JIHADISTS PUSH FOR PALESTINIAN RECRUITS...
ISIS and the al-Nusra front are taking advantage of the poverty, unemployment, and government neglect experienced in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon to recruit potential fighters there. The camp, which holds over 80,000 people, is increasingly being infiltrated by Syrian jihadists, raising concerns among Palestinian officials. Nor is Ain al-Hilweh the only problem; worries now abound that the Islamic State and other militant groups have also begun infiltrating refugee camps and slums in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. (Tel Aviv Ha'aretz, July 26, 2016)
...AS HAMAS PREPARES POLITICAL POWER PLAY
After not partaking in elections for a nearly a decade, the Palestinian Hamas movement is poised to once again make gains via the ballot box. The Islamist group, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and which remains a bitter political rival of the Palestinian Authority's ruling Fatah faction, sees upcoming local elections this summer as a way of expanding its legitimacy and political influence. Hamas believes that politics is "the best way to gain status and strength within the Palestinian population of the West Bank," explains Shaul Mishal of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. "They want to extend their influence to where the heart of the Palestinian issue is." (Times of Israel, July 28, 2016)
CHINA'S JIHADISTS
According to recently leaked Islamic State documents, over 100 Chinese fighters have joined the militant group in Syria to date. Most of the identified fighters hail from China's restive western region of Xinjiang, which is dominated by the Uighur Muslim minority. The reports, moreover, indicate that many of the militants have brought their families with them to Syria, suggesting "that Uighur fighters joining ISIS are considering their move to be permanent or long term," and that up to 15 percent of the Uighur fighters were willing to carry out suicide attacks. The recruits were also found to range in age, but to mostly be poorly educated, low-skilled, and religiously conservative. (Wall Street Journal, July 25, 2016)
UZBEKISTAN'S RESILIENT RADICALISM
Is the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan a breeding ground for jihad? Uzbeks are currently the Central Asian nationality most likely to be members of jihadist organizations, and are represented in militant groups across the region, from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Syria and Iraq. Uzbekistan also boasts the most notorious radical group in the Central Asian region, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Though the IMU was thought to have become defunct last year, this June it released a statement saying that it had become a part of the Islamic State. Reports likewise abound of the IMU expanding its activities into Afghanistan, causing concern among local officials there. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, July 14, 2016)
FRANCE RETHINKS ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH ISLAM
France's Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, has said that he is "open" to the idea of banning foreign money from funding mosque construction in his country. Valls' comment, made to the Le Monde newspaper, comes on the heels of a spate of recent terror attacks throughout France, the most recent of them the beheading of a Catholic priest by an Islamic State supporter in the northern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. According to Valls, France needs to "invent a new relationship with Islam." He has argued that the fight against Islamic extremism cannot just be the responsibility of the government, and that all of society must help. (Politico, July 29, 2016)
NEW INSIGHTS INTO ISIS TACTICS
After pushing the Islamic state out of the southern Syrian city of Manbij, coalition forces have obtained 10,000 documents and 4.5 terabytes of data belonging to the terror group. The find has yielded a treasure trove of information, including the names and identities of assorted jihadists and information about different smuggling routes used by the militant group to get terrorists in and out of war zones. Coalition forces are also hoping to uncover information about the group's finances and its various terror cells situated abroad as a result of the data dump. (London Daily Mail, July 28, 2016)