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This week, U.N. experts released a report detailing the deteriorating security situation in Libya. The report states that Libya is not only targeted as “one of the main axes” of ISIS’s future operations, but that the country will continue to be embroiled in violent attacks due to an increase in the presence of Chadian and Sudanese fighters. The foreign fighters primarily support General Khalifa Haftar’s troops in offensive operations against the Government of National Accord, the internationally recognized government of Libya.

In Mogadishu, Somali security forces ended a seven-hour attack at the SYL hotel on December 10 that left three civilians and two soldiers dead and 11 people injured, including two members of Somali security forces. The terror group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that its fighters conducted the raid according to plan.

On the anniversary of the 2018 Christmas market attack in Strasbourg, France, the leading expert on prison radicalization and CEP Senior Advisor Ian Acheson is warning that further action is needed to prevent future terrorist attacks. Five people were killed and another 11 were wounded when the jihadist Chérif Chekatt launched a gun and knife attack at the Christmas market. Chekatt had a lengthy criminal history, had become radicalized and had pledged allegiance to ISIS.

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, ISIS supporters established a presence on the messenger platforms Hoop Messenger and TamTam , after a worldwide law enforcement operation shut down many of their channels on Telegram. ISIS also uploaded a new propaganda video, titled “ And Expel Them From Wherever They Have Expelled You ,” from their self-proclaimed Libyan province, a Russian language white supremacist Telegram channel released bomb-making instructional videos and manuals, and a Neo-Nazi group, The Base , released a new training camp video in which they threatened five journalists who criticized or recently wrote about the group.