Eye on Extremism: March 31, 2026
Top Stories
Jerusalem Post: Michigan synagogue attack was Hezbollah-inspired terrorism, FBI confirms
The attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, on March 12 was a terror attack, inspired by the Hezbollah terror organization, the FBI announced on Monday, following an investigation that lasted just over two weeks.
Iran International: Leaked IRGC manual shows systematic use of civilian sites as missile cover
A leaked internal directive from the IRGC’s missile command appears to show that the use of civilian locations to conceal, support and in some cases facilitate missile launch operations is not ad hoc, but structured, documented and built into operational planning.
Analysis
Times of Israel: Facing a resurgent Hezbollah, Israel slouches back to a security zone in Lebanon
After the long, costly US experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, a clear bipartisan consensus emerged firmly opposing putting American boots on the ground in another Middle East war. US President Donald Trump seems open to violating that taboo — despite railing against it in election campaigns — deploying thousands of US infantry troops to the Middle East ahead of a possible invasion of Iranian territory.
Times of Israel: After backing Iran with Israel strike, Houthis avoid further escalation, for now
A month into the US-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic, one Iran-backed armed group that had been noticeably absent from the fighting finally joined the fray. On Saturday, Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile at what they called “sensitive Israeli military sites” in southern Israel. Another cruise missile was launched from Yemen, followed by a suspected drone attack, later in the day, according to the IDF.
United States
Reuters: Exclusive: US counterterror officials plan antifa summit, sources say
The Trump administration is organizing an international summit focused on countering the left-wing movement antifa and other groups, three sources familiar with the matter said, an effort that highlights the shift in the U.S. government's counterterrorism priorities over the past year. The conference, tentatively planned for June or July, will convene officials from various nations to discuss strategies for battling antifa and encourage intelligence sharing, said the sources, who requested anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Gulf allies of the United States, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are urging President Donald Trump to continue prosecuting the war against Iran, arguing that Tehran hasn’t been weakened enough by the monthlong U.S.-led bombing campaign, according to U.S., Gulf and Israeli officials.
Iran International: Rubio says US will keep Strait of Hormuz open
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States will ensure the Strait of Hormuz remains open and warned NATO may need to be re-examined after some allies denied airspace and basing access. “The Strait of Hormuz will be open. When this operation is over, it will be open, and it’ll be open one way or another,” Rubio said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
New York Post: Anti-Jewish crime reporting method changes under Zohran Mamdani, lowers figure: NYPD
Antisemitic crime was soaring in NYC — until Mayor Mamdani’s new math kicked in. After a startling spike in January, Mamdani’s NYPD changed how it counts antisemitic incidents, virtually shrinking the startling numbers overnight.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) is no stranger to policy conversations about homeland security and terrorist attacks. As a former CIA analyst and an official at the State Department and the Pentagon, national security has been a top issue for her since her first campaign for Congress, in 2018.
Washington Post: Trump officials cite white supremacists in bid to end birthright citizenship
Alexander Porter Morse, a Confederate officer during the Civil War and a Louisiana attorney, argued for legalized segregation in the landmark 1896 Supreme Court case that established the “separate but equal” doctrine and buttressed Jim Crow laws.
The Guardian: College Republicans director made racist and sexist remarks on live streams
Kai Schwemmer, the newly appointed College Republicans of America political director, has made racist, antisemitic, homophobic and sexist statements while espousing extremist rightwing views on abortion, a Guardian review of livestream recordings can reveal.
A Maryland man who belonged to a violent extremist network pleaded guilty to federal child sex abuse charges stemming from a year-long campaign in which he sexually exploited at least 10 minor female victims online, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
When a union head and employee at City College of San Francisco called the Jewish professor Abigail Bornstein a “colonizer” and referred to her as “Dumb-stine” during the public comment portion of a meeting of the community college’s board of trustees, the former engaged in antisemitic harassment, the college has decided. Some seven hours into the board’s May 29, 2025 meeting, which ran eight hours, Bornstein said that the board’s multiyear budget assumptions were “offensive.”
Six people were indicted on hate crime charges after an antisemitic attack on a Jewish University of Pittsburgh student in 2024, federal prosecutors announced on Monday. The seven-count indictment names Muhammed Koc, Omar Alshmari, Abraham Choudhry, Emirhan Arslan, Ali Alkhaleel and Adeel Piracha as defendants. A federal grand jury charged them with violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, obstructing justice and conspiring to obstruct justice, U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti said.
Czech Republic
Reuters: Suspect in attack on Russia's Prague cultural centre turns himself in
A foreign national has turned himself in to Czech police, admitting that he threw petrol bombs at the building of a Russian culture centre in Prague last week, police said on Tuesday. Police did not further identify the suspect detained on Monday.
France
The Telegraph: ‘Terror attack’ on Paris Bank of America foiled
French authorities foiled a suspected terrorist attack on the Bank of America’s Paris headquarters. A 17-year-old boy was arrested and another suspect is on the run after they allegedly tried to light a five-litre canister of flammable liquid taped to a mortar carrying 650 grams of explosive powder.
Germany
Deutsche Welle: Germany hosts Syria's Al-Sharaa despite human rights issues
Germany is keen for Syrian refugees to return home. The visit by interim Syrian President al-Sharaa highlights shifting policies on repatriation and regional stability — despite accusations of human rights violations.
Ireland
Reuters: Hijacked car driven to Northern Irish police station contained improvised bomb, police say
Irish nationalist militants were likely behind the hijacking and placing of an improvised explosive device in a food delivery vehicle that was ordered to drive to a Northern Irish police station before the device was made safe, police said on Tuesday. The fast food delivery driver was forced to stop by two masked men at around 2230 local time on Monday and drive to the police station in Lurgan, around 30 km (18 miles) from Belfast. He escaped from the car and alerted security staff that the hijackers had placed an object in the boot, police said.
Romania
Reuters: Romanian state institutions face 10,000 cyberattacks daily, defence minister says
Romanian state institutions are facing more than 10,000 cyberattacks daily, Defence Minister Radu Miruta said on Tuesday. While Miruta offered no more details on specific targets, any disruption or suspected perpetrators, it is the most public insight Romanian authorities have given about the scale of the threat the EU and NATO member state continues to face.
United Kingdom
Reuters: UK PM Starmer raises migration, border security in talks with Syria's president
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed migration and closer cooperation on returns, border security and tackling people smuggling networks in a meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in London, said Starmer's office on Tuesday. Starmer welcomed steps taken by the Syrian government against the Islamic State and progress on UK-Syria
Members of the Northwest London Jewish community have expressed outrage after pro-Palestine protesters marched through central Hendon on Monday, shouting "genocide" and "the state of Israel has to go" outside Jewish establishments.
The Telegraph: The Iranian ‘spy recruitment hub’ operating in London
An Iranian spy recruitment ring is operating openly in London, ministers have been warned. Tehran is exploiting Britain’s “permissive environment” as a base for its Western intelligence-gathering and propaganda campaigns, The Telegraph was told.
Afghanistan
The Afghanistan Freedom Front has announced it has resumed attacks against the Taliban after halting operations during Ramadan. It said that in its first spring offensive on Sunday evening, March 29, it attacked a Taliban border unit in Baharak district of Badakhshan province, killing four members.
Amu: Taliban flog six in Jawzjan, including on charges of ‘insulting’ their officials
Taliban have flogged six people in Jawzjan province in the north, including several accused of “insulting” their officials, according to a statement from the Taliban’s Supreme Court, in a move that has intensified concerns over the enforcement of a new penal code. The court said the punishments were carried out in Qosh Tepa district under rulings issued by a primary court. Those punished included two women, and the charges ranged from “insulting officials” to allegations of illicit relations and violating fasting rules during Ramadan.
Gaza Strip/West Bank
The Palestinian Authority condemned Monday’s passing of a law in the Knesset mandating the death penalty for West Bank Palestinians convicted of carrying out deadly terror attacks, saying it violated international law, while Palestinian terror groups urged further attacks to retaliate for the legislation.
Extremist settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, already at unprecedented levels over the last three years, has reached a new zenith since the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran at the end of February. Civil rights groups and activists have reported extremely high rates of Jewish extremist attacks since war broke out, with multiple incidents of assault, vandalism, theft, and harassment occurring daily.
Iran
Reuters: Two more men from Iran's PMOI opposition executed, group says
Iran executed two men tied to the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), adding to two other men who were executed on Monday, the group said on Tuesday, confirming a report by Iran's judiciary news outlet. The outlet had earlier said the men had been convicted of links to the PMOI, and involvement in multiple attacks, including firing launcher weapons at a government building.
Kurdistan24: IRGC Navy Launches Wave 88 Strikes on U.S. and Israeli Targets in Persian Gulf
Tasnim News Agency reported that the IRGC Navy conducted Wave 88 of Operation True Promise, striking U.S. and Israeli assets, while coordinated U.S.-Israeli airstrikes across Iran caused casualties, damage to residential and religious sites, and widespread power outages.
Kurdistan24: IRGC Spokesperson Warns U.S. Troops Could Become ‘Food for Sharks’ in Gulf
The spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters, Ibrahim Zolfaghari, said Sunday that U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are turning American soldiers into “food for the sharks of the Gulf.”
Iraq
Kurdistan24: PMF Reports Airstrikes on Its Bases in Babylon and Anbar Provinces
On Tuesday, the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) announced that several of its bases in two Iraqi provinces were subjected to airstrikes. According to an official PMF statement, the attacks occurred around midnight. In Babylon province, three strikes targeted the bases of the 45th Brigade in the Jurf Sakhar area. Additionally, a base belonging to the 31st Brigade on the outskirts of Karmah district, east of Anbar province, was also hit.
Israel
Times of Israel: Four soldiers killed, 2 wounded in south Lebanon clash with Hezbollah
Four Israeli soldiers were killed and two others were wounded in a clash with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Tuesday, as the military continued to battle the Iran-backed terror group. Separately a civilian was wounded by a rocket attack in the border community of Avivim.
Eight people were wounded in an Iranian ballistic missile attack that scattered cluster bombs across central Israel on Tuesday amid continued attacks by the Islamic Republic across the Middle East, after its own sites was battered overnight by US strikes around the central city of Isfahan.
The Telegraph: Israel warns Houthis will ‘pay the price’ for entering war
Israel promised the Houthis would “pay the price” after the Yemen-based terror group entered the Iran war. The Houthis, an Iranian proxy group, claimed to have targeted “secretive Israeli military sites” with a “barrage” of ballistic missiles, although Israel said only two missiles had been fired and were shot down.
Jerusalem Post: Both Hezbollah and Iran weighed preemptive strikes on Israel, defense sources say
Hezbollah and Iran both seriously weighed preemptive strikes on Israel prior to the current war, defense sources said on Monday. It has been reported before that Israel was concerned that Iran might try a preemptive strike to catch the Jewish state by surprise, but Monday was the first time that any Israeli sources had claimed a potential preemptive strike possibility by Hezbollah prior to this war.
Reuters: Israel to establish buffer zone in south Lebanon up to Litani River, defence minister says
Israel will establish a buffer zone inside southern Lebanon and maintain control over the entire area up to the Litani River once the conflict with Hezbollah militants ends, Israel's defence minister said on Tuesday. "At the end of the operation, the IDF would control the area up to the Litani River, including the remaining Litani bridges, while eliminating Radwan forces that infiltrated the area and destroying all weapons there," Israel Katz said in a statement following a security assessment, calling it a "security zone".
The Knesset passed a highly controversial law mandating the death penalty for West Bank Palestinians convicted of carrying out deadly terror attacks on Monday. Lawmakers voted 62-47 to mandate death by hanging as the default punishment for West Bank residents convicted of deadly terrorist acts by military courts. While judges can opt for life imprisonment under vaguely defined “special circumstances,” the death penalty would otherwise be mandatory and be carried out within 90 days of sentencing.
Lebanon
The IDF located and destroyed an observation post used to monitor Israel's military operations in southern Lebanon, the military said on Tuesday afternoon. Earlier, it said it had detained a Hezbollah terrorist who was found observing Israeli soldiers, and transferred them for further questioning.
Reuters: Israel to destroy 'all houses' near Lebanon border, defence minister says
Israel will destroy all homes in Lebanese villages near the border and 600,000 people who fled the south will not be allowed home until northern Israel is secure, the defence minister said on Tuesday, vowing to inflict Gaza-like destruction in the area. Israel Katz reiterated Israeli plans to establish a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, saying that it would maintain control over a swathe of territory up to the Litani River once the war with Iran-backed Hezbollah group ended.
United Arab Emirates
Iran International: Dozens of IRGC-linked money changers arrested in UAE
Dozens of money changers linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards were arrested in the United Arab Emirates after tensions rose following attacks by the Islamic Republic, sources familiar with the matter told Iran International. The sources said the detainees had worked with financial entities tied to the Islamic Republic, including companies linked to the Guards, helping transfer funds on their behalf.
Yemen
Politico: Houthis pledge to keep open Middle East strait, for now
A key oil shipping route in the Middle East will stay open for now, a Houthi-affiliated group told POLITICO’s E&E News on Monday. The Strait of Bab el-Mandeb off Yemen has emerged as a key alternate shipping route in the last month for about 10 percent of the world’s oil and gas needs. That’s because Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has prevented hundreds of millions of barrels from reaching the market in the last month.
Bloomberg: Iran Presses Houthis on Red Sea Shipping, Officials Sayv
Iran is pushing the Houthis to prepare for a renewed campaign against Red Sea shipping, contingent upon any further escalation by the US in its war on the Islamic Republic, according to European officials familiar with the matter.
Pakistan
Afghanistan International: Pakistani Border Post Targeted, Destroyed In Kunar, Says Taliban
The Taliban said their forces destroyed a Pakistani army border post near the Durand Line in Dangam district of Kunar province. Hamdullah Fitrat, Taliban deputy spokesperson, said Pakistani soldiers had been firing into Afghan territory from the post. Writing on X on Tuesday, he said the shelling had caused harm to civilians.
Australia
A 13-year-old Melbourne girl has been charged with 52 offences including allegedly shouting antisemitic remarks, throwing eggs and swerving a stolen car towards members of the Jewish community. Victorian police said in a statement on Tuesday that the girl and two other girls were alleged to have been seen driving the stolen black Hyundai sedan in the south-eastern suburbs of Hampton, Ripponlea and Caulfield over multiple days last week.
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