Syria

Extremist Content Online: ISIS Releases Propaganda Video Displaying Military Action And Executions From Self-Proclaimed Province In Syria

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. Last week, ISIS released a new propaganda video titled “The Epic Battles...

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CEP Senior Research Analyst Sofia Koller interviewed regarding ISIS, women and children in Syria, and returnees. 

Date
July 11, 2025
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hts and affiliated groups blog

A short history of HTS and important affiliated groups in Syria

This blog is the first entry in a new four-part series about the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), an al Qaeda (AQ)-affiliated, originally Uyghur Islamist terrorist group. While remaining an AQ-affiliate, TIP is also closely linked with Hayat Tahrir al...

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The EU and the US also want to end sanctions against Syria. Germany also plans to deport Islamist threats there. Hans-Jakob Schindler of the international research organization Counter Extremism Project urges caution and warns that we should first observe whether interim President al-Sharaa actually implements his moderate course. "This is a very significant vote of confidence in a person in Syria – Mr. al-Sharaa, who announces he will do something that, however, does not correspond to the ideological orientation of his own people, which has been expressed and repeated for years."

Date
May 27, 2025
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The Berlin-based think tank "Counter Extremism Project" (CEP) also reports on the case in a recent policy paper on the situation of detainees in north-east Syria. According to the paper, the man had been married to a German woman who has since returned to Germany and been convicted according to Islamic rites. Analyst Sofia Koller, one of the authors of the paper, told SWR: "The fact that a second German apparently died in Kurdish captivity not only shows the poor prison conditions on the ground, but also the extensive inaction of German authorities." For example, Mohammad A.'s family was apparently only informed of his death a year later. The first death in prison in north-east Syria had already become known in 2020 thanks to a report in the Bild newspaper.

Date
May 22, 2025
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The senior director of the Counter Extremism Project, Hans-Jakob Schindler, cautions that the opening of the banking system runs the risk of becoming “entangled with terrorism financing as there are still multiple terrorist groups operating in Syria apart from ISIS.”

“It will be difficult to ensure that funds are not flowing to these individuals if sanctions are relieved without conditionality,” he said. 

Date
May 17, 2025
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