Category Archives: Islamic State

USAid cuts sow feeling of betrayal among Yazidis, 10 years after IS genocide

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Figures who backed rights of religious minorities in Trump’s first term fall silent as vital work halted on the ground

During the first Trump administration, Mike Pence, the vice-president, pledged hundreds of millions of dollars, mostly through USAid and the state department, to help Christians and other religious minorities who were persecuted by Islamic State and – in the case of the Yazidis – suffered a genocide.

But under the second Trump administration, the same figures who championed the rights of religious minorities have fallen silent or actively participated in the destruction of USAid, cutting crucial aid to support the same communities they once helped – who now feel abandoned by the US.

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IS fighters in Syria could break free amid Trump aid cut, terrorism expert warns

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Prediction by ex M16 counter-terror director comes as security paused around two main detention facilities

Donald Trump has thrown into doubt the security and administration of the main two detention facilities in north-east Syria that hold thousands of Islamic State fighters, the former counter-terrorism director of M16 Richard Barrett says.

The state of limbo has been caused in the short term by the US president unexpectedly suspending all USAid funding for 90 days, and by long-term uncertainty over his willingness to retain troops in Syria.

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Islamist groups in Middle East will emerge from Gaza war weakened

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Hamas, Hezbollah and other militia are enfeebled – but Palestine is likely to stay at forefront of global politics

The ceasefire due to come into force on Sunday, barring a major last-minute problem, will cement massive and rapid changes across the Middle East and may seal a significant defeat for the Islamist militant groups that have been powerful actors in the region for years.

Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and assorted Shia Muslim militia in Iraq and Syria will all emerge from the conflict considerably weakened. Only the Houthis in Yemen are stronger – though this may not last. The Islamic State remains a shadow of its former self.

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FBI releases more details on how New Orleans attacker planned his rampage

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Authorities piece together timeline of radicalization of Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the US army veteran behind the attack

Before plowing a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans and killing 14 people, the man who carried out the Islamic State group-inspired attack had researched how to access a balcony on the city’s famed Bourbon Street and looked up information about a similar attack at a Christmas market in Germany, the FBI said.

Nearly two weeks after Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s rampage, the FBI continues to uncover new information detailing the extensive planning by the 42-year-old US army veteran who scouted out the area multiple times in the months leading up to the attack. Authorities have also been piecing together a timeline of his radicalization.

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Rise in vigilante attacks in US highlight growing online DIY terrorism resources

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Availability of manuals and instructions on less moderated apps and forums is making extremist content accessible

A spate of recent vigilante and extremist attacks in the US have highlighted how the booming availability of internet resources is a growing national security concern.

Experts and world governments have been sounding the alarm on digital radicalization as accessibility to materials such as assassination manuals, files for 3D printed guns, or something as simple as ChatGPT grows.

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Kurdish general urges Trump to leave US troops in north-east Syria

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Exclusive: SDF leader says removal of 2,000-strong force would leave door open for Islamic State resurgence

The leader of the Kurdish forces that control north-eastern Syria has called on Donald Trump to maintain a US military presence in the region, warning that a retreat would risk a resurgence of Islamic State in the country.

Gen Mazloum Abdi, the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said IS had increased its strength in the desert after seizing arms from the collapsed Assad regime, while the Kurdish forces were coming under increased pressure from Turkey and its Syrian proxies.

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British IS members in Syria should be allowed home, says Trump’s counter-terror pick

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Sebastian Gorka says letting people in prison camps return to Britain would benefit the ‘special relationship’ with US

British nationals being held in Syrian prison camps for fighting on behalf of Islamic State should be allowed to return to the UK, Donald Trump’s incoming counter-terrorism chief has said.

Any country that wants to be a “serious ally” to the United States should commit to the international fight against the extremist group by repatriating its citizens, according to Sebastian Gorka.

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Deadly New Orleans attack underscores looming threat of IS attacks in the US

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Islamic State has urged followers to attack the US, and the attorney general has called the group a top security concern

The Islamic State (IS) threat on the US homeland has caused renewed concern as more details emerge about the man allegedly behind what the FBI is calling an “act of terrorism” in New Orleans on New Year’s Day that killed 14 and injured scores more.

US citizen and army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, was killed in the attack after driving into partygoers on Bourbon Street and engaging police in a gunfight. Found inside his rental truck was the infamous black flag of IS; it was later revealed he had pledged allegiance to the group in a series of videos posted to Facebook mere hours beforehand.

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Islamic State is primed to be thorn in the side of incoming Trump administration

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The terrorist group has been looking to be active this holiday season, with online chatter about attacks increasing

Amid a presidential campaign with foreign policy discussions more focused on the wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon, the Islamic State stayed under the radar while calling on supporters and operatives to attack Americans on election day.

The FBI thwarted a serious plot in Oklahoma City only weeks before the vote, prompting a similar public reaction to news involving the terror group that has become customary of late: is the Islamic State a renewed threat?

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‘You are next’: online posts show Islamic State interest in attacks on US ahead of election

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Internet chatter and Oklahoma arrest of alleged would-be IS attacker indicate terror group’s planning

After the FBI arrested an Afghan man in Oklahoma planning an election day shooting on behalf of the Islamic State, the terrorist organization re-entered what has become one of the most chaotic news cycles leading up to a November vote.

Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, of Oklahoma City admitted to investigators he and a co-conspirator expected to die as IS martyrs as they opened fire on crowds on election day, according to charging documents.

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Man who lit Melbourne bushfires and embraced ‘depraved ideology’ of Islamic State jailed for eight years

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Judge says offending by Aran Sherani, who pledged allegiance to terrorist organisation, ‘must be denounced’

A convicted terrorist has been jailed for eight years after he filmed himself pledging allegiance to Islamic State.

A supreme court jury in 2023 found Aran Sherani, 22, guilty of preparing for a terrorist act over the 2021 video.

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Yazidi woman kidnapped by IS freed from Gaza after decade in captivity

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Officials say US, Israel, Jordan and Iraq involved in rescue of 21-year-old who had been captured in Iraq

A 21-year-old woman kidnapped by Islamic State militants in Iraq more than a decade ago has been freed from Gaza in an operation led by the US.

The operation this week also involved Israel, Jordan and Iraq, according to officials.

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German border plan to stop ‘irregular migration’ unacceptable, says Tusk

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Polish PM calls for urgent consultations with European neighbours over controls he says will break European law

The Polish government is accusing Germany of acting unilaterally and unfairly over its “unacceptable” plans to introduce temporary controls into in the passport-free Schengen zone at all the country’s nine land borders, in what Warsaw says is a contravention of European law.

Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, said Germany had introduced a “de facto suspension of the Schengen agreement on a large scale” after the interior minister, Nancy Faeser, announced Berlin’s decision to confront what she called “irregular migration” by introducing spot controls along Germany’s 2,300-mile (3,700km) frontier after a recent spate of suspected Islamist attacks.

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Pakistani man in Canada charged with planned mass shooting of Jewish New Yorkers

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Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, arrested near US border after allegedly planning attack with undercover agents

A Pakistani man living in Canada is facing federal criminal charges for allegedly planning to carry out a mass shooting in New York against Jewish people on the anniversary of the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack in Israel, the US justice department announced on Friday.

Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, was arrested Wednesday in Canada and charged with attempting to provide material support as well as resources to a foreign terrorist organization – in this case, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.

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US and Iraq launch joint raid killing 15 Islamic State militants

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Seven American troops injured during battle in Anbar desert, says central command

The US military and Iraq launched a joint raid targeting suspected Islamic State group militants in the Iraqi western desert that killed at least 15 people while seven American troops were hurt, officials said on Saturday.

The US military’s central command said the militants were armed with weapons, grenades and explosive belts during the battle on Thursday, which Iraqi forces said happened in the Anbar desert.

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German chancellor pledges tougher weapons laws in wake of Solingen attack

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Olaf Scholz also promises swifter enforcement of deportation rules after three killed in last week’s rampage

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has promised tougher weapons laws and swifter enforcement of deportation rules in response to the deadly mass stabbing in the western city of Solingen, as the far right seized on public outrage in the run-up to key state elections.

Scholz laid a single white rose at the scene of Friday night’s rampage claimed by the Islamic State group in which a Syrian asylum seeker is alleged to have killed three and injured eight people attending a street festival marking the city’s 650th anniversary.

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Solingen stabbing attack: suspect shares Islamic State ideology, say prosecutors

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Issa Al H, a 26-year-old Syrian, appears before a judge in Karlsruhe after attack in which three people died

Solingen stabbings: what we know so far

Prosecutors have said the suspect arrested over a stabbing rampage in the western German city of Solingen shares the ideology of the Islamic State group and was acting on those beliefs when he attacked.

The 26-year-old Syrian, who had turned himself in, was identified by federal prosecutors as Issa Al H, with his last name omitted in line with German privacy laws.

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Russian special forces free hostages taken by four men linked to Islamic State

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Prisoners who carried out attack that left several guards dead at high-security jail ‘liquidated’, says national guard

Russian special forces have freed hostages taken by four men linked to the Islamic State who carried out an attack at a high-security prison in the southern Volgograd region, resulting in the deaths of several prison guards.

Russia’s national guard announced in a statement that special forces snipers “liquidated” all four hostage-takers before the colony was stormed and the hostages were freed.

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Third teenager arrested over foiled Taylor Swift concert attack in Vienna

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Iraqi man, 18, said to be an associate of main 19-year-old suspect in terror plot that has led to cancellation of shows

A third suspect has been arrested in connection with a foiled terror attack on Taylor Swift’s now-cancelled concerts in Vienna, the Austrian interior minister has said.

The 18-year-old Iraqi man is understood to have been an associate of the main 19-year-old suspect, identified as Beran A, an Austrian with North Macedonian roots.

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Taylor Swift concert plot: Austrian police find bomb chemicals in suspect’s home

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Austrian, 19, arrested alongside 17-year-old for allegedly planning Islamist attack at Vienna venue

The 19-year-old prime suspect in an alleged plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert that led to the cancellation of the singer’s three-night run in Vienna had collected chemicals with the intention of building a bomb, senior Austrian security officials have said.

The Austrian suspect was arrested along with a 17-year-old who recently started working for a services company providing support for the concerts, on suspicion of planning an Islamist attack. A third person, 15, was taken into custody late on Wednesday in connection with the investigation.

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