Interpol/Da’esh/Europe – Interpol has circulated a list of 173 Islamic State fighters it believes could have been trained to mount suicide attacks in Europe in revenge for the group’s military defeats in the Middle East it was reported in a UK newspaper on the 21 Jul 17. The global crime fighting agency’s list was drawn up by US intelligence from information captured during the assault on Isis territories in Syria and Iraq. European counter-terror networks are concerned that as the ISIS “caliphate” collapses, there is an increasing risk of determined suicide bombers seeking to come to Europe, probably operating alone. There is no evidence that any of the people on the list, whose names the newspaper has obtained, have yet entered Europe, but the Interpol circulation, designed to see if EU intelligence sources have any details on the individuals, underlines the scale of the challenge facing Europe. The list, sent out by the general secretariat of Interpol on the 27 May 17 defines the group of fighters as individuals that “may have been trained to build and position improvised explosive devices in order to cause serious deaths and injuries. It is believed that they can travel internationally, to participate in terrorist activities.” The data was originally collected by the US intelligence “through trusted channels”. The material was handed over to the FBI, which transmitted the list to Interpol for global sharing. A note appended to the Interpol list circulated in Italy explains how the terrorist database was constructed, putting together the pieces of the puzzle from hundreds of elements, mainly gathered when Isis local headquarters were captured. “The people,” the note says, “have been identified through materials found in the hiding places of ISIL.” The note adds that “it emerges that those subjects may have manifested willingness to commit a suicidal attack or martyrdom to support Islam”. The list shows the suspects’ names, the date ISIS recruited them, their last likely address including the mosque at which they have been praying while away fighting, their mother’s name and any photographs. For each of the fighters, an ID was created to ensure that each member country in the Interpol network could integrate the data with local databases. Interpol has asked its national partners for any information they might have about each name on the list, and any other background personal data they have on their files, such as border crossings, previous criminal offences, biometric data, passport numbers, activity on social media and travel history. The information will then be included in Interpol’s ASF (automatic search facility) database in order to possibly put the names on a higher level watch list. US intelligence is apparently confident about the reliability of the sources used to compile the list. But western counter-terrorism forces have said they face an uphill struggle identifying potential suspects, who have access to a mountain of false documents, double identities and fake passports. Interpol stressed the list’s transmission came as part of its role circulating information between national crime-fighting agencies. “Interpol regularly sends alerts and updates to its national central bureaux (NCB) on wanted terrorists and criminals via our secure global police communications network,” a spokesman said. “It is the member country which provides the information that decides which other countries it can be shared with. “The purpose of sending these alerts and updates is to ensure that vital policing information is made available when and where it is needed, in line with a member country’s request.” A European counter-terrorism officer said one of the purposes of circulating the list around Europe was to identify those on it who might have been born and raised in European countries. In 2015 the UN considered there were 20,000 foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria, of whom 4,000 were from Europe, but there has not previously been a specific list of those fighters including those born in the Middle East who have been identified as potential suicide bombers. The speed with which Isis fighters are likely to attempt to reach Europe will depend on a range of issues including whether the group tries to set up a new base in Syria in the wake of the impending fall of Raqqa, its last major redoubt in north-west Syria. There is a growing suggestion that ISIS fighters will shift south from Raqqa to the defensible territory stretching from Deir el-Zourez-Zor to Abu Kamal. The jihadi group is currently struggling to come to terms with the loss of Mosul in northern Iraq following a battle that produced some of the most brutal fighting since the end of the Second World War. The parallel advance on Raqqa, the group’s other urban stronghold in the region, has been stalled partly due to the severity of the resistance being mounted against the Syrian Democratic Forces made up of an alliance of Kurds, Arabs and US Special Forces. US Army Col Ryan Dillon on the 21 Jun 17 estimated there were around 2,000 ISIS militants in the city, who he said were using civilians and children as human shields. The distance between SDF forces on the eastern side of the city and on the western fronts is now just less than 2km. The United Nations estimates that about 190,000 residents of Raqqa province have been displaced since Apr 17, including about 20,000 since the operation to seize the provincial capital began in early Jun 17. US diplomats this week admitted that the SDF forces, due to their ethnic make-up, will be constrained from going south of Raqqa to pursue ISIS as far as Deir Azzour, saying this may be the task of the Syrian forces under Bashar al Assad, or even Iranian-backed Shia militia.
Europe/Hamas – The European Union’s top court kept Palestinian Hamas on the EU terrorism blacklist on the 26 Jul 17 and removed Sri Lankan separatist rebels, the Tamil Tigers. Judges at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) overruled the General Court’s view of 2014 that the Council of the European Union, the 28-nation grouping, had insufficient evidence to maintain asset freezes and travel bans on Hamas. The lower court had found that the listing was based on media and internet reports rather than decisions by a “competent authority”. But the ECJ said such decisions were not required for groups to stay on the list, only for their initial listing. “The Council may maintain a person or an entity on the list if it concludes that there is an ongoing risk of that person or entity being involved in the terrorist activities that justified their initial listing,” the ECJ said. The EU needed to rely on more recent material than used in its initial decision, it said. It said the General Court should now examine the facts and arguments it did not consider in its 2014 ruling. Hamas issued a statement saying it would challenge “the unjust, political decisions against our people and our movement through legal means” and would continue its struggle against Israel. In a parallel case, the top court did rule that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of Sri Lanka, the Tamil Tigers, should be removed from the EU’s terrorism list. The court said that EU had not produced any evidence to show that there was a risk of the Tamil Tigers carrying out attacks after its military defeat in 2009. “The Court of Justice therefore confirms the annulment of the continued freezing of the LTTE’s funds,” it said. The EU terrorism list, created after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 and last updated in January, includes 13 individuals and 22 organizations, such as the Communist Party of the Philippines and Peru’s Maoist-inspired rebel group, Shining Path. Hamas has been listed since 2003, its military wing since 2001. LTTE was added to the list in 2006.
Germany/Reichsburger – The German Federal Criminal Police (BKA) have reported that the followers of the right-wing Reichsbürger movement could engage in “extreme violence, including terror acts.” The German newspaper Die Welt reports that a comprehensive report, compiled by German law enforcement services, concluded that the movement is more dangerous to public safety than other right-wing and nationalist German political movements it was reported on the 24 Jul 17. The Reichsbürger movement – which is somewhat similar to the U.S. Sovereign Citizen movement – is not considered the most extreme right-wing politically, and its followers are not organized in the traditional sense. Rather, they adhere to the view that all post-Second World War German (and earlier, West German) governments have been illegitimate — not much more than a creation of the Allied forces to subjugate Germany. Reichsbürger followers argue that West Germany, founded in 1949 after the end of the occupation of Germany by the Allies, was not a legitimate state because Germany never signed a peace agreement with the Allies. This illegitimacy applies to the government of united Germany, which came into existence in the fall of 1990. Moreover, these Reichsbürger followers say, Germany’s Basic Law requires a popular referendum to be transformed into a legitimate constitution — and Germany should be reconstituted in its 1937 borders. Members of the movement have been engages in small-scale violence, mostly attacking police officers and soldiers. It is this fact – that the more violent members of the movement have been targeting police officers and soldiers to highlight their resistance to the organs of the German state – which has led the BKA analysts to conclude that the Reichsbürger movement has an even “higher escalation potential.” “While Reichsbürger have an authoritarian understanding of the state and at a minimum consider officials fundamentally necessary, the sovereign citizens reject (foreign-)state paternalism and are in cases even prepared to defend their autonomy with armed violence,” Welt quoted police as reporting. The German domestic intelligence service estimates that the Reichsbürger movement has 12,800 active members, of whom 800 the agency classified as classifies as right-wing extremists. Both the federal and state police have recorded an alarming rise in the number and severity of crimes committed by Reichsbürger. The most recent numbers show that members of the movement have committed more than 13,000 offenses, about 750 of which were violent, with more than 700 of the violent acts targeting government employees. The domestic intelligence agency says that even more alarming is the fact that some Reichsbürger are police officers themselves. The BKA notes that the movement is positioned to exploit the racist backlash against the arrival of a large number of refugees – most of them Muslim — to recruit new members. “In the view of extreme-right ideologues, German citizenship should be tied to an ethnically defined ‘people’s community’ in order to combat ‘genocide’ through ‘mass immigration,’” Welt reported, quoting the BKA.
Spain/Morocco – A knife-wielding man charged across the border between Morocco and the Spanish territory of Melilla on the 25 Jul 17 attacking and injuring a police officer, authorities said. The man was subsequently detained, Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said. "A man entered the border post and once inside, pulled out a large knife and confronted (police), slightly injuring a policeman," Irene Flores, spokeswoman for the central government's representative office in Melilla said. A spokesman for Spanish police added he ran into the border post. Melilla and its sister city Ceuta are two Spanish territories located on Morocco's northern coast, and as such represent the only two land borders between Africa and the European Union. They have been hit by unrest before as migrants desperate to reach Europe regularly storm the border between both territories or try and smuggle themselves in, but this is the first attack of this type. Spain has been spared the type of jihadist violence that has occurred in nearby France, Belgium and Germany. But it was hit by what is still Europe's deadliest jihadist attack in Mar 04, when bombs exploded on commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people in an attack claimed by Al Qaeda-inspired militants.
Europe/Hamas – The European Union’s top court kept Palestinian Hamas on the EU terrorism blacklist on the 26 Jul 17 and removed Sri Lankan separatist rebels, the Tamil Tigers. Judges at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) overruled the General Court’s view of 2014 that the Council of the European Union, the 28-nation grouping, had insufficient evidence to maintain asset freezes and travel bans on Hamas. The lower court had found that the listing was based on media and internet reports rather than decisions by a “competent authority”. But the ECJ said such decisions were not required for groups to stay on the list, only for their initial listing. “The Council may maintain a person or an entity on the list if it concludes that there is an ongoing risk of that person or entity being involved in the terrorist activities that justified their initial listing,” the ECJ said. The EU needed to rely on more recent material than used in its initial decision, it said. It said the General Court should now examine the facts and arguments it did not consider in its 2014 ruling. Hamas issued a statement saying it would challenge “the unjust, political decisions against our people and our movement through legal means” and would continue its struggle against Israel. In a parallel case, the top court did rule that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of Sri Lanka, the Tamil Tigers, should be removed from the EU’s terrorism list. The court said that EU had not produced any evidence to show that there was a risk of the Tamil Tigers carrying out attacks after its military defeat in 2009. “The Court of Justice therefore confirms the annulment of the continued freezing of the LTTE’s funds,” it said. The EU terrorism list, created after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 and last updated in January, includes 13 individuals and 22 organizations, such as the Communist Party of the Philippines and Peru’s Maoist-inspired rebel group, Shining Path. Hamas has been listed since 2003, its military wing since 2001. LTTE was added to the list in 2006.
Germany/Reichsburger – The German Federal Criminal Police (BKA) have reported that the followers of the right-wing Reichsbürger movement could engage in “extreme violence, including terror acts.” The German newspaper Die Welt reports that a comprehensive report, compiled by German law enforcement services, concluded that the movement is more dangerous to public safety than other right-wing and nationalist German political movements it was reported on the 24 Jul 17. The Reichsbürger movement – which is somewhat similar to the U.S. Sovereign Citizen movement – is not considered the most extreme right-wing politically, and its followers are not organized in the traditional sense. Rather, they adhere to the view that all post-Second World War German (and earlier, West German) governments have been illegitimate — not much more than a creation of the Allied forces to subjugate Germany. Reichsbürger followers argue that West Germany, founded in 1949 after the end of the occupation of Germany by the Allies, was not a legitimate state because Germany never signed a peace agreement with the Allies. This illegitimacy applies to the government of united Germany, which came into existence in the fall of 1990. Moreover, these Reichsbürger followers say, Germany’s Basic Law requires a popular referendum to be transformed into a legitimate constitution — and Germany should be reconstituted in its 1937 borders. Members of the movement have been engages in small-scale violence, mostly attacking police officers and soldiers. It is this fact – that the more violent members of the movement have been targeting police officers and soldiers to highlight their resistance to the organs of the German state – which has led the BKA analysts to conclude that the Reichsbürger movement has an even “higher escalation potential.” “While Reichsbürger have an authoritarian understanding of the state and at a minimum consider officials fundamentally necessary, the sovereign citizens reject (foreign-)state paternalism and are in cases even prepared to defend their autonomy with armed violence,” Welt quoted police as reporting. The German domestic intelligence service estimates that the Reichsbürger movement has 12,800 active members, of whom 800 the agency classified as classifies as right-wing extremists. Both the federal and state police have recorded an alarming rise in the number and severity of crimes committed by Reichsbürger. The most recent numbers show that members of the movement have committed more than 13,000 offenses, about 750 of which were violent, with more than 700 of the violent acts targeting government employees. The domestic intelligence agency says that even more alarming is the fact that some Reichsbürger are police officers themselves. The BKA notes that the movement is positioned to exploit the racist backlash against the arrival of a large number of refugees – most of them Muslim — to recruit new members. “In the view of extreme-right ideologues, German citizenship should be tied to an ethnically defined ‘people’s community’ in order to combat ‘genocide’ through ‘mass immigration,’” Welt reported, quoting the BKA.
Spain/Morocco – A knife-wielding man charged across the border between Morocco and the Spanish territory of Melilla on the 25 Jul 17 attacking and injuring a police officer, authorities said. The man was subsequently detained, Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said. "A man entered the border post and once inside, pulled out a large knife and confronted (police), slightly injuring a policeman," Irene Flores, spokeswoman for the central government's representative office in Melilla said. A spokesman for Spanish police added he ran into the border post. Melilla and its sister city Ceuta are two Spanish territories located on Morocco's northern coast, and as such represent the only two land borders between Africa and the European Union. They have been hit by unrest before as migrants desperate to reach Europe regularly storm the border between both territories or try and smuggle themselves in, but this is the first attack of this type. Spain has been spared the type of jihadist violence that has occurred in nearby France, Belgium and Germany. But it was hit by what is still Europe's deadliest jihadist attack in Mar 04, when bombs exploded on commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people in an attack claimed by Al Qaeda-inspired militants.
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