Global Islamism Monitor: No. 23

HAMAS, OUT TO SEA
Israel is facing a new kind of terror threat from the Palestinian Hamas movement. According to the country's military, the terrorist group is expanding its maritime capabilities, and has trained a unit of "specialist commando divers" to carry out underwater attacks against Israeli infrastructure and shipping.

The new effort represents a significant expansion of the group's threat capabilities. During the summer 2014 Gaza War, the group unsuccessfully attempted to infiltrate four frogmen into Israel. Today, Israeli military officials say that the group has significantly expanded its efforts in this regard, and its frogmen are engaged in a "range of training, including diving and shooting." In response, Israel has begun to erect an undersea camera and sensor system, known as Aquashield, to identify divers near strategic installations and locations. (International Business Times, May 16, 2016)

PUSHING BACK IN PAKISTAN
A group of Muslim clerics in Pakistan have issued a fatwa (religious edict) against the Islamic State and other like-minded extremist groups. The fatwa by the Pakistan Ulema Council has outlawed the use of religious terms that have to do with violent jihad or extremism. The edict also accused violent actors like ISIS and Hezbollah of reinterpreting Islam to suit their own ends, and of "tagging their opponents with infidelity edicts to justify the killings and massacres." (Voice of America, May 10, 2916)

PENETRATING THE TALIBAN
Afghanistan's intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), has launched a new effort to penetrate and coopt the Taliban. A new NDS unit comprised of some 300 professionals has reportedly been assembled with the aim of targeting the Taliban and exploiting the latent divisions within the Islamist movement. The unit is the brainchild of Abdul Jabbar Qahraman, President Ashraf Ghani's special envoy for security affairs in the southern province, who has confirmed the existence of the "new contingent, which dresses like local Helmandis." The group is said to have carried out several operations against the Taliban to date. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, May 15, 2016)

LONDON'S INDOCTRINATION CENTRAL
One of London's toughest penal facilities has become a hotbed for Islamic radicalization, a former inmate has revealed. Jamal, a 27 year old Muslim who spent months in the Belmarsh maximum-security prison, has come forward to describe an extensive network of recruitment and radicalization at the facility headed by a group of radical Islamists called the "Brothers." "There were so many would-be jihadists in there I felt like an intruder at a jihadi training camp," Jamal said. The system described by the former inmate is straightforward - and effective. Prisoners would join the "Brothers" for protection, and be radicalized as a result, with many subsequently embracing the idea of going to Syria to join the Islamic State once they are released. (London Evening Standard, May 17, 2016)

A SHRINKING CALIPHATE
Concerted military action by the United States and its allies is beginning to erode the Islamic State's "caliphate." Coalition forces estimate that the territory under the group's control in Iraq has shrunk by 45% since 2014. The group likewise has lost 20% of its land in Syria over the past two years. Despite these setbacks, however, the terror group remains both capable and deadly. In response to its battlefield losses, military officials say, the Islamic State has stepped up its campaign of irregular warfare in Iraq, carrying out a series of terrorist bombings throughout Iraq over the past several months that have left hundreds dead. "These bombings are a reaction to the increasing territorial pressure the Islamic State is coming under," explains Matthew Henman of IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre. (USA Today, May 17, 2016)