Homeland Security News

This is the third time in just a few weeks that dozens of Malian soldiers have been killed. What is different this time though, is that the attack happened in the middle of an operation by the Malian and the Nigerien army working together to fight the jihadists. And the evidence is that quite a lot of the attackers were also killed and the Nigerien forces were reported to have actually captured something like 100 of the attackers. So it's a slightly different situation to the previous attacks where the Malian army was simply ambushed before it could repulse.

There seem to be two main factors. The largest one is that the jihadist groups are trying to break the morale of the Malian army by killing very large numbers of soldiers, especially in ambushes and not taking prisoners in many cases or killing people after they've been captured. They are trying to shatter the morale and discourage soldiers and undermine popular public support for the deployment of the army to the north. But the second thing is that the jihadists are also trying to steal equipment and weapons, and the easiest way to do that is to successfully attack an army detachment or an army garrison.

This is a huge region. You are talking about distances of hundreds or even thousands of kilometers. 5,000 soldiers in the G5 joint force operating in the border areas is really quite a small number of people.

Read more: Deutsche Welle 

A white supremacist manifesto was allegedly sent to phones of students studying late at night in a library at Syracuse University in New York, according to an email sent to students by the Department of Public Safety.

The 74-page manifesto reportedly belonged to the New Zealand gunman behind the Christchurch mosque shootings earlier this year, which included neo-Nazi imagery, The Daily Orange, the university's independent student newspaper, reported. DPS said there is no immediate danger in connection with the library incident.

The manifesto was allegedly AirDropped — an Apple service that allows iPhone users to send files via Bluetooth and WiFi — to students' cellphones in the Bird Library around 1 a.m. local time Tuesday, multiple students told the student newspaper. A link to the document was later discovered on a forum page on Greenrank.com around 10:30 p.m.

Read more: Business Insider
 

The Israeli Air Force's strikes against targets in Syria mark the latest stage in a developing struggle between Israel and Iran, one that inevitably risks a much broader conflict. 

Iran is eager to bolster its military footprint in Syria. Israel is just as eager to stop it.

But Iran shows no sign of faltering. It is developing its military capabilities and showing a greater self-confidence. The two players are struggling to establish new "rules" of deterrence, but the risk is that as the level of their military exchanges increases, so the risk of an all-out conflict grows too.

The scale of the Israeli riposte was significant. The targets were associated with Iran's Quds Force, some of which were inside Syrian military facilities. 

A Syrian headquarters was also attacked along with six Syrian surface-to-air missile batteries, to afford the Israeli jets the necessary freedom of action. A senior Israeli security source noted that this was "a large-scale retaliation, including Iranian casualties".

The message from Israel to Tehran is clear. Any attacks out of Syria will be met by a disproportionate response. Now it is upping the military stakes. 

But Iran is sending a message of its own too. 

Read more: BBC News
 

Islamist militiamen killed at least 19 people overnight in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, stepping up attacks on civilians in response to a military campaign against them in border areas with Uganda, local officials said on Wednesday. 

The assailants, who the officials said belong to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan Islamist group, also kidnapped several people and torched a Catholic church during two separate attacks about 35 km (22 miles) apart. 

The Congolese army began an offensive three weeks ago near the Ugandan border. The ADF has been operating there for more than two decades and is one of dozens of rebel groups active in the mineral-rich areas where civil wars resulted in millions of deaths around the turn of the century. 

Several previous ADF attacks have been claimed by Islamic State, but the extent of their relationship remains unclear. 

Army spokesman Mak Hazukay said the ADF killed at least seven people on the outskirts of the city of Beni, adding that two soldiers were wounded and several people were missing. 

Donat Kibwana, the administrator of Beni territory, said ADF fighters killed another 12 people in the village of Mavete, where they also burned a church and a pharmacy and kidnapped several others. 

At least 70 people have been killed since the army campaign began, according to the Kivu Security Tracker, a research initiative that maps unrest in the region. 

Violence by the ADF and other militias has also hindered efforts to contain an Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 2,000 people since last year. 

Source: Reuters

A Georgia police chief says a white 16-year-old girl had collected several kitchen knives and scouted out a mostly black congregation as part of a methodically planned attack on worshippers there.

Police say the plot came to light when Gainesville High School students told administrators the girl had a notebook with detailed plans to ambush worshippers at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Gainesville Police Chief Jay Parrish told reporters that her plan was to attack a small group as they worshipped. He said he believes she wanted to gain notoriety.

Parrish said the teen had done a significant amount of internet research while planning the attack. He told WSB-TV he believes she might have been “radicalized” on the Internet.

The girl, whose name hasn’t been released, is being held at a youth detention center.

Source: ABC News