Terrorism Watch

The General Director of France’s Directorate General for External Security (DGSE), Nicolas Lerner , commended anti-terrorism cooperation between France and Morocco as exemplary. In an interview with “ Le Figaro ”, Lerner called the Moroccan security services “very efficient, precious and essential partners in anti-terrorism.” The French official considers that the terrorist threat is looming more than ever because it is mutating, explaining that while “between 2013 and 2018, terrorist organizations were structured, hierarchical, and centralized, today, abroad, we are facing fragmented terrorist structures and more isolated project leaders, who are therefore more difficult to detect.” In this regard, he expressed concern about the situation in the Sahel , where terrorist groups are active in a large part of the subregion, including Lake Chad basin , Nigeria, the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa . He noted that African fighters have taken on greater roles in what remains of al Qaeda an...

Dhaka , Nov 22 Bangladesh 's rapid drift towards Islamisation is evident with Dhaka emerging as a hub for a range of terrorist and extremist groups like Jamaat-e-Islami , Ansarullah Bangla , Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh , Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI), local Islamic State units, and numerous lone-wolf extremists, a report said on Saturday.  It added that the rise of powerful Islamist movements in Bangladesh, like Khatm-e-Nabuwat , coupled with their robust linkages to Pakistan, appears to mark a decisive push to Islamise the state, governance, and constitution, paving the way for a Sharia-governed state and highly regressive measures targeting women and minorities. “Bangladesh is getting a booster dose of Islamist radicalisation. It is witnessing significant developments that are going unnoticed in the global media. However, they mark significant steps in Dhaka’s onward march towards Islamisation, emulating Pakistan’s playbook. One such event was an international ...

 Spain renews support for the fight against terrorism in West Africa Source:  https://thediplomatinspain.com/en/2025/11/20/spain-renews-support-for-the-fight-against-terrorism-in-west-africa/

  BEIRUT (AP) —   Lebanon   is ready to negotiate to reach an agreement that would end   Israeli strikes   on the country and lead to Israeli withdrawal from   five border hills   it has occupied since the Israel-Hezbollah war ended last year, President Joseph Aoun said Friday. In a televised speech marking Independence Day, Aoun added that Lebanese troops are ready to deploy in all points from where Israeli troops withdraw. It was not immediately clear if Israel would accept the offer as it comes at a time when it has intensified its strikes in Lebanon. On Tuesday, an airstrike  killed 13  people in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh near the southern city of Sidon in the deadliest attack since a ceasefire went into effect a year ago. Aoun did not say whether the negotiations with Israel would be direct adding that they could be sponsored by the U.S., the United Nations or the international community. Aoun said the ceasefire monit...

New Delhi [India], November 22 : India's traditional model of strategic restraint has given way to a sharper, more assertive security doctrine shaped by recent terror crises and shifting public expectations, according to an analysis by authors John Spencer and Lauren Dagan Amoss . Their assessment argues that India has crossed a decisive threshold in how it responds to terrorism, manages escalation with Pakistan , and signals deterrence to both Islamabad and Beijing . The authors note that India had already begun moving away from the vocabulary of restraint over the past decade, as a series of major Pakistan-based terrorist attacks, including Uri in 2016 , Balakot in 2019 and Pahalgam in 2025 , showed that limited and predictable responses did little to deter cross-border militancy. They say predictability encouraged terrorist groups to prepare for subsequent attacks, weakening the belief that terrorism could be contained below the level of interstate conflict. According to thei...

CAIRO (AP) — Ahmed al-Yamani's family went from joy of celebrating his daughter's wedding to terror the next day, when masked troops stormed into their home in Sanaa, Yemen's capital held by the country's  Iran-backed Houthi rebels , and arrested him. The family didn't hear from him for months. His only crime, they suspect, was  having worked for local humanitarian groups . Al-Yamani is among  dozens of Yemeni workers with aid groups , United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations who have been detained since last year by the Houthis in the rebel-held northern part of the country. The crackdown has seen homes and offices raided, families terrorized and  smartphones , laptops and documents confiscated. Though some U.N. staffers have been released, most aid workers have been held for months without official charges or trials. The rebels say they are spies for the West and Israel, claims their families deny. Family's home raided The Houthis burst into a...

Urgent questions are being raised over a patchwork of armed groups that have emerged to fight Hamas in Gaza over recent months. They include groups based around family clans, criminal gangs and new militia – some of which are backed by Israel, as its prime minister recently admitted. Elements within the Palestinian Authority - which governs parts of the occupied West Bank and is a political rival to Hamas - are also believed to be covertly sending support. But these militia - each operating in its own local area inside the 53% of Gaza's territory currently controlled by Israeli forces - have not been officially included in US President Donald Trump's peace plan, which calls for an International Stabilisation Force and a newly-trained Palestinian police force to secure Gaza in the next stage of the deal. One of the largest militia is headed by Yasser Abu Shabab, whose Popular Forces operate near the southern city of Rafah. In one recent social media video, his deputy talks about...

Delhi Police has busted a racket of international arms traffickers linked to Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI and arrested four suspects. In a coordinated operation, the Crime Branch recovered 10 sophisticated pistols, including five manufactured in Turkey and three made in China. Briefing the media in New Delhi today, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Surender Kumar said the racket had been supplying arms to notorious gangsters. He said that the network used drones from Pakistan to smuggle high-end foreign pistols.   According to officials, the Crime Branch team led by DCP Sanjeev Yadav apprehended Mandeep, a resident of Phillaur, and Dalwinder from Ludhiana, when they were on their way to deliver the weapons to someone in Rohini. The third accused has been identified as Rohan Tomar of Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh, while the fourth arrested individual is Ajay, alias Monu.   Source:  https://www.newsonair.gov.in/delhi-police-bust-international-arms-racket-linked-to-pakis...

Islamabad, Pakistan –  When the United Nations Security Council on Monday adopted a  United States-authored resolution  that paves the way for a transitional administration and an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) in Gaza , Pakistan – which was presiding over the council – had a seemingly contradictory response. Asim Iftikhar Ahmed , Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN ,  thanked the US  for tabling the resolution and voted in its favour. But he also said Pakistan was not entirely satisfied with the outcome, and warned that “some critical suggestions” from Pakistan were not included in the final text. Though the resolution promises a “credible pathway” to Palestinian statehood, Ahmed, in his comments to the council, said it did not spell that path out, and did not clarify the role of the UN, a proposed Board of Peace (BoP) to oversee Gaza’s governance, or the   mandate of the ISF . “Those are all crucial aspects with a bearing on the ...

A U.S.-backed framework to end the  Ukraine war  — assembled by special envoy Steve Witkoff, with input through both Kyiv and Moscow channels — is stirring unease among European allies and putting fresh pressure on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy, who has ruled out recognizing Russian sovereignty over Ukrainian land, delivered one of his starkest public messages yet, warning that Kyiv is entering "one of the most difficult moments in our history." In remarks released on Friday by Reuters, Zelenskyy said   Ukraine  is under intense pressure and may soon face what he called "a very difficult choice: either losing its dignity or risking the loss of a key partner. Either 28 difficult points or an extremely difficult winter — the most difficult one yet — and further risks. Life without freedom, without dignity, without justice. And we are expected to trust someone who has already attacked us twice." Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians to remain disciplined as negotiation...

Colombian authorities have made their largest cocaine bust in a decade, confiscating 14 tonnes at its main Pacific port, as President Gustavo Petro continues to fight back against claims from the administration of United States President Donald Trump of his complicity in the drug trade. The seizure in the world’s largest cocaine-producing country came as Bolivia announced the US Drug Enforcement Administration ( DEA ) will be invited back into the country, 17 years after being expelled, to bolster the new conservative government’s anti-cocaine efforts. Colombia ’s Ministry of Defence hailed the “historic blow” to drug traffickers on Friday, as it announced it had seized dozens of 50-kilogramme (110-pound) sacks of cocaine inside a warehouse in the southwestern port of Buenaventura , a strategic departure point for Colombian cocaine. “The drug was camouflaged under the method of being mixed with plaster,” it said, adding that the container was headed for the Netherlands . “With this...