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...

Body

However, the results of a study by terrorism researcher Sofia Koller of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) suggest that many of those affected have been trying to return to Germany for years. Lydia G. is also said to have had a change of heart; she wants to return to Germany. Whether and when a trial against the IS returnee will begin is not yet known.

Date
May 10, 2025
Image
Article Source
Content Variety
blog title

Repatriation Challenges: How the Change of Regime in Syria Affected European Detainee Women in Roj Camp

The author regularly visits detention facilities in northeastern Syria, including Roj camp, as part of her academic/journalistic research (i.e., several times a year). This text is based on interviews with the employees and detainees of the Roj camp...

Body

CEP Analyst Gregory Waters writes: "Shortly after Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) drove Bashar al-Assad out of Syria last year, the group pledged to respect the rights of minorities. Yet, since HTS took control over much of the country, some across the international community have raised fears that Syria’s new leaders—with their jihadist backgrounds—might erode minority rights or exclude these communities from the political transition process. These fears have been newly flamed by the massive, targeted violence against Alawites on Syria’s coast during the second week of March. Nevertheless, there have been some signs for optimism about the inclusion of at least some minorities in post-Assad Syria."

Date
March 19, 2025
Article Source
Content Variety

ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency, Special Edition

ISIS carried out at least six confirmed attacks in November in the Homs, Hama, and Deir Ez Zor governorates, killing at least eight pro-regime soldiers and two civilians. There were also two high quality* attacks carried out during the month. ISIS...

Body
"However, such an official designation would signal an ideological reversal for the group with deep roots in the Levant, the territory of the IS caliphate that lasted from 2014 to 2019 and spanned Iraq and Syria. “That would create some kind of uproar within the community of supporters and sympathisers of IS,” said Hans-Jakob Schindler, director of the Counter-Extremism Project (CEP) think tank."
Date
January 23, 2025
Tags
Content Variety
Body

CEP Analyst Greg Waters writes: "Syria’s first post-Assad protests broke out on Dec. 25 after a video claiming to show the destruction of an Alawite shrine spread rapidly across Facebook. The video was quickly debunked as several weeks old, the shrine only partially damaged, and the damage occurring during the capture of Aleppo city rather than in an act of sectarian vandalism. But those first hours were enough to stir up the widespread fears lingering just below the surface among Syria’s Alawite minority, bringing many Alawites (as well as Sunnis) to the streets to denounce sectarianism. Rumors of apparently sectarian-motivated violations by Syria’s new security forces against minorities have been widespread since Dec. 9, the day after the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad — rumors fueled by both pro-Assad fake news campaigns and the very real violations that had occurred within these communities. Many of these rumors are impossible to verify, while others are quickly disproven by fact-checking organizations like Verify-Sy. But the new government’s apparent use of extra-judicial executions of local ex-regime criminals has only cemented fears that innocent civilians are being targeted purely over their religion, while the lack of transparency has enabled others to impersonate security forces and carry out their own crimes."

Date
January 21, 2025
Article Source
Content Variety

Daily Dose

Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.

Fact:

On April 3, 2017, the day Vladimir Putin was due to visit the city, a suicide bombing was carried out in the St. Petersburg metro, killing 15 people and injuring 64. An al-Qaeda affiliate, Imam Shamil Battalion, claimed responsibility. 

View Archive