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Eye on Extremism
April 18, 2016
“Radical
group of the Islamic State (ISIS) on Sunday launched an offensive on
positions for the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq, using
rockets filled with chlorine gas, according to local sources. At least
one fighter from the Kurdish Peshmerga forces was killed and four more
wounded in the attack. Local activists confirmed that ISIS attacked the
Peshmerga forces in the fighting front of Kweir in Makhmur district with
chemical weapons, killing the Kurdish fighter Jaffar Omar Karim and
wounding four others, who suffered suffocation.”
“The
Islamic State group has captured more than a dozen villages and hills
during a fresh offensive in northern Syria, opposition activists said
Saturday. The IS territorial gains bring the extremist group close to
the main highway that links the capital, Damascus, with the country’s
largest city of Aleppo. IS also clashed with rival insurgent groups near
the border with Turkey where they have been on the offensive for days,
forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee toward safer areas near
Turkey. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the
fighting between IS and government forces is concentrated in areas east
of the town of Khanaser, which has changed hands several times in recent
months.”
“Senior
Syrian opposition negotiators on Sunday urged rebels to strike back
against the Syrian army, accusing it of using a cessation of hostilities
to gain ground, and cast doubt over whether they would continue Geneva
peace talks indefinitely. A senior opposition figure who asked not to be
quoted by name said pressure was growing for a speedy decision to leave
talks. In a internet message to fighters on the ground, chief
negotiator Asaad al-Zoubi said there was a limit to how long he would
negotiate if government advances continued and there was no progress on a
key opposition demand for political transition without President Bashar
al Assad. He gave no deadline. The mainstream opposition includes both
political and armed opposition to Assad. It includes rebel groups such
as Jaysh al-Islam and a number of Free Syrian Army rebel factions deemed
moderate by the West, some of which have received military support from
Assad’s foreign enemies.”
“Mohammed
Zeidani is out of a job — and the Islamic State group is to blame. The
26-year-old native of Benghazi, Libya, whose name has been changed to
protect his identity, worked as a petroleum engineer with Schlumberger,
the world’s leading oil and gas company, for four years before he became
an independent contractor last year. But the Islamic State group, the
terrorist group best known as ISIS, has ensured that Zeidani no longer
has work in Libya’s eastern desert oil fields. Five of the country’s
functioning oil fields were shut down in the past few days and their
employees were evacuated. The Zeltan oil field, owned by the state-run
National Oil Corp. and the largest in the eastern Sidra Basin, was the
last to be evacuated.”
“About
7,000 demonstrators marched against extremism Sunday thorough central
Brussels, a city still in shock over last month’s terrorist attacks that
killed 32. One of the organizers called the march ‘a moment of
reflection, a message of compassion for the victims and a moment when
citizens come together.’ The demonstrators included followers of many
faiths, including a group of Muslims who carried a sign reading: ‘Love
is my religion and my faith.’ The march came though Brussels’ Molenbeek
neighborhood, home to many Muslims and where investigators suspect
extremist plots are hatched. Suicide bombers last month killed 32 people
at the Brussels airport and in a subway station.”
“U.S.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter flew into Iraq on Monday to discuss
offering more help in the fight against Islamic State, possibly
including sending in more U.S. troops, officials said. Carter would meet
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Defense Minister Khaled
al-Obaidi and discuss ways to build on recent gains against the militant
group, which also controls large parts of neighboring Syria, the U.S.
officials added. They declined to say what kind of assistance would be
offered, but said it would likely include more U.S. troops on the
ground. ‘Whenever we’re talking about additional capabilities, it
usually means some small numbers of additional troops,’ the U.S.
official said before the unannounced visit. Iraq’s army, trained by the
U.S. military officers and backed by air strikes from a U.S.-led
coalition, last week retook the Hit region, pushing it further north
along the Euphrates valley. The Iraqi government has designated Mosul,
the largest Iraqi city still under Islamic State control, as its next
major target. It retook the western city of Ramadi in December.”
“Defence
chiefs will pave the way for British military intervention in Libya
during high-level talks in Europe in the coming days. Air Vice Marshal
Edward Stringer will fly to Rome to tell commanders the UK could deploy
up to 1,000 troops to the war-ravaged country to help defeat Islamic
State (IS). They would be part of a 6,000 strong, Italian-led force
trying to bring order to the chaos that has reigned in Libya since
European nations, including Britain, helped overthrow Colonel Gaddafi in
2011. They could be deployed on the ground to protect key buildings,
such as hospitals, banks and even the port, although officials insisted
they would not be in a combat role. A defence source said: ‘It is not
clear yet whether this would be behind the wire or not’. This means they
could be deployed to hostile areas. He said they had ‘not ruled out’
the option of putting troops in the cities in a security-protection
role. Around 100 British special forces troops are already in Libya
helping to protect its current leadership and advising local forces on
fighting the increasing IS presence in the country.”
“The
Nigerian security services have hailed the arrest of the leader of the
Boko Haram splinter group Ansaru, Khalid al-Barnawi, saying it will lead
to them to other senior Islamist commanders. ‘The arrest of Barnawi is a
huge success and will have a profound effect on counter-terrorism
operations in Nigeria and beyond,’ one security source told AFP. ‘He is a
known transnational terrorist and the backbone of all Al-Qaeda
affiliate groups in West Africa.’ Barnawi, designated a global terrorist
by the United States since 2012, was detained on April 1 with three
others in the Kogi state capital, Lokoja, and found with four Thuraya
satellite phones. The phones ‘provided several leads’ to ‘high-profile
Boko Haram and Ansaru elements’ in the capital, Abuja, Lokoja and the
central city of Jos, said another source.”
“Schools
and health facilities have come under increasing threat as violence
spreads in Afghanistan, making it harder for children especially to get
access to education and medical care, the United Nations reported on
Monday. Western-backed Afghan government forces are locked in a
protracted battle with Taliban insurgents who are at their strongest
since they were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.
International donors have poured billions of dollars into reconstruction
in Afghanistan, including education and health programs, but the
conflict threatens to undermine services provided to millions of
Afghans, the new U.N. report said. Although direct attacks on schools
and health facilities dropped slightly from previous years, U.N.
monitors recorded 257 conflict-related incidents in 2015, up from 130 in
2014.”
“For
days, the tech media was mesmerized: Rumors were running amok about the
mysterious third party that helped the FBI unlock the San Bernardino
shooter’s iPhone and one particular Israeli security company landed in
the spotlight. As weeks go by, the expectations that the third-party
helper or its mysterious technique would be revealed are quickly
declining. The theories, however, continue to ripple out. The Post
said that ‘at least one of the people who helped the FBI’ was a
so-called ‘gray hat’ hacker — as opposed to ‘black hat’ or ‘white hat,’
which mark the edges of the ethics spectrum — someone who digs up
software security flaws and sells them to governments or to companies
that make surveillance tools.”
United States
“The
Obama administration is preparing to broaden its military campaign
against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria by increasing the number of
Special Operations forces who advise Syrian rebels, and it is also
considering the addition of Army attack helicopters to the fight against
militants in Iraq. The goal would be to accelerate what United States
officials said on Saturday was momentum behind Iraqi security forces and
American-backed rebels in Syria fighting the terrorist organization.
Inside Syria, the administration is prepared to add dozens of Special
Operations forces to the 50 who now advise and assist Syrian rebels
fighting the Islamic State, say three Defense Department and military
officials.”
“U.S.
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has arrived for an unannounced visit to
Iraq, where he will hold a series of meetings, including with Iraqi
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and top U.S. military commanders. Carter
will also host a question-and-answer session with troops stationed in
the country. This is Carter’s third visit to Iraq. An official traveling
with Carter said the U.S. is going to bring in more resources into the
country and is going to accept more risk in the coming days in Iraq. The
official said that the resources would likely include ‘more aggressive’
equipment and technology and may include an increase in Apache attack
helicopters. The official framed the fight for Iraq as centered around
efforts to recapture the northern city of Mosul from ISIS forces, Iraq’s
second-largest. Mosul fell to ISIS after the Iraqi Army abandoned their
positions and fled in the summer of 2014.”
Syria
“Why
the Ceasefire is Unraveling The ceasefire in Syria seems on the verge
of unraveling. It was never much of a ceasefire, so the issue might be
purely a semantic one. Nonetheless, it underscores the continuing
difficulties in crafting a political solution to end the five year long
Syrian Civil War and its consequences. The current ceasefire went into
effect on February 27, as part of a United Nations brokered effort that
would have led to elections in early 2017, and a transition to a freely
elected representative government. The ceasefire was the culmination of
an ongoing effort spearheaded primarily by Russia and the United States,
as well as Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which had started in 2011 as an
Arab-League and, from 2012 on, a joint Arab League-United Nations effort
to end the fighting. That effort took on even more urgency following
the escalation of fighting that followed the intervention of Russian
military forces in support of the Assad government and the rising tide
of Syrian refugees attempting to enter Europe.”
“Syria
hit back at Israel Sunday hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
vowed that the Golan Heights will remain in Israeli hands. Deputy
Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad warned that his war-torn state would
retake the plateau by any means necessary. Netanyahu had convened the
first-ever cabinet meeting in the Golan Heights, and used the occasion
to declare that the territory seized by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War
would forever remain a part of Israel. Mekdad declared that the ‘Arab
Syrian Golan Heights’ is still occupied territory according to
international law and would eventually be taken back from the Israelis.
‘All options are on the table for getting back the occupied territory
from Israel,’ Mekdad told the Beirut-based al-Mayadeen news channel. ‘We
are prepared to do anything in order to return the Golan to the Syrian
motherland, including using military force.’”
Turkey
“Turkey’s
state-run news agency says police have detained 101 people suspected of
having financial links to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who
is accused of attempting to overthrow the government. The Anadolu
Agency said police had arrest warrants for of 140 people, including
businessmen and former employees of the Gulen-linked Bank Asya, which
was seized by the government last year. On Monday, 101 people were taken
into custody in Istanbul and eight other cities. The government has
declared Gulen’s moderate Islamic movement a ‘terrorist’ organization
and has clamped down his supporters, seizing newspapers, television
stations and other businesses associated with the cleric. Anadolu says
those detained Monday are suspected of being members of a ‘terror group’
and of providing funds and making propaganda for the Gulen movement.”
Afghanistan
“Afghan
forces fought back a renewed series of attacks on Kunduz, killing
dozens of Taliban fighters, officials said on Sunday as insurgent forces
stepped up their bid to retake the northern city that they captured
briefly last year. The attack on Kunduz, involving hundreds of insurgent
fighters, has intensified just days after the Taliban announced the
start of their annual spring offensive, aimed at driving out the
Western-backed government in Kabul. The Taliban’s brief capture of
Kunduz last year underlined both their growing strength and the lack of
readiness of Afghan security forces fighting largely on their own since
the NATO-led international coalition ended its combat operation in 2014.
Attacks overnight appeared aimed at cutting off Chardara district on
the southwest outskirts of the city, which insurgents used as a base in
last year’s attack, with several checkpoints targeted, Kunduz police
chief Qasim Jangalbagh said.”
Saudi Arabia
“The
United States on Saturday transferred nine Yemeni detainees from its
wartime prison at Guantánamo Bay to Saudi Arabia, completing a
long-sought diplomatic deal ahead of a planned visit to Riyadh by
President Obama in the coming week. The effort to persuade the Saudi
government to take the prisoners began in the Bush administration and
finally resulted in an agreement in February. Current and former
officials familiar with the negotiations called the timing of the
transfer, which reduced the population at Guantánamo to 80 prisoners, a
coincidence. ‘There have been a lot of discussions with the Saudis over
the last few years, and they have been emphatic that it was very
important to close Guantánamo,’ said Cliff Sloan, who served as the
State Department envoy for negotiating detainee transfers in 2013 and
2014. ‘They wanted to help with that. But the one thing they weren’t
willing to do for a long time was actually accept Yemenis. That’s why
this is a major breakthrough.’”
Middle East
“The
ISIS terror group has seen its revenue shrink by 30 percent from last
year while the number of people living in territory under its control
has dropped by a third, according to a new report. The consulting firm
IHS reports that as of March 2016, ISIS’ monthly revenue was $56
million, down from a high of $80 million in March 2015. The decrease is
due in part to diminished oil production in ISIS-controlled territories.
IHS estimates that around21,000 barrels of oil are produced each day in
the self-proclaimed caliphate, down from around 33,000 barrels per day.
The report gives airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition and Russia
partial credit for affecting ISIS oil production, but also notes that
the militants were able to repair damaged infrastructure quickly.”
“More
than 25,000 members of the Islamic State terror group have been killed
in the relentless war fought by Britain and its allies, The Mail on
Sunday can reveal. The campaign has halved the number of jihadi fighters
in IS-controlled areas of Syria and Iraq in just 20 months and
eliminated scores of the group’s leaders, with bombing raids and missile
strikes by the RAF playing a crucial role. The revelations of how IS
has been dealt a series of devastating blows emerged in an exclusive
interview with Colonel Steve Warren, the US military spokesman for the
US-led global coalition against Islamic State.”
“Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel led a cabinet meeting in the
Israeli-controlled portion of the Golan Heights on Sunday, calling on
the world to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the conquered territory
and vowing that Israel would never give it back to Syria. Mr. Netanyahu
made his remarks at what his office described as a ‘festive’ meeting of
the cabinet in one of the Jewish settlements on the strategic plateau
that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel later
effectively annexed the Golan Heights in a move that was never
internationally recognized. Officially, the occasion for holding the
first formal cabinet meeting in the territory was to mark a year since
the formation of Mr. Netanyahu’s current right-leaning government. Yet
the timing, according to experts, was more likely dictated by Israeli
concerns arising from the recently resumed talks in Geneva over Syria’s
future — or hopes that the talks might present an opportunity for
Israel.”
“Hamas
is not interested in another war with Israel, but is prepared to fight
if a military confrontation is imposed on it, a Hamas official in the
Gaza Strip said on Sunday. Mushir al-Masri, a top Hamas official,
dismissed recent Israeli threats against his movement, saying they were
intended for ‘local consumption.’ The threats reflect the state of
security hysteria that has plagued Israeli mentality, he added.
‘Israel’s threats don’t scare or intimidate us because we are prepared
to defend ourselves,’ al-Masri said. ‘Hamas is not interested in
initiating a war at this phase, but if it’s imposed on us the resistance
is prepared for it.’”
“An
indictment was served to the Lod District Court Sunday against
22-year-old Shatila Abu Iyada, a resident of the central Israeli Arab
town of Kafr Qasem, who allegedly stabbed an Israeli woman in Rosh
Ha’ayin on April 3. Abu Iyada has been charged on several counts of
attempted murder and plotting a terror attack in restaurants in Rosh
Ha’ayin. The attack took place in the Afek industrial park where a
security guard witnessed the events and managed to subdue Abu Iyada
without firing his weapon. An additional knife when then found in the
assailant’s bag. The indictment also alleged that Abu Iyada had planned
to carry out a larger attack than the stabbing which lightly wounded a
woman in her hand. Abu Iyada, claimed the indictment, learned to make
explosives at home via instructions on the internet in December 2015,
and even bought the necessary supplies for such devices to be used in an
attack. The materials included screws and bolts intended to increase
damage.”
“A
trove of ISIS personnel records obtained by NBC News has now been
analyzed by experts at West Point, who say it’s the largest and “most
significant” document cache of its kind, providing new insight into the
terror group’s grand ambitions and diverse recruits. The files reveal
that the jihadists who joined the Islamic State in 2013 and 2014 were
largely uninterested in suicide missions, better educated than expected
and, to the alarm of those trying to stop the export of terror, very
well-traveled. NBC News received the dossiers from a Syrian man who said
he stole the information, stored on a flash drive, from a senior ISIS
commander. Over the last month, NBC News has worked with the Combating
Terrorism Center at the elite military academy to transform them into a
database of more than 4,000 foreign fighters from 71 countries.”
Libya
“Heavy
fighting between the Libyan army and militant forces continues in
militant-controlled areas of Benghazi, the second biggest city in the
oil-rich North African nation. Thick black smoke rose from oil and
chemical tanks at the city’s cement factory in Hawary district on
Saturday following intense fighting between Libyan soldiers and Islamic
militants. Libyan soldiers on the frontlines in Benghazi launched an
artillery attack on militants in the area on Thursday. Benghazi was the
birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed former leader
Moammar Gadhafi.”
United Kingdom
“British
police have bailed one of five people arrested last week on suspicion
of preparing acts of terrorism, West Midlands Police in central England
said on Sunday. British police arrested five people last week as part of
an investigation which a security source said was linked to the attacks
in Paris and Brussels. Four were arrested in Birmingham, central
England, and one at London’s Gatwick Airport. West Midlands Police said
in a statement that four people, three men and one woman, were still
being questioned after securing warrants of further detention, while a
59-year-old man had been bailed ‘with strict conditions’. ‘The arrests
were pre-planned and intelligence-led. There was no risk to the public
at any time and there is no information to suggest an attack in the UK
was being planned,’ said Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale, who
leads on counter terrorism for the West Midlands. British media have
reported that Belgian Mohamed Abrini, suspected of involvement in the
Islamic State attacks in Brussels, had traveled to Birmingham last year
and taken photos of a soccer stadium.”
“Speaking
for the first time, the mother of a 19-year-old British boy, who
reportedly joined the Islamic State, has said she is ‘completely
shocked’ at the loss of her ‘intelligent’ son to the dreaded terrorist
group. Muhammad Raja’s mother told ‘The Sunday Times’ about her son on
condition of anonymity after the newspaper showed her a leaked ISIS
recruitment file in which Raja was named. ‘I’m completely shocked. He’s
such an intelligent boy. He got grade As at GCSE (Board exams) and was
loved by his teachers. We need to find out how this happened,’ she said.
She last saw her son at Heathrow airport as he left on holiday to
Turkey. But days after arriving in Istanbul, the boy, mysteriously
vanished. For almost the past two years his mother has been searching
for news of his whereabouts and hoping he might still call her. His ISIS
recruitment file states that after flying to Istanbul, Raja took a
21-hour bus journey to Sanliurfa, near Turkey’s border with Syria.”
Arabic Language Clips
Terror Financing
Reliable
security and administrative reports have recently indicated that the
number of Tunisian associations involved in financing and supporting
terrorism exceeds 300, and are scattered throughout the country. Studies
regarding terrorist crimes reveal that this is a significant number of
associations and that they are acting, under the guise of charity and
religious ministry, to support and finance terrorist activities. As a
result of the dangerous nature of these disclosures, the government of
Mehdi Juma has decided to issue decisions to dissolve many of these
associations. It must be recalled that a dangerous Tunisian terrorist
arrested in Libya had acknowledged that he was an activist for an
Islamic religious association in the Tunisian town of Ben Gardane,
before it was dissolved by the Tunisian security authorities.
ISIS
While
ISIS’s military presence in its strongholds in Syria and Iraq has
declined, the leaders of the terror group have begun to use what is
known as “Diwan al-Hisbah” to impose fines on women, for their failure
to observe the Islamic dress code. This move comes in an effort to
refill the organization’s coffers following its recent defeats. ISIS’s
Diwan al-Hisbah in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor launched a campaign of
mass arrests of women opposing its decisions and refusing to observe
the dress code. The terror group accused them of violating the dress
code and fined them heavily. The women’s names have been recorded,
because in case of a repeat violation they will be forced to pay a fine
of 15,000 Syrian pounds ($68.50).
At
a time when ISIS leaders fled or vanished from the scene while
dispatching their families to a neighboring country, dozens of ISIS
gunmen have started to deploy in some parts of Mosul in a show of force.
These developments come in parallel to new restrictions on Internet
service provision in Mosul, with a view to shut it down completely
thereby isolating the city from the outside world. An Iraqi security
source in Nineveh province was quoted as saying, “Senior ISIS leaders
issued their instructions to residents living in areas under their
influence in Nineveh province, stressing the need to begin storing food
especially products that can be stored for as long as possible without
the use of refrigerators or freezers, including dates, grain, flour
etc.”
On
Sunday, the Islamic State organization issued an order banning the use
of Turkish mobile phone networks, threatening to fine violators. In
addition, the terror group closed all the satellite internet cafes in
the city of Manbij, in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo. Local
media activist Nasser Teljbini reported: “ISIS has begun a search and
raid campaign on houses in the city of Manbij and its surroundings, in
search of mobile phones that operate through the Turkish networks. The
organization passed a resolution to fine each person proven to be using a
Turkish mobile phone the amount of 400,000 Syrian pounds (roughly
$1830).” Teljbini made it clear that “the organization intends to shut
down all telecommunications means in Manbij and its surroundings.”
Muslim Brotherhood
Several
months ago, the Muslim Brotherhood channeled $10 million to finance all
of the media smear campaigns inside and outside Egypt. Currently,
intense activity is taking place, under the guise of the group’s
members’ Facebook and Twitter accounts, to verbally attack Egypt, its
president and its government for various reasons. The rationale behind
the intensive media campaign at this time is the handover of the Red Sea
islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia. This is despite the
Egyptian president’s statement that the issue of the two islands is in
the hands of the Egyptian Parliament, which is authorized to approve, or
reject, the agreement.
The
UAE-based Al Mezmaah Studies & Research Centre, which focuses on
political Islamic movements in the region, disclosed that the Muslim
Brotherhood has formed a task force composed of the group’s members to
provide training on the so-called “fourth generation warfare”. The
Centre claimed that the group launched this task force amid growing
public opposition to its rule in Egypt, in conjunction with activities
initiated by the “Tamarod” (“Rebellion”) movement. It claimed that
Muslim Brotherhood Deputy Supreme Guide Khayrat al-Shater was overseeing
this task force. Al Mezmaah added that the Brotherhood has allocated 25
million Egyptian pounds ($2.8 million) to meet the training
requirements of the task force, which includes dispatching its members
to Turkey to receive training.
Sheikh
Nabil Naim, former leader of the Islamic Jihadist movement in Egypt,
revealed surprising information regarding yesterday’s anti-regime
protests. He asserts that 90% of the protesters belong to the ‘Ultras’
groups. According to Naim, leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood had
personally received $60 million from foreign parties in order to
re-structure the groups and ignite demonstrations across Egypt. During a
telephone interview on the “LTC” satellite channel, the former leader
of the Islamic Jihadist movement noted that Egyptian security forces are
well-aware of the almost complete extent of the Ultras’ participation
in yesterday’s protests in front of the Journalists Union building, and
tied these protests to the Muslim Brotherhood’s failure and loss of
popularity among Egyptians.
Led
by Rashid Ghanoushi, Tunisia’s strongest Islamist party, Al-Nahda (the
Muslim Brotherhood arm in the country), lashed out at the Tunisian
Internet website ‘inkyfada’. The website is the Tunisian partner of the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which
published the Panama Papers. Al-Nahda officially threatened to sue the
website after revealing the involvement of several of the Brotherhood’s
leaders, who were exiled to London, in owning companies which are
registered as safe havens for tax evaders. Among those cited are
Ghanoushi, his daughter and her husband, the Foreign Affairs Minister of
the former Al-Nahda-led government, Mr. Rafik Bouchlaka, Ghanoushi’s
advisor, Lotfi Zitoun, and
other Muslim Brotherhood leaders. The disclosure of Islamist leader
Ghanoushi’s involvement in such activities comes as no surprise, since
many Muslim Brotherhood’s leaders, Tunisian or otherwise, have been
suspected in this kind of activities for many years. Topping a list of
these leaders would be Yusuf Nada, noted businessman, Muslim Brotherhood
financial strategist, and the Brotherhood’s Commissioner for
International Political Relations, who is notorious for hiding the
international organization’s funding sources and spending means.
The
Al-Dokki Criminal Court sentenced Mr. Mohamed Ali Hassan, a journalist
at the Egyptian Alnahar newspaper and a member of the Journalists Union,
to five years in prison, for spreading “false news” and ‘inciting to
protests through pro- Muslim Brotherhood websites. On December 12th,
2014, Mohammed was at home with his family when several police officers,
in civilian clothes, came and arrested him, charging him with joining
the illegal Muslim Brotherhood group and inciting the public against the
army and the police force. The National Security’s report also claimed
that Mohammed had received funding money from foreign sources, namely,
different people and parties in Qatar. However, when the general
prosecution requested that the National Security people name these
foreign people and parties, the prosecution dropped the funding charges
and instead accused the journalist with incitement to violence and
spreading false news against the state.
Houthi
An
informed source in Sanaa revealed that the Houthi militia, which
controls government institutions in Yemen, unlawfully obtained a huge
sum estimated at roughly two billion riyals ($9.3 million) from the
funds of Yemen International Telecommunications Co. (TeleYemen). This is
in line with the Houthis’ customary practice of looting and seizing the
revenues and financial resources of companies and institutions in
Yemen. The source confirmed that the Houthi-affiliated executive
management of TeleYemen ordered the transfer of this enormous amount of
money, which had originally been earmarked for the company’s employees’
annual bonus to compensate for the growing costs of living. The source
noted that this is not the first time the Houthi group has taken the
company’s funds. Last year, the group stole 1 billion riyals ($4.65
million) of TeleYemen’s funds.
Source: The counter extremism project
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