Eye on Extremism: March 5, 2026
Top Stories
Iran International: Guards push fast Mojtaba Khamenei announcement amid dissent over hereditary rule
Iran’s Assembly of Experts is set to hold an emergency session on Thursday to formally announce Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of the late Supreme Leader, as the next leader, despite opposition from some members who warn against “hereditary leadership,” Iran International has learned. The meeting comes two days after Iran International reported that the Assembly of Experts had chosen Mojtaba Khamenei as the next Supreme Leader under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards.
Jerusalem Post: Chabad warns of rising threats to Jewish communities worldwide amid Iran conflict
Chabad's Emergency and Security Center has urged Jewish communities worldwide to exercise heightened caution amid the ongoing Israel-US conflict with Iran. The center stressed that the threat level to Jewish communities worldwide has risen significantly following the preemptive strike in Iran, and recommended that communities take precautions.
CEP Mentions
WELT TV: “The regime is both strong and weak”
[Counter Extremism Project Senior (CEP) Director] Security expert Hans-Jakob Schindler analyzes the current situation in Iran – The regime is economically and regionally isolated, but remains stable internally. The attacks on Kurdish groups in Iraq are intended to prevent independence efforts. “We are still at the beginning of the conflict.”
Deutsche Welle: To the point - Iran war: Trump's unpredictable gamble?
“How will the Iran war reshape the Middle East? And is regime change a realistic prospect?” CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler joins roundtable on the situation in Iran.
Deutsche Welle: Auf der Punkt - War with Iran: What comes after the bombs?
“What consequences will war with Iran have for the region? And how likely is regime change?” CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler joins debate on the situation in Iran.
Analysis
Turkiye Today: Goyim explained: How Hebrew word became online dog whistle
The Hebrew word “goy,” and its plural “goyim,” have recently resurfaced in online debates, conspiracy theories, and social media memes, especially following revelations from Jeffrey Epstein’s emails in which he used the term “goyim” to insult others. The term appears frequently in discussions about Jewish identity, extremist rhetoric, and the spread of antisemitic narratives on the internet.
United States
Online antisemitic and anti-Zionist conspiracy theories have surged during the US and Israeli military operation against the Iranian regime, the Anti-Defamation League reported Tuesday.
Reuters: Pakistani man says Iran forced him into plot to kill Trump, media say
A Pakistani man accused of planning to kill President Donald Trump told jurors on Wednesday that he did not willingly work with Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to devise the plot, media said. The Justice Department accused Asif Merchant of trying to recruit people in the United States in the plan targeting Trump and other U.S. politicians in retaliation for Washington's killing of the Corps' top commander, Qassem Soleimani.
ABC 7: NYPD searching for suspect in Brooklyn subway hate crime attack
Police are looking for the suspect who they say punched a 54-year-old man on a subway train and made antisemitic comments. It happened Monday around 10:45 a.m. on a southbound N train at the Atlantic Avenue subway station.
Cal Coast News: Cal Poly student assaulted in antisemitic hate crime
San Luis Obispo police officers are investigating the assault of a Cal Poly student on Saturday night as a hate crime. Shortly before 10 p.m., a group of males in a large white truck drove by Cal Poly’s Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi while yelling antisemitic slurs at the residents. Five to six college-age males then walked onto the Alpha Epsilon Pi property.
Commentary made this week by American media personality Tucker Carlson alleging that a Jewish religious movement was behind military strikes on Iran has drawn sharp criticism online, with commentators calling the claim baseless and inflammatory.
South America
UPI: South America's Triple Frontier tightens security amid U.S.-Iran war
Authorities in Paraguay and Argentina have reinforced intelligence, security and financial monitoring mechanisms in the Triple Frontier area they share with Brazil amid escalating conflict in the Middle East.
France
Le Monde: Marseille mayor opposes Kanye West concert over 'unabashed Nazism'
The mayor of France's second-biggest city, Marseille, said on Wednesday, March 4, that Kanye West was "not welcome" after the music star known for his antisemitic rants announced a concert in June. The 24-time Grammy winner has lost fans and business deals in recent years over racist or antisemitic outbursts, releasing a song titled "Heil Hitler" last May to mark the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
Germany
Reuters: Syrian man handed 13-year sentence for Berlin Holocaust memorial stabbing
A Syrian refugee who stabbed a tourist at Berlin's Holocaust memorial last year has been sentenced to 13 years in prison on charges of attempted murder, among others, said a Berlin court spokesperson on Thursday. The now 20-year-old Islamic State supporter used a knife to stab a 30-year-old Spanish tourist in the neck at the memorial in the heart of the German capital.
The first time Iris Hefets was detained by German police, she was standing alone on a street corner in Berlin with a sign that read, “As a Jew and Israeli, stop the genocide in Gaza.” That was October 2023. Hefets, a 60-year-old psychoanalyst who moved from Israel in 2002, was standing by herself because Berlin authorities had barred activist groups from holding pro-Palestinian demonstrations after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. By carrying a sign alone, she believed she was circumventing the ban on assembly.
Italy
Two young Argentine Jewish tourists were violently assaulted in Milan by a group of North African migrants after being targeted for wearing kippahs, in one of the latest antisemitic attacks amid a relentlessly hostile climate toward Jewish communities across Europe.
United Kingdom
Britain’s charity regulator issued fresh guidance on Thursday warning charities to exercise caution in their activities related to Iran as tensions in the region intensify, and said it would act on any evidence of links to extremism or terrorism.
The Tab: Hitler-supporting group drops out of far-right Bristol march over ‘Jewish’ organisers
A “racial socialist” group has backtracked on its plans to join a far-right march after finding out it will be “led by Jewish figures”. Aryan Front, an organisation that believes “Hitler’s National Socialist Germany was the finest example of a white socialist society”, originally intended to partake in Bristol Patriots’ “United Against Extremism” event happening on Saturday 7th March in Bristol city centre.
BBC: UK gov't launches independent review into 'scourge' of antisemitism in England's schools
The acting head of West Midlands Police has said training on antisemitism is still being finalised and has not yet been rolled out to officers. It comes after a row over Macabi Tel Aviv fans being banned from a football match in Birmingham in November, following a flawed report published by the force.
Afghanistan
Military clashes between the Taliban and Pakistan entered a seventh day on Wednesday, 4 March. The tensions began after cross-border attacks by the Taliban, which the group described as retaliatory. Reports on Wednesday indicated fighting along the border in Nangarhar Province and Pakistani airstrikes in Paktia Province and Kandahar.
Afghanistan International: Clashes With Pakistan Spread To Balochistan Border, Says Taliban
Media outlets affiliated with the Taliban reported that Taliban forces attacked Pakistani border troops in Balochistan in response to Pakistani airstrikes on Kandahar. Radio Hurriyat, a broadcaster close to Taliban intelligence, said in a post on X early Thursday, citing its sources, that Pakistani troops suffered casualties in the attack.
Afghanistan International: Taliban Claims Dozens Of Pakistani Soldiers Killed Or Wounded
The Taliban’s Defence Ministry said its forces attacked Pakistani border troops in Kandahar Province overnight. The ministry claimed that dozens of Pakistani soldiers were killed or wounded in the operation and that seven Pakistani border posts were captured.
Azerbaijan
Iran International: Azerbaijan’s Aliyev calls Iran drone hits on airport and school 'terror act'
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Iran carried out a “terror act” against Azerbaijan by launching drones at the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and ordered the armed forces to prepare response measures.
Middle East
Reuters: Gulf countries concerned about risk of Iran civil war, says EU's foreign chief
Countries in the Middle East have told European officials they are concerned about the risk of civil war in Iran as a result of the conflict between Tehran and the United States and Israel, EU foreign chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday. "When we talk to the countries in the region, they are also worried about civil wars inside Iran because of the regime's leadership and what is going on there," she said ahead of a video conference with EU foreign ministers and representatives of the Gulf Cooperation Council on the situation in Iran and the broader Middle East.
Washington Post: From Hamas attack to U.S. war with Iran, violence forges a new Middle East
Early on a cool autumn morning in 2023, from a tunnel beneath the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar gave an order that sent thousands of Hamas fighters through the fence separating the territory from Israel. That green light has reordered the Middle East on a scale comparable to the Arab Spring or the carving up of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century — but not remotely in the ways Sinwar had in mind.
Iran
Reuters: Iran says it hits U.S. oil tanker in Gulf, no immediate confirmation
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday that they had hit a U.S. tanker in the northern part of the Gulf and the vessel was on fire. There was no immediate confirmation of the incident or of a similar attack that Iran claimed earlier this week.
Israel
For the first time since the summer, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke Wednesday evening, focusing largely on the situation in Lebanon and Israel’s actions against Hezbollah following rocket fire toward Israel. According to a statement from the Élysée Palace, Macron urged Netanyahu not to launch a ground operation in Lebanon.
Reuters: Israel to attack Iran's underground missile sites in second phase of war, sources say
Israel's war in Iran is entering a second phase that will see its fighter jets attacking ballistic missile sites buried deep underground, two sources familiar with Israel's military campaign said.
The joint air assault with the U.S. in Iran is nearing the end of its first week after opening salvos killed the country's leaders and set off a regional war with Iranian attacks in Israel, the Gulf and Iraq, and Israeli attacks in Lebanon.
Al Arabiya English: IRGC says targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion airport with missiles
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday it had targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion airport and an air force base in the area. “The heavy Khorramshahr-4 missiles carrying one-tonne warheads were launched at dawn today ... toward the heart of Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion airport and the base of the Israeli air force’s 27th squadron located at the airport,” the IRGC said in a statement carried by Tasnim news agency.
Lebanon
Hezbollah has deployed elite fighters to confront Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, sending them back into the border region from which they withdrew after a war in 2024, three Lebanese sources familiar with the deployments said, as the Iran-backed group wades deeper into the conflict in the Middle East.
Iran International: Lebanon says it will arrest any Iranian Revolutionary Guard members in country
Lebanon’s information minister said any members of the Revolutionary Guards present in Lebanon would be arrested.
Naharnet: Government bans all activity by Iran Guards in Lebanon
The Lebanese government said on Thursday it would ban any activity by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps -- a main backer of Hezbollah -- and seek to deport its members from Lebanon.
Naharnet: Qassem says Hezbollah to confront Israel-US 'aggression', will not surrender
Hezbollah will confront "Israeli-American aggression" and will not surrender despite the "imbalance in capabilities", the head of the Iran-backed Lebanese group Sheikh Naim Qassem said Wednesday night in a televised speech. "We are facing aggression... our choice is to confront it until the ultimate sacrifice, and we will not surrender," the Hezbollah leader declared in his first speech since his party launched rockets towards Israel on Monday and Israel began a bombing campaign in Lebanon.
Reuters: Israel orders residents to leave southern Beirut
Israel warned residents to leave Beirut's Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs on Thursday, sparking panic as people fled a swathe of the Lebanese capital on the fourth day of full-scale hostilities between the Iran-backed group and Israel. An Israeli military spokesperson, in a post on X, ordered residents of the southern suburbs to move east and north, posting a map showing four sprawling districts of the capital he said they must leave, part of the area is adjacent to Beirut airport.
Naharnet: Lebanese Army arrests 27 for weapons possession as Hezbollah military activity banned
The Lebanese Army said Wednesday it had arrested 27 people in the past two days for "illegally possessing weapons and ammunition", following a government decision to ban Hezbollah's military activities. In a statement, the army said troops at its checkpoints "detained over the past two days 26 Lebanese nationals and one Palestinian in several areas for illegally possessing weapons and ammunition."
Qatar
Iranian bombers came within minutes of striking the largest military base housing US troops in the Middle East before Qatari planes shot them down in their first aerial combat mission, two sources briefed on the operation told CNN. On Monday morning, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard dispatched two Soviet-era Su-24 tactical bombers toward al-Udeid Air Base, which typically houses 10,000 US service members, and Ras Laffan, a key natural gas processing facility and a bedrock of the Qatari economy.
Syria
Shafaq News: Syria dismantles ISIS cell planning attack in Damascus
Syria’s authorities foiled a terrorist plot by an ISIS-linked cell that planned to carry out an attack targeting the capital Damascus, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday. According to a statement, the Internal Security Command in Rif Dimashq carried out the operation in cooperation with the General Intelligence Directorate and Turkish intelligence. “During the operation, specialized engineering units handled a car bomb parked at a sensitive location and prepared for remote detonation.”
Turkey
Reuters: Turkey says it is closely following actions of Iranian Kurdish PJAK militant group
Turkey said on Thursday that it was closely following the actions of the Iranian Kurdish PJAK militant group, which it said threatened Iran's security and regional stability, amid reports of discussions between Iranian Kurdish militias and Washington about the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran. On Tuesday, sources told Reuters that the Iranian Kurdish groups had consulted with the U.S. about whether, and how, to attack Iran's security forces in the western part of the country.
Yemen
Deutsche Welle: Iran war: What role will Yemen's Houthi group play?
How is the Houthi rebel group in Yemen reacting to the attack by the US and Israel on Iran? Although the Houthis have made angry statements, the staunch allies of Iran seem to be holding back — at least for now.
India
Deccan Herald: India calls on international community to act together against ISIS, Al Qaeda: UN
India has called on the international community to act together against ISIS and Al Qaeda and their proxies, underlining that terrorism is an “existential threat” to international peace and security.
Nigeria
Reuters: Islamist militants kill 14 Nigerian soldiers in Borno state, sources say
Islamist militants killed at least 14 Nigerian soldiers and injured several others during two separate attacks on army bases in northeastern Borno state on Tuesday night, security sources said, as insurgents intensify attacks on the military. Suspected Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters attacked the Nigerian Army's base in Ngoshe town, Gwoza district, killing at least nine troops and a local imam, three army sources said late on Wednesday.
Australia
Canberra Times: 'White supremacist' accused of mass terror attack plot
A man allegedly motivated by racist ideology planned a "mass casualty" terror attack targeting public buildings and Muslim places of worship, authorities say. Jayson Joseph Michaels, from the town of Bindoon north of Perth, appeared in Perth Magistrates Court on Friday, facing five charges, including acting in preparation for a terrorist act.
New Zealand
Stuff: NZ spy chiefs warn of extremism risk as teenage boys dominate investigations
New Zealand’s spy bosses have told Parliament their concerns for the year. In an age of wars, extremism, and fragile political systems, they are worried about a lot of things. But they’re especially worried about New Zealand’s teenage boys.
J-Wire: NZ Security Chief warns: Bondi-style antisemitic attack “could happen here”
New Zealand’s top intelligence official has warned that the kind of antisemitic terror attack seen in Bondi late last year is the type of violence that “could happen here”. Appearing before Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, the Director-General of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, Andrew Hampton, told MPs that the December attack targeting a Hanukkah celebration in Bondi was consistent with the sort of “low capability, without warning” incident the agency has repeatedly cautioned about.
Technology
Bloomberg: Internet Extremism Fighters Try Stopping Violence By Helping Local Officials
Anti-extremism researchers who have spent years fighting online radicalization are now helping educators and community groups identify warning signs that teens may be driven to violence by internet conspiracy movements.
UCA News: Young adults, minor-led extremist group targets children online, warns expert
A number of violent extremist groups, led by minors and young adults, are increasingly targeting kids online -- in some cases, with deadly results. And as federal officials, counterterrorism experts and child advocates sound the alarm, parents need to take action amid the growing problem, a scholar at a Catholic university told OSV News.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Online universe of hate, gore, death is easy for kids to access. Why?
In June 2023, a 13-year-old Madison girl for the first time entered a website known for videos and images depicting publicized death, torture and rape. Eighteen months later, she committed the deadliest school shooting in Wisconsin history before taking her own life. To activate her profile on the website – known among users and researchers as a "gore" or "shock" site – she needed only to claim she was 18 years or older, agree to the legal parameters of the site, and sign up.
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