyssa Milano is 50. Actor Tara Summers is 43. Actor Jake Gyllenhaal (JIH’-lihn-hahl) is 42. Actor Marla Sokoloff is 42. Rapper Lady Sovereign is 37. Journalist Ronan Farrow is 35. Actor Nik Dodani is 29.

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December 18, 2022
UN warns terrorist threat has increased and is more diffuse

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UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council warned Thursday that the threat of terrorism has increased and become more diffuse in various regions of the world aided by new technologies.

It strongly condemned the flow of weapons, military equipment, drones and explosive devices to Islamic State and al-Qaida extremists and their affiliates.

The presidential statement, approved by all 15 council members, was adopted at the end of an open meeting on counterterrorism chaired by External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar of India, who called terrorism “an existential threat to international peace and security.”

In the presidential statement, which is a step below a resolution, the Security Council expressed grave concern that terrorists are raising and transferring funds in a variety of ways, including abusing legitimate businesses and non-profit groups, kidnapping for ransom and trafficking in people, cultural items, drugs and weapons.

The council urged the 193 U.N. member states to prioritize countering terrorist financing.

It also esaid terrorist groups “craft distorted narratives that are based on the misinterpretation and misrepresentation of religion to justify violence” and use names, religion, or religious symbols for propaganda, recruitment and manipulation of followers. To tackle this, the council called for counter-narratives “promoting tolerance and coexistence.”

The statement said combatting terrorism requires governments and the “whole of society” to cooperate in increasing awareness about the threats of terrorism and violent extremism and “effectively tackling them.”

It said “strengthening cooperation in countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes” is needed, pointing to the increased use of the internet, social media, virtual assets, new financial instruments and the increasing global misuse of drones for terrorist attacks.

U.N. counterterrorism chief Vladimir Voronkov told the council in a virtual briefing that despite continuing leadership losses by al-Qaida and the Islamic State extremist group, “terrorism in general has become more prevalent and more geographically widespread, affecting the lives of millions worldwide.”

In recent years, he said, Islamic State, al-Qaida and their affiliates have exploited instability, fragility and conflict to pursue their agendas “particularly in West Africa and the Sahel, where the situation remains urgent as terrorist groups strive to expand their area of operations.” These groups have also contributed to deteriorating security in central and southern Africa, he said.

In Afghanistan, Voronkov said, “the sustained presence of terrorist groups continues to pose serious threats to the region and beyond.” He expressed concern that the country’s Taliban rulers “have failed to sever longstanding ties with terrorist groups sheltering in the country despite this council’s demands that they do so,” an apparent reference to al-Qaida-Taliban links.

He expressed concern at the rise in terrorist attacks “based on xenophobia, racism and other forms of intolerance or in the name of religion or belief.”

Voronkov, who heads the U.N. Office of Counterterrorism, also warned that terrorist groups use “online videogames and adjacent platforms to groom and recruit members, propagandize, communicate, and even train for terrorist acts.”

U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland told the council that “last year, the world faced more than 8,000 terrorist incidents, across 65 countries, killing more than 23,000 people.” She said the U.N. estimates that racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism has increased over 320% in recent years.

“Other recent attacks around the world — the bombing of a police station in Indonesia, the coup attempt in Germany, and hateful incidents here in our country — remind us that no country is safe from this threat, and it cannot be defeated by any of us alone or by any regional bloc,” she said. “We must all work together.”

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December 15, 2022
Islamic State group claims attack on Chinese hotel in Kabul

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ISLAMABAD — The militant Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a coordinated attack on a Chinese-owned hotel in Afghanistan’s capital that left three assailants dead and at least two of the hotel guests injured as they tried to escape by jumping out from a window.

Beijing on Tuesday advised its citizens in Afghanistan to leave the country “as soon as possible,” following the attack.

The militant strike on the Kabul Longan Hotel on Monday afternoon sent plumes of smoke rising from the 10-story structure building in the heart of the city, according to images posted on social media. Residents reported explosions and gunfire.

Taliban forces rushed to the area and blocked all roads leading to the site in the central Shar-e Naw neighborhood. Khalid Zadran, the Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Kabul police chief, said the attack lasted several hours, followed by a clean-up operation.

Hours later, the regional affiliate of the Islamic State group — a key rival of the Taliban since they seized power in Afghanistan over a year ago — claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a statement carried by one of the militant Telegram channels used by IS, the group said two of its members targeted the hotel because it is frequented by diplomats and owned by “communist China.”

The statement further claimed IS attackers detonated two bags with explosives that were left in the hotel earlier, including one in the main hall, and set fire to a part of the hotel. The militant group offered no proof for its claims.

There were conflicting reports as to the casualty numbers.

Taliban officials said three assailants were killed; the IS claim said only two of its members took part in the attack, identifying them by name and posting their photographs.

According to Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government spokesman, two foreign residents were injured when they jumped out of windows to escape the fighting.

But the Emergency Hospital in Kabul said in a tweet it received 21 casualties, including the bodied of three people.

On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called the attack “egregious in nature” and said China was “deeply shocked.”

China demanded a “thorough investigation” and urged the Taliban government “to take resolute and strong measures to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens, institutions and projects in Afghanistan,” Wang said.

The Chinese Embassy in Kabul sent its team to the site to help with the rescue, treatment and accommodations for the victims of the attack.

“In view of the current security situation in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again advised Chinese citizens and institutions in Afghanistan to evacuate from Afghanistan as soon as possible,” Wang said.

The IS regional affiliate — known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province — has increased its attacks since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.

———

Associated Press writer Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.

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December 13, 2022
IS says leader Abu al-Hassan al-Qurayshi killed in battle

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BEIRUT — The leader of the Islamic State group, Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, was killed in a battle recently, the group’s spokesman said in audio released Wednesday without giving further details.

Little had been known about al-Qurayshi, who took over the group’s leadership following the death of his predecessor, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, in a U.S. raid in February in northwest Syria.

The death will be a blow to the group as al-Qurayshi is the second leader to be killed this year. The announcement by IS spokesman Abu Omar al-Muhajer came at a time when IS has been trying to carry out deadly attacks in parts of Syria and Iraq the extremists once declared a caliphate.

Al-Muhajer said that a new leader, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurayshi, was named as the group’s new leader.

Al-Qurayshi is the third leader to be killed since its founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was hunted down by the Americans in a raid in northwest in October 2019.

No one claimed responsibility for the killing.

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November 30, 2022
Australia reduces national terrorism threat to ‘possible’

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CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s terrorism threat level has been downgraded from “probable” to “possible” for the first time since 2014, the head of the main domestic spy agency said Monday.

The defeat of the Islamic State group in battle in the Middle East and an ineffective al-Qaida propaganda machine failing to connect with Western youth has resulted in fewer extremists in Australia, Australian Security Intelligence Organization Director-General Mike Burgess said.

“This does not mean the threat is extinguished,” Burgess said.

“It remains plausible that someone will die at the hands of a terrorist in Australia within the next 12 months,” he added.

However, there have been increases in radical nationalism and right-wing extremist ideology in Australia in the past couple of years, Burgess said.

“Individuals are still fantasizing about killing other Australians, still spouting their hateful ideologies in chat rooms, still honing their capabilities by researching bomb-making and training with weapons,” Burgess said.

There have been 11 terrorist attacks and another 21 plots have been disrupted since the threat assessment was elevated from “possible” to “probable” in 2014, he said. Half of the foiled plots were in the first two years of the upgraded risk when the Islamic State group was more prominent.

There have also been 153 terrorism-related charges stemming from 79 counterterrorism operations in Australia since 2014.

Burgess warned it was almost guaranteed that the threat level will increase again. But this would not necessarily be the result of a terrorist attack, with the overall security assessment taking into account individuals acting alone, he said.

People are being radicalized online at an extreme pace, sometimes in as short as weeks or months, he said.

But there are fewer groups planning months- or years-long sophisticated terrorist attacks with the aim of maximum destruction, he said.

More than 50 people convicted of terrorist offenses are also due for release in the future, but only a small number will be freed by 2025, Burgess said.

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November 27, 2022
Lawyer: Ex-Islamic State bride was child trafficking victim

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LONDON — Lawyers for a British woman whose U.K. citizenship was removed after she travelled to Syria to join the so-called Islamic State group argued Monday that she should have been treated as a child trafficking victim.

Shamima Begum, now 23, was 15 when she and two other schoolgirls from London joined the extremist group in February 2015. Authorities revoked her British citizenship on national security grounds soon after she was found in a Syrian refugee camp in 2019.

Begum’s lawyers launched a fresh legal challenge against the British government’s decision, arguing that officials had a legal duty to investigate whether she was a victim of trafficking when her citizenship was revoked.

Lawyer Samantha Knights told the Special Immigration Appeals Commission on Monday that Begum was influenced by a “determined and effective ISIS propaganda machine.”

Knights said in written submissions to the hearing that like many other young girls, Begum was recruited by the Islamic State group and transported to Syria “for the purposes of ‘sexual exploitation’ and ‘marriage’ to an adult male.”

But James Eadie, representing the Home Office, argued the case was about national security and not about child trafficking.

He said Begum remained in Syria for four years and only left IS-controlled territory for safety reasons, not because of “a genuine disengagement from the group.”

Britain’s Supreme Court ruled last year that Begum could not return to the U.K. to fight her citizenship case. British media reports say she remains in a camp in northern Syria.

On Monday, an officer with Britain’s domestic security agency, MI5, told the hearing that it was “inconceivable” that Begum would not know about what the Islamic State was doing as a terrorist organization at the time.

The officer was only identified as Witness E and gave evidence from behind a screen.

The hearing is set to last five days and a ruling is expected at a later date.

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November 21, 2022
Gunman who attacked holy shrine in Iran dies from injuries

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The gunman who killed 15 people at a major Shiite holy site in southern Iran earlier this week died on Saturday, Iranian media reported. The attack was claimed by the militant Islamic State group but Iran’s government has sought to blame it on the protests roiling the country.

Iranian authorities have not disclosed details about the assailant, who died in a hospital in the southern city of Shiraz on Saturday from injuries sustained during his arrest, according to Iran’s semiofficial Fars and Tasnim news agencies.

The funeral for the victims would be held later on Saturday, officials said. It is unusual that authorities have not elaborated on the gunman’s nationality or provided any details about him following Wednesday’s deadly attack at Shah Cheragh in Shiraz, the second-holiest Shiite shrine in Iran.

The attack came as unrest — sparked by the Sept. 16 death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s morality police — have rocked the Islamic Republic.

The protests first focused on the state-mandated hijab, or headscarf, for women but quickly grew into calls for the downfall of Iran’s theocracy itself. At least 270 people have been killed and 14,000 have been arrested in the protests that have swept over 125 Iranian cities, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran.

Iranian officials have blamed protesters for paving the way for the assault on the shrine in Shiraz, but there is no evidence linking extremist groups to the widespread, largely peaceful demonstrations engulfing the country. Security forces have violently cracked down on demonstrations with live ammunition, anti-riot pellets and tear gas.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack on the shrine — its first such claim in Iran in four years. Iran’s religious sites have previously been targeted by IS and other Sunni extremists.

The Iranian government has repeatedly alleged that foreign powers have orchestrated the protests, without providing evidence. The protests have become one of the most serious threats to Iran’s ruling clerics since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

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October 29, 2022
17 Australian women, children return from Syrian camp

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CANBERRA, Australia — Four women and their 13 children who were held in a Syrian camp since the Islamic State group fell in 2019 have become only the second group of Australians to be repatriated from the war-torn country, Australia’s government said on Saturday as political opponents warned the families pose a domestic security risk.

In confirming the latest group’s arrival in Sydney, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said the newcomers could face “law enforcement action” if a counterterrorism investigation team of police and security officers found evidence of any offense.

The mothers, who were partners of Islamic State supporters, could face ongoing controls including ankle monitors and curfews or could be charged with entering the former Islamic State stronghold of al-Raqqa in Syria.

“Informed by national security advice, the government has carefully considered the range of security, community and welfare factors in making the decision to repatriate,” O’Neil said in a statement.

Australian officials had assessed the group as the most vulnerable among 60 Australian women and children held in the al-Roj camp in northeast Syria.

Eight offspring of two slain Australian Islamic State fighters are the only other group to have been repatriated by Australia from the Syrian camps. The fighters’ children and grandchildren were returned by the previous Australian government in 2019.

Opposition home affairs spokesperson Karen Andrews called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to explain what steps had been taken to ensure the wider Australian community would be safe from the potentially radicalized arrivals.

“It is inexcusable the actions that have been taken by the Albanese government in putting Australian lives at risk to extract women and children from the camps in Syria — the risk that is now in our Australian communities here,” Andrews said.

Albanese said he would follow all security advice on what risk the women and children posed, but did not divulge what the advice was.

“Our first and only priority is to keep Australians safe,” Albanese said.

Sydney resident Kamalle Dabboussy, who had lobbied the government for years to return his daughter Mariam with her three children, said their reunion in a Sydney hotel room had been emotional.

“It’s been an overwhelming day, a joyous day,” Dabboussy told reporters.

“There were hugs and tears. It was a very emotional moment,” he added.

Dabboussy said what happened next to the mothers and children was up to authorities, who are currently interviewing the women.

The United States, Germany, France, Britain, France, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium and Canada have already repatriated citizens from Syrian camps.

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October 29, 2022
2,700-year-old rock carvings discovered in Iraq’s Mosul

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Archaeologists in northern Iraq have unearthed 2,700-year-old rock carvings featuring war scenes and trees, dating back to the Assyrian Empire

BAGHDAD — Archaeologists in northern Iraq last week unearthed 2,700-year-old rock carvings featuring war scenes and trees from the Assyrian Empire, an archaeologist said Wednesday.

The carvings on marble slabs were discovered by a team of experts in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, who have been working to restore the site of the ancient Mashki Gate, which was bulldozed by Islamic State group militants in 2016.

Fadhil Mohammed, head of the restoration works, said the team was surprised by discovering “eight murals with inscriptions, decorative drawings and writings.”

Mashki Gate was one of the largest gates of Nineveh, an ancient Assyrian city of this part of the historic region of Mesopotamia.

The discovered carvings show, among other things, a fighter preparing to fire an arrow while others show palm trees.

“The writings show that these murals were built or made during the reign of King Sennacherib,” Mohammed added, referring to the Neo-Assyrian Empire King who ruled from 705 to 681 BC.

The Islamic State group overran large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and carried out a campaign of systematic destruction of invaluable archaeological sites in both countries. The extremists vandalized museums and destroyed major archaeological sites in their fervor to erase history.

Iraqi forces supported by a U.S.-led international coalition liberated Mosul from IS in 2017 and the extremists lost the last sliver of land they once controlled two years later.

The territory of today’s Iraq was home to some of the earliest cities in the world. Thousands of archaeological sites are scattered across the country, where Sumerians, Babylonian and Assyrian once lived.

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This story was first published earlier this week with a wrong photo linked to it. It is being resent to link the correct photo.

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October 28, 2022
2,700 year-old rock carvings discovered in Iraq’s Mosul

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Archaeologists in northern Iraq have unearthed 2,700-year-old rock carvings featuring war scenes and trees, dating back to the Assyrian Empire

BAGHDAD — Archaeologists in northern Iraq last week unearthed 2,700-year-old rock carvings featuring war scenes and trees from the Assyrian Empire, an archaeologist said Wednesday.

The carvings on marble slabs were discovered by a team of experts in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, who have been working to restore the site of the ancient Mashki Gate, which was bulldozed by Islamic State group militants in 2016.

Fadhil Mohammed, head of the restoration works, said the team was surprised by discovering “eight murals with inscriptions, decorative drawings and writings.”

Mashki Gate was one of the largest gates of Nineveh, an ancient Assyrian city of this part of the historic region of Mesopotamia.

The discovered carvings show, among other things, a fighter preparing to fire an arrow while others show palm trees.

“The writings show that these murals were built or made during the reign of King Sennacherib,” Mohammed added, referring to the Neo-Assyrian Empire King who ruled from 705 to 681 BC.

The Islamic State group overran large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and carried out a campaign of systematic destruction of invaluable archaeological sites in both countries. The extremists vandalized museums and destroyed major archaeological sites in their fervor to erase history.

Iraqi forces supported by a U.S.-led international coalition liberated Mosul from IS in 2017 and the extremists lost the last sliver of land they once controlled two years later.

The territory of today’s Iraq was home to some of the earliest cities in the world. Thousands of archaeological sites are scattered across the country, where Sumerians, Babylonian and Assyrian once lived.

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October 26, 2022
US: French cement firm admits Islamic State group payments

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NEW YORK — French cement company Lafarge pleaded guilty Tuesday to paying millions of dollars to the Islamic State group in exchange for permission to keep open a plant in Syria, a case the Justice Department described as the first of its kind. The company also agreed to penalties totaling roughly $778 million.

Prosecutors accused Lafarge of turning a blind eye to the conduct of the militant group, making payments to it in 2013 and 2014 as it occupied a broad swath of Syria and as some of its members were involved in torturing or beheading kidnapped Westerners. The company’s actions occurred before it merged with Swiss company Holcim to form the world’s largest cement maker.

The payments were designed to ensure the continued operations of a roughly $680 million plant that prosecutors say Lafarge had constructed in 2011 at the start of the Syrian civil war. The money was to be used to protect employees and to keep a competitive edge.

“The defendants routed nearly six million dollars in illicit payments to two of the world’s most notorious terrorist organizations — ISIS and al-Nusrah Front in Syria — at a time those groups were brutalizing innocent civilians in Syria and actively plotting to harm Americans,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the Justice Department’s top national security official, said in a statement.

“There is simply no justification for a multi-national corporation authorizing payments to designated terrorist organizations,” he added.

The charges were announced by federal prosecutors in New York City and by senior Justice Department leaders from Washington. The Justice Department described it as the first instance in which a company has pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

The allegations involve conduct that was earlier investigated by authorities in France. Lafarge had previously acknowledged funneling money to Syrian armed organizations in 2013 and 2014 to guarantee safe passage for employees and supply its plant.

In 2014, the company was handed preliminary charges including financing a terrorist enterprise and complicity in crimes against humanity.

A French court later quashed the charges involving crimes against humanity but said other charges would be considered over payments made to armed forces in Syria. That ruling was later overturned by France’s supreme court, which ordered a retrial in September 2021.

The wrongdoing precedes Lafarge’s merger with Holcim in 2015.

In a statement, Holcim said that when it learned of the allegations from the news media in 2016, it voluntarily conducted an investigation and disclosed the findings publicly. It fired the former Lafarge executives who were involved in the payments.

“None of the conduct involved Holcim, which has never operated in Syria, or any Lafarge operations or employees in the United States, and it is in stark contrast with everything that Holcim stands for,” the company said. “The DOJ noted that former Lafarge SA and LCS executives involved in the conduct concealed it from Holcim before and after Holcim acquired Lafarge SA, as well as from external auditors.”

The Islamic State group is abbreviated as IS and has been referred to as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

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Tucker reported from Washington.

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October 18, 2022