Hans-Jakob Schindler, Senior Director of the Counter Extremism Project, frames the problem in similarly stark terms. “There are two primary terrorist threats that can be identified,” he tells The Cipher Brief. “First of all, the rapid expansion of the al- Qaeda affiliate JNIM as well as the ISIS affiliates ISSP and ISWAP in the Sahel region has destabilized several countries, in particular Burkina Faso, Mali and to a growing extent also Niger, with continuing serious security problems in the North of Nigeria.” “The Sahel region is also a key network hub for the international drug transportation pipeline of Hezbollah-linked drugs that are transported from South America via West Africa to Europe for sale there,” he explained. “This pipeline directly funds Hezbollah’s activities in Lebanon. Given the central role that the U.S. is playing in the current negotiations between Hezbollah and Israel, this income stream for Hezbollah will continue to ensure that this terror group will be able to continue to fund its activities both within Lebanon and beyond.”

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed regarding the arrest of an alleged ISIS terrorist in Berlin.  

The militants have seized large amounts of weaponry from government forces and demonstrated their ability to use drones, says the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), which analyzes terrorist groups.

CEP Senior Advisor Ian Acheson writes: David Lammy didn’t cover himself in glory this week in Parliament. Our Lord Chancellor chortled and guffawed while his shadow Robert Jenrick tried to hold him to account for the release in error of a registered child sex offender from HMP Chelmsford whose crime sparked national protests. The shelf life of ‘but the Tories’ as a reflexive response to every ill is running out. It has kept Labour MPs well fed and with some justification, but voters are less easy to satisfy. The latest security calamity comes, after all, a year and change after the arrival of the supposed changemakers.

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed about terrorism financing in Germany for BR radio feature. “The ‘caliphate’ of the so-called ‘Islamic State’ is long gone. But IS supporters continue to carry out attacks. And new Islamist structures are emerging in prison camps in Syria. The necessary funds for this come from donations, including from Germany. Donors are sometimes unaware of what they are doing, say lawyers, and investigators in this country are having a hard time, say experts.”