Tag: ISIS

ISIS’s Cyber Nightmare: How Misinformation and Hacktivists are Fueling Paranoia Among Jihadis

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ISIS Urges Followers to Use Only Official Channels Amid Cyber Warfare and Misinformation Campaigns

The terrorist organization ISIS has issued a directive to its supporters, instructing them to rely solely on its “official” communication channels. This announcement comes in response to a series of spoof propaganda efforts and cyberattacks launched by international intelligence agencies.

In a message disseminated through the group’s Nashir News Agency on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, ISIS expressed alarm over the proliferation of fake news attributed to the organization. The announcement emphasized that the Nashir News Agency does not have accounts on platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, or WhatsApp. It further stated that no legitimate accounts provide links apart from those officially associated with Nashir.

“We also caution against any account claiming to be affiliated with the publisher of Nashir News… the specialized agency to publish all that is officially issued by the Islamic State,” the message added.

The Nashir News Agency has been a key outlet for disseminating ISIS propaganda, including text, video, and photo reports from militants in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt, and other regions. It also publishes material aimed at inspiring and instructing followers to commit acts of global terrorism. Each post on Telegram typically garners thousands of views and is often translated and further spread across mainstream websites and social media platforms by ISIS supporters worldwide.

Rise of Misinformation and Internal Strife

Recently, there has been a noticeable increase in fake ISIS propaganda, leading to paranoia and infighting among jihadis. Daeshgram, a group of Iraqi activists, played a significant role in this development by creating a spoof version of ISIS’s weekly newsletter, Al Naba. This fake newsletter, distributed via an official-looking Telegram account, featured a doctored image of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi surrounded by female dancers and an article on a fictional ISIS team participating in the World Cup.

Daeshgram claimed to have infiltrated over 120 ISIS-affiliated Telegram groups to spread confusion and mistrust using the counterfeit Al Naba issue. “Many members who used to trust one another are fighting in their groups and blaming one another,” an activist told The Independent. Upon realizing they were being targeted, some members became fearful, suspecting that their devices might have been infected with malware. “Our operation is continuing, but we have already achieved our goal to confuse and scare ISIS members and make them doubt each other in a place on the internet where they thought they were untouchable,” the activist added.

ISIS’s propaganda materials, including videos and documents, have been linked to terrorists who carried out deadly attacks in the UK, as well as “self-radicalized” extremists who have been jailed for planning attacks. The group’s focus on creating a “virtual caliphate” is seen as an attempt to maintain influence despite significant territorial losses in Iraq and Syria. The sophistication of their propaganda campaigns has been cited as a key factor in attracting an unprecedented number of foreign recruits.

Target of Global Cyber Efforts

Given its effective use of propaganda, ISIS has become a focal point for both international intelligence agencies and activists working to disrupt its messaging. Earlier this year, GCHQ, the UK’s intelligence and security organization, disclosed that it had initiated a “major offensive cyber campaign” against ISIS, which likely included the creation of fake propaganda.

Jeremy Fleming, the Director of GCHQ, noted that ISIS had harnessed the power of online communications to “radicalize and scare” in a way no previous terrorist group had. “They know potential sympathizers react well to slickly produced, unfiltered videos and magazines that can be downloaded and watched on smartphones, and they know which platforms to use to reach them,” Fleming explained. He further mentioned that the impact of ISIS’s approach has been felt across Europe, including attacks in London and Manchester.

Fleming elaborated that agents at GCHQ and the Ministry of Defence had successfully suppressed ISIS propaganda, impeded the group’s ability to coordinate attacks, and safeguarded coalition forces on the battlefield. “In 2017, there were times when Daesh found it almost impossible to spread their hate online, to use their normal channels to spread their rhetoric, or trust their publications,” he added.

In April, British intelligence, alongside US and European allies, launched a new wave of attacks targeting ISIS’s online platforms, including Amaq, al-Bayan radio, Halummu, and Nashir news websites. Europol stated that ISIS’s capacity to distribute and publicize terrorist content had been “compromised” through a combination of cooperation with internet service providers and cyberattacks. Security services are also working to identify ISIS administrators and radicalized individuals across Europe and beyond using the data retrieved from these operations.

Recent court cases have brought to light that British intelligence agents have been posing as ISIS fighters and propagandists on Telegram and other platforms to gather intelligence on terrorists who believe them to be like-minded extremists.

Evolution of ISIS’s Propaganda Network

When ISIS declared its “caliphate” in early 2014, it was openly publishing propaganda on mainstream social networks and websites, while many foreign fighters became known for documenting their activities on Twitter and blogs. The scale and complexity of the group’s propaganda network were unprecedented, with content available in nearly a dozen languages through websites, social media, automated emails, dedicated apps, and internet browser extensions.

However, intensified efforts to detect and remove such content have forced ISIS into increasingly obscure corners of the internet. Despite this, experts warn that ISIS’s propaganda network, although under significant pressure and facing territorial losses in Syria and Iraq, has already gained a dangerous level of ideological notoriety worldwide.

Raffaello Pantucci, Director of International Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute in London, noted that the group continues to migrate across various platforms.

“Clearly there’s a real question of integrity around their material, and they’re stuck in a situation where no one necessarily trusts it anymore,” he told The Independent.

While acknowledging the importance of disrupting ISIS’s propaganda, Pantucci cautioned against underestimating the group’s resilience. “You can’t kid yourself that this will go away… the real threat comes from the fact there are angry people who are unhappy with governance in parts of the world,” he said.

Pantucci also pointed out that ISIS, which often publishes idealized depictions of life under its rule alongside gruesome footage of executions and battles, is attempting to “project an image of normality” despite its territorial setbacks. He questioned the extent to which the group could compensate for its battlefield losses through its online presence alone, asking, “If they continue to fail on the battlefield, how much can they make up for it with a Telegram account?”

Conclusion

The ongoing battle against ISIS’s propaganda machine involves a multi-faceted approach combining cyberattacks, misinformation campaigns, and intelligence gathering. While these efforts have led to disruptions in ISIS’s ability to operate online, the group’s ideological reach remains a significant concern. Continued vigilance and innovative strategies will be required to counteract the evolving threat posed by ISIS’s propaganda and recruitment tactics.

No War is Civil

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The NDAA and America’s Foreign Policy in Syria

I cannot deny having a personal bias for the people of Syria. I’ve seen the wreckage first hand in a way I wish I could explain further. I’m probably responsible for 60% of the views of HBO’s Cries from Syria since its release in 2017. I’ve played as large a part as possible in multiple charities trying desperately to help Syrian civilians, namely one whose aim is to build mobile hospitals in Syria’s most war-torn areas. I’ve sponsored a young girl there named Amira for seven years – a girl who I’ve watched grow into an incredibly strong young woman who I have no doubt will someday spread revolutionary ideals throughout her country – who thankfully has remained safe after all of these years of war and bloodshed in Syria. Amid all of this I knew to classify this as an opinion piece, because of my inability to remain unbiased on the subject.

Today, the U.S. Senate passed the NDAA, or National Defense Authorization Act, a yearly budget bill relating to national defense, the military, foreign aid, black budget money, intelligence, etc… This legislation was passed by the so-called “Do Nothing Democrats” last week, and is expected to receive the President’s signature within the week. This year’s NDAA contains a measure several years in the making: The Caesar Syrian Civilian Protection Act. A piece of legislation that provides for sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as well as members of his regime.

The bill’s history is an interesting one. The legislation shares its namesake with the pseudonym of a Syrian police officer who fled the country in 2016, smuggling with him a multitude of photographic evidence – some 50,000 images – of President Assad’s regime’s egregious and downright evil crimes against humanity. Spanning from torture to mass killing, the images are gruesome and not for the faint of heart, but many are available to the public. Caesar testified before Congress in disguise and presented the evidence he risked his own life, and the lives of his family, to smuggle out his homeland.

Congress, though slowly, began drafting a bill that became part of the NDAA. A provision that not only imposes sanctions and censures against President Assad and members of his regime, but also imposes consequences against foreign actors such as Iran and Russia, have had boots on the ground in Syria for almost a decade attempting to squash revolutionary uprisings against Assad. Doing so using not just guerrilla tactics, but going as far as to drop illegal dirty bombs on civilian centers such as Huraytan, a town northwest of Aleppo, where bombs were dropped on hospitals and schools.

Child pulled from the rubble of a school by civilian volunteer medical force known as The White Helmets after Russian airstrikes north of Aleppo.

According to the Wall Street Journal, “The measure establishes as U.S. policy the use of ‘diplomatic and coercive means…to compel the government of Bashar al-Assad to halt its murderous attacks on the Syrian people and to support a transition to a government in Syria that respects the rule of law, human rights and peaceful co-existence with its neighbors.'”

The bill also adds measures against civilian or non-governmental militias, such as Hezbollah, which has also come to the aid of Assad’s regime, and even targets financial centers. Administration officials are now investigating whether or not the Central Bank of Syria has been engaging in money laundering. If this is found to be true, which it likely is, the U.S. will impose penalties on the institution, though those penalties aren’t very well outlined in what is publicly available from bill at the moment.

The bill goes further in restricting the transfer of funds, technology, and property, and bans any and all violators from entry in the U.S. in the future.

The bill contains language that will allow President Trump, or future presidents to lift the sanctions in the future if Assad and his allies produce evidence that their human rights violations have come to an end. They will have to prove they are no longer targeting civilians, restricting international humanitarian assistance, and of course, they must prove they are no longer using chemical weapons on their own citizens, meaning both civilians and rebel army militants.

With this bill, the United States severely escalates sanctions, joining its Western allies in targeting Assad and his regime. The U.S. has had sanctions on Syria since 2005, and those sanctions increased drastically under President Barack Obama, namely after 2011, when what was a series of massive civilian protests turned into bloodshed and civil war. You can find a list of sanctions against Syria dating back to 2004 here from the U.S. Department of Treasury.

With such a history of sanctions, however, one must wonder just how effective they are. One must also wonder how you sanction a government, but not its civilians. Also, why the sudden change? This comes months after President Donald Trump ordered the removal of U.S. troops in Northern Syria, claiming the war against ISIL was over in the region. As if to say, “Thank you for your help, and now you’re on your own to fight your government, Islamist rebel groups, ISIL, oh, and Turkey.” As anyone familiar with the situation remembers, only three days later, Turkish air strikes began in the border towns of Turkey and Syria – towns the United States was helping to protect just days before. The air strikes resulted in the death of 70 Syrian citizens, and the displacement of over 300,000. During the military act, both Turkish forces and Turkish-allied Syrian forces were accused of committing atrocious war crimes, including summary killings and unlawful acts, including, but not limited to, public executions and even public rape.

According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – who I’ve written about recently in timeline of the prosecution of Michael Flynn found here – was to expel Syrian Democratic Forces – a rebel army mostly made up of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) – who is viewed as a terrorist group by the Turkish government due to its ties to the Kurdistan Workers Party. The SDF is considered an ally of the United States and Western allies, though, namely in its war against ISIL, as the SDF has helped the United States in a monumental fashion in the removal of ISIL from the region.

The flag of the Syrian Democratic Forces. (Wikipedia Commons)

However, the problem with war is that it’s complicated. It’s unfortunately not just made up of good guys and bad guys like the comics. It’s not made up of clear cut good people, or clear cut evil people, or even demon with the heart of gold anti-heroes who don’t get along with the other good guys, but fight for what’s right in the end. War, just like life, is rarely black and white. By the previous couple of paragraphs, it would appear that there is a narrative to present the Turkish government as awful people, and their armies as the evil invading scourge that wants to watch the world burn. On the contrary.

The Turks were the first to condemn the actions of Bashar al-Assad, who cracked down on peaceful protests in 2011, which led to the exorbitant bloodshed and murder of unarmed Syrian citizens, and kicked off one of the longest civil wars in recent world history. Turkey went as far as to create safe zones for Syrian refugees fleeing the violence, and even backed and funded the Free Syrian Army, which was the first organized revolutionary group to stand up to Assad’s tyrannical regime.

Turkey is responsible for a lot of the military funding toward the revolutionary groups working against Assad. Yet, what is the Free Syrian Army today? It’s a group that is made up of primarily radicalized Islamists, probably partially because of their relationship with ISIL in their growing phase. Now they’re a group backed by the Turks, and are taking part in the public rape and murder of North-Eastern Syrians, who are merely fighting for statehood.

And what is the U.S. to say one way or the other? During the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, we trained soldiers to fight for their independence, and those soldiers went on to become Al Qeada. We fought with the best intentions against South American drug lords, but all we did was make a mess out of Central America by cutting off their Caribbean pipeline, splitting one cartel into seven. We made a mess out of Iraq and Afghanistan and ultimately created ISIL in the first place, while giving radical groups free-reign in Iraq after removing their strongest opposition. Maybe the same might be the case in Syria, creating another militant group aligned to a particular world religion, thus creating another Bosnia, where people of three separate religions are killing one another, but we think of creative names for them so that the general public doesn’t realize religion does nothing but create war.

I wish I had the answers. I hope against hope that what this year’s NDAA was meant to accomplish will make change. I hope every night for the citizens of Syria, trapped in a civil war that seems to be going in three directions between the government, the Islamist revolutionaries, and the Kurds. A civil war that is little more than a proxy battle between foreign governments inside of a country with convenient resources, or adjacent to said resources. Above any of this, I just hope that a young woman named Amira, who I love with all my heart, grows up and holds onto her idealism, and doesn’t allow herself to get swept into a war in one way, or the other, or the other. I hope she is on the cover of TIME someday, as she should be, for uniting Syria, and establishing a democratic state in the region, aligned with U.S. and other Western forces, and never wavers in the face of adversity, as she doesn’t now, even when asked why her grades are slipping amid bloodshed happening outside her front door. At the risk of this being another 20,000 word timeline, I’ll stop this here, but I hope you learned something about the black and white politics we’re presented in the United States every day, and I hope Amira is the next revolutionary that hipsters wear on T-shirts without ever actually knowing her politics or background, just like Ernesto Guevara.

For more information on Syria and what you can do to help trapped civilians there, please visit https://app.mobilecause.com/vf/Sami4syria or text Sami4Syria to 71777. These poor people are caught up in a near decades long civil war they had nothing to do with, and deserve our help, as the poorest among us are living better than any of them. Please consider my request. Even a dollar helps.

Thank you for reading, and I hope this wasn’t as much of a slog as my normal articles.

Michael Flynn’s Sentencing Date Set

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The Fourth Victim of the Mueller Investigation Will Be Sentenced in January

More than two years after former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn’s guilty plea, there is finally a date set for Flynn’s sentencing. On January 28, 2020, almost three years to the date after committing the crime for which he’s charged, Flynn will be sentenced. Flynn was charged with “willfully and knowingly [making] false, fictitious and fraudulent statements and representations” to the FBI regarding his conversations with Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak in 2017.

The sentencing has been delayed due to Flynn’s defense lawyers claiming prosecutors violated a rule requiring them to disclose evidence to defendants that could exonerate him. Flynn repeatedly requested to compel prosecutors to turn over additional evidence that he claims would cause the charge against him to be dismissed. Judge Emmet Sullivan, the federal judge assigned to the trial, said on Monday that the defense team failed to establish a single violation by the prosecution.

Sullivan said in his ruling in the U.S. District Court in D.C., Flynn’s lawyers “failed to explain” how most of the information that had not already been turned over to them is relevant to the crime to which Flynn admitted under oath on December 1, 2017. Sullivan also noted he had ethical concerns with the legal brief submitted by Flynn’s defense team as part of the motions for evidence because it “lifted verbatim portions from a source without attribution.

Now that we finally have a sentencing date for Michael Flynn, he can finally put a bow on what has been a very long couple of years for Michael Flynn and his family. While much of the trouble started shortly after leaving the DIA and forming an independent lobby group, the real trouble began in December 2016.

December, 2016

Flynn became part of the federal investigation known as Crossfire Hurricane, which was later taken over by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, after the FBI intercepted communications between Flynn and then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The matter was immediately folded into the FBI’s probe into Russian election interference into the 2016 election. The reason the communication was significant is because it took place on the same day the Obama administration unveiled sanctions against Russia for election-related hacking.

The very next day, December 30, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wouldn’t retaliate against the United States for the sanctions, then boasted about inviting U.S. embassy children to a Christmas party. A move the was praised by then-president-elect Donald Trump over Twitter.

January, 2017

In January of 2017, Donald Trump made a statement to the media claiming that no member of his cabinet had any communication with Russia during the campaign. The very next day, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius first reported the story about Flynn’s communication with Kislyak, raising questions in the public about what was discussed during the conversation.

On January 13, future White House Press Secretary and White House Communications Director Sean Spicer was asked about the call. Spicer claimed there was no discussion about the sanctions during the call to Ambassador Kislyak, and that the point of the call was to schedule a post-inauguration meeting between Trump and Putin.

On January 15, Mike Pence said on Face the Nation, “It was strictly coincidental that they had a conversation. They did not discuss anything having to do with the United States’ decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia.”

On January 21, Flynn was first questioned by the FBI about his call to Kislyak as part of the larger Russia probe, where Flynn denied the subject of the phone call being related to sanctions. Only days later, Sean Spicer was questioned again about Flynn’s call to the ambassador, where he said Flynn reassured him the previous night that the subject of the phone call had nothing to do with sanctions. The only subjects of the call included a plane crash over the weekend, the exchanging of holiday greetings, a possible conference in Syria, and, again, setting up a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

On January 26, 2017, then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates informed White House Counsel Don McGahn of everything she knew about the call, and said she felt Flynn was “essentially blackmailed by the Russians.” Yates later told a Senate judiciary subcommittee, “We believed that Gen. Flynn was compromised with respect to the Russians.” The administration allegedly started an internal investigation that very day. Yates was fired from the administration days later on January 30. The reason for her dismissal was allegedly her refusal to work with or support Donald Trump on his “Muslim ban.”

February, 2017

A week and a half later, The Washington Post reported that according to current and former U.S. officials – likely Yates – that Flynn did discuss sanctions on the call with the Russian ambassador. The next day on February 10, a spokesperson told NBC News that Flynn “can’t be 100 percent sure” about whether or not he talked about sanctions, but he doesn’t remember doing so. At this point, Trump all but gave away his knowledge of the real subject of the call by putting distance between Flynn and himself. “I don’t know about it. I haven’t seen it. What report is that?” Trump said to reporters.

On February 13, 2017, Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway said in an NBC interview that Flynn had the full confidence of the president. Hours later, Flynn resigned from his position in the Trump cabinet, saying he “inadvertently briefed Vice President Mike Pence and others with incomplete information regarding his phone calls with the Russian ambassador.”

March, 2017

On March 9, 2017, Flynn retroactively registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent, disclosing $530,000 worth of lobbying money he was paid to help Turkish interests in the United States. This is because after leaving the DIA, Flynn formed the Flynn Intel Group. During 2015 and 2016, Flynn developed a relationship with with Ekim Alptekin, and Turkish businessman with deep ties to the Kremlin, and was hired to lobby on behalf of Turkish interests. It is believed his ties to Turkish interests played a part in Flynn advising President Trump not to use U.S. dollars to help arm Kurds in Syria due to their long-standing conflict with Turkey. We all know how that turned out earlier this year for the Northern Syrians.

Soon after, documents were released by the House Oversight Committee that Flynn was paid $45,000 plus perks by the state-sponsored Russian television network RT, or Russian Television, to speak at an anniversary gala in December of 2015. A gala also attended by then Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein.

May, 2017

The Senate Intelligence Committee soon requested testimony from Flynn. Flynn’s defense team requested immunity in exchange for Flynn’s testimony, but the request was denied by the committee. On May 11, Flynn was officially subpoenaed by the committee, requesting documents relevant to its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. One week later, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein officially appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to oversee the investigation into Russian interference. Soon after, Flynn’s attorneys refused to comply with the Senate Intelligence Committee subpoena, citing Flynn’s Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself.

September, 2017

In September of 2017, Flynn’s son also became a part of the probe into Russian election interference because of his role in his father’s Flynn Intel Group and its ties to Kremlin-connected business associates. This, of course, became part of the investigation after the elder Flynn filed with the Justice Department and disclosed his business ties.

October, 2017

A little more than a month later, Former CIA Director James Woolsey was interviewed by federal agents working on behalf of Special Counsel Mueller, into allegations that Flynn had discussed the illegal removal of a Turkish cleric from the United States. Mueller found that both Flynn and his son were to be paid upwards of $15 million to deliver Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric living in the U.S., to Turkey for prosecution. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had previously pressed the U.S. government to extradite him, but neither administration involved would cooperate with the request, as Gulen would become another political prisoner of the Turkish government.

Bureau agents learned of a December 2016 meeting at the 21 Club in New York, where Flynn and Turkish government representatives discussed removing Gulen by essentially kidnapping him, then flying him via private jet to the Turkish prison island of Imrali. This was according to at least four individuals the FBI interviewed about the meeting, as well as the plan moving forward.

November, 2017

On November 10, five days after federal investigators concluded the evidence was sufficient to bring charges against Flynn and his son, federal investigators began to examine whether Flynn’s meeting with Turkish representatives also included a possible quid pro quo deal with Turkey where he would be paid secretly through his organization to carry out directives from the Turkish capital of Ankara while in the White House. In the meantime, Mueller continued to investigate the Flynn Intel Group and its failure to proactively disclose its work with foreign governments. As of November 22, Iranian-American Bijan Kian became a subject of the investigation due to ties with the group.

Kian was later found guilty by a jury for illegally acting as a foreign agent, and conspiring to keep his and the Flynn Intel Group’s work hidden from the Justice Department. The verdict was thrown out by the judge in the trial, however, citing insufficient evidence.

December, 2017

On December 1, 2017, Flynn finally entered a guilty plea on the charge of providing false information to the FBI in regards to his communication with Russia, bringing a very small part of a very large investigation to an end. It should be noted that Special Counsel Robert Mueller did recommend Flynn be given a light sentence because of his long-term cooperation during the Russia investigation, where Flynn apparently provided very valuable information to federal authorities. Updates soon to come after Flynn’s sentencing hearing.

Additional Reading: https://www.stripes.com/news/us/michael-flynn-s-sentencing-set-after-judge-rejects-his-attacks-on-the-fbi-justice-department-1.611431 https://www.axios.com/mueller-russia-investigation-timeline-indictments-70433acd-9ef7-424d-aa01-b962ae5c9647.html https://www.vox.com/2018/12/4/18124615/michael-flynn-mueller-sentencing-memo-cooperation https://www.vox.com/2018/12/4/18124615/michael-flynn-mueller-sentencing-memo-cooperation https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/16/judge-to-sentence-former-trump-aide-michael-flynn-in-january.html https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mike-flynn-timeline-his-rise-fall-russia-call-n720671 https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/24/politics/bijan-kian-verdict-thrown-out/index.html