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Iran-backed militias continue to plan attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq more frequently, according to U.S. officials , as tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalate. The latest series of attacks follow the targeted U.S. strike against Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) Commander Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes , the former leader of the Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) militia group. U.S. forces suspect that the near-constant rockets strikes are linked to KH and the IRGC. In an effort to disrupt the financial networks of these militias, the Trump administration designated entities providing support to or acting on behalf of KH , the IRGC , and Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH).

On March 24, 2020, the United States designated Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The move comes a week after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. was preparing to designate the ISIS leader—also known as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi—as a terrorist after U.S. intelligence discovered and confirmed his true identity. Al-Mawli, having been one of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s “most trusted deputies,” is credited with keeping the terror group intact following Baghdadi’s death in October 2019 . Officials say the designation will aid the U.S. in cutting off al-Mawli from forms of financing and resources.

The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) reports weekly on the methods used by extremists to exploit the Internet and social media platforms to recruit followers and incite violence. This week, white supremacist and neo-Nazi accelerationist Telegram channels continued calling for the exploitation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, British neo-Nazi group Sonnenkrieg Division (SKD) launched a Telegram channel challenging a membership ban that the British government implemented last month. Also, chan imageboard and Telegram chat users praise Christchurch shooter Brenton Tarrant following his guilty plea. ISIS’s Amaq News Agency released a video of one of the Kabul Gurdwara attackers on Telegram and YouTube. Finally, the pro-ISIS Al-Qitaal Media Center released the second version of the online magazine “Voice of Hind” in an attempt to appeal to Muslims in India.