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."

"Ian Acheson, a senior advisor to the Counter Extremism Project, notes that terrorist gangs such as Al Qaeda or ISIS are deliberately seeking out people online who are vulnerable and suggestible to hateful ideologies."

[Translated from German] "Terrorist groups like IS and al-Qaida have an easy time in these camps. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the international non-profit organization Counter Extremism Project, warns of this. This monitors and evaluates the propaganda of Islamist terrorist groups in Africa. According to Schindler, growing stronger would mean 'that these groups are not only concentrating on gaining control over areas in the region, but are all still part of this global strategy, which means that attacks on the West are a priority.'"