Terrorism Watch

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged on Friday that Turkey was ready to support African countries in their fight against terrorism. In an interview broadcast on CNBC Africa’s website, Erdogan said: “I know that there are serious problems in many places in Africa. We will continue to give every support to countries which are suffering from terrorism.” Erdogan’s remarks came during his visit to Kenya. The Turkish president is on an official visit to several African countries including, Somalia and Uganda. Noting that Turkey has lost almost 40,000 people in its decades-long fight against the terrorist PKK group, Erdogan said: “We paid a high price to terrorism.” The PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU – resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in July 2015. Since then, around 500 security personnel, including troops, police officers and village guards have been martyred, and over 4,900 PKK terrorists killed in operati

ISTANBUL— An American military cargo plane dropped light weapons Thursday to rebels besieged by the Islamic State (IS) terror group in the northern Syrian town of Marea, the first resupply to them by the United States after weeks of appeals for help, according to local activists. U.S. warplanes have also launched several airstrikes on IS positions in the countryside north of the city of Aleppo in a bid to help Marea’s defenders repel a concerted, weekslong effort by the jihadists to seize the town, a crucial one for insurgents fighting forces of President Bashar al-Assad in the Aleppo countryside. On Friday, Colonel Pat Ryder, spokesman for U.S. Central Command, declined to provide details about the U.S. resupply missions, saying only that the U.S. provides weapons and ammunition to Syrian Arab counter-IS forces as they make progress. However, Ryder denied reports from local activists that the U.S. airdrops included anti-tank weapons. Pleas for more support Rebels with t

More than a year after their liberation from the Islamic State (IS) group, residents in the Syrian town of Kobani are suffering from the deadly fallout of a four-month occupation. Since IS was expelled from Kobani in January 2015, at least 100 civilians have been killed and 200 wounded by landmines that IS planted throughout the town and surrounding villages, according to local officials. The trail of IS mines runs through towns and cities across Iraq and Syria. Mines and projectiles left behind make it difficult for liberating military forces to enter and bring stability. Tens of thousands of refugees remain in camps in Turkey, Jordan and elsewhere. They are too afraid to return home because of the mines. Since IS was driven out of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra in late March, Russian engineers have defused approximately 3,000 bombs that IS planted, Russia's ministry of defense said Tuesday in a statement. Russian serviceman check for mines in the Palmyra anci

A prominent Ethiopian political opposition member sits in prison on charges of terrorism. He faces a long sentence and possibly the death penalty if convicted. But the tool he is accused of using to commit the crime wasn't a gun or a bomb, and he isn't connected to any kind of religious extremism. Instead, Yonatan Tesfaye, a former spokesman of the Semayawi (Blue) party, was detained in December 2015 on charges under Article 4 of Ethiopia's Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. Eleven statements from his Facebook page were used as evidence. His posts were critical of the way the Ethiopian government handled the crackdown during the protests throughout the Oromia region. The Ethiopian government charged him with planning or inciting terror acts. In May, Yonatan's lawyer presented a statement to the court challenging the accusations and stating that Yonatan was only expressing his thoughts, which are protected by the constitution. His case is ongoing. Increasing terro

These are the messages that have defined the GOP presidential race: Take America back from those who have stolen it. Protect America from those who want to destroy it. Restore the principles that these usurpers betrayed. They have been used for the past eight years to justify obstruction of the Obama administration, and are now being used to paint the democratic candidates as  dangerous . In the late stages of the GOP primary as the rhetoric became increasingly xenophobic, they were applied to increasingly broad swaths of the American population as well. Years of constant repetition by members of the GOP have given them an appearance of legitimacy, now strengthened by Donald Trump’s victory in the GOP primary contest and the party’s growing embrace of him as their standard-bearer. Unfortunately, the Republican Party isn’t alone in using these messages. Right-wing extremist groups use them as well, and to very specific ends: to define the conditions under which antigover

Brazil is raising its guard and tightening security ahead of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro after the recent attacks in Paris and Brussels and a threat by an alleged Islamic State militant. "A bell went off in terms of terrorism," Admiral Ademir Sobrinho, the chairman of Brazil's joint chiefs of staff told Reuters, adding that Brazil has ramped up cooperation with foreign governments to prevent possible attacks from radical groups such as Islamic State or from a lone wolf. With the Olympics set to start Aug. 5 and Rio expecting as many as 600,000 foreign visitors, Brazil is sharing intelligence, conducting security drills and setting up joint facilities. In addition to a police hub where officers from over 50 countries will help monitor security at the Games, Brazil will also operate an anti-terrorism center with experts from nations including the United States, Britain, France and Spain. "We'll have people there from around the world to better sha

The number of terrorist attacks and fatalities has shown its largest decline in more than a decade, according to the U.S. State Department’s latest report on global terrorism. The report concludes that terrorist attacks declined by 13% and deaths by 14%, following years of striking increases. While statistics like these are often sensationalized, it is important to take a critical look at what they represent. As is often the case with metrics on complicated phenomena, there are reasons to be encouraged and reasons for concern.  While the fact that more than 28,000 deaths and 35,000 injuries resulted from nearly 12,000 terrorist attacks in 2015 can hardly be regarded as good news, these numbers are an improvement over the previous year. In fact any decline, regardless of the size, is a welcome development given the record-breaking numbers that have been recorded recently. What does the 2015 decline mean?  Those who study terrorism note that it moves in waves, declining in some

A terror attack could happen in Europe this summer — but that shouldn't deter Americans from visiting, a Belgian official said Thursday. "The probability of attacks is high," Belgium Interior Minister Jam Jabon admitted during a tour of the NYPD’s Manhattan headquarters with John Miller, the department’s Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counter—Terrorism. But Jabon added he hopes people come anyway. “The last thing we need to do is change our way of living, because at that moment we form the agenda of the terrorists,” he said. The State Department issued a  terror warning for Europe  on Tuesday, claiming that while there is no specific threat, several events like the Soccer European Championship will draw big crowds and could be terror targets. "Euro Cup stadiums, fan zones, and unaffiliated entertainment venues broadcasting the tournaments in France and across Europe represent potential targets for terrorists, as do other large-scale sporting events