CEP Research Analyst Gregory Water writes: "Years of simmering tensions between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and local populations in northeast Syria have exploded this week into still-expanding battles across much of Deir ez-Zor. The current violence was triggered by the SDF’s Aug. 27 arrest of Ahmed al-Khubayl (“Abu Khawla”), the emir of the Bakir tribe and commander of the SDF’s Deir ez-Zor Military Council. Five days later the chaos shows no sign of subsiding — in fact it appears to be spreading as more towns and clans take up arms against the SDF. The roots of this crisis are multilayered and complex, reaching back years."

CEP Senior Research Analyst Sofia Koller interviewed as an expert for main German news magazine “Tagesthemen” of the German Public TV with an assessment of returnee Jennifer W.’s verdict.

CEP Senior Research Analyst Sofia Koller's blog quoted: "Eine englischsprachige Blogreihe des Counter Extremism Project widmet sich den Strafprozessen verschiedener Frauen. Sie haben sich dem „Islamischen Staat“ angeschlossen, sind nach Deutschland zurückgekehrt und stehen nun vor Gericht. Der dritte Beitrag erörtert den Urteilsspruch im Strafprozess von Nadine K.: Für ihre Verbrechen im Namen des „IS“, auch an einer Jesidin, wird sie zu neun Jahren und drei Monaten Gefängnis verurteilt, meldet Die Zeit. Das Urteil ist noch nicht rechtskräftig."

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed: "There is ample evidence that the both al-Qaeda as well as the Islamic State affiliates that operate in West Africa are trying to take advantage of this situation. There has been just a couple of hours ago another major attack in the border area between Niger and Mali, admittedly by the coup government, by terrorist organizations. So the instability in Niger is a really important brick out of the regional counterterrorism operations." 

"Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project and former coordinator of a terror monitoring team in the UN Security Council, told The Media Line that Syria no longer operates as IS’s center of gravity as it once did. He said that the recent attack in Syria might be a way for the group to 'show [its] relevance' and improve its public image."

"On this week’s edition of 'The Hunt with WTOP national security correspondent JJ Green,' Dr. Hans-Jacob Schindler, senior director at the Counter Extremism Project, says it’s a case of 'back to the future.'"

"A couple of days ago we had the first instance where the Islamic State Khorasan province, which is the affiliate of the Islamic State in Afghanistan, had apparently recruited and then asked to pose as refugees and travel to Germany individuals from Central Asia—so Tajiks, Uzbeks, countries that border Afghanistan. And were assumed there is some Islamic State networks. These were arrested while they were scouting targets in Germany, trying to procure weapons, and organize terror attacks. This is fundamentally different from the arrests in 2020, where also Central Asians Tajiks were arrested in Germany, but they were already in Germany when they were contacted by ISIL or they contacted ISIL and then were asked to conduct terror."