Daily Intel Brief
Terrorist attacks continue to rock Mali, the bodyguard of a former Lebanese MP is charged with gun smuggling, and the U.S. fears China may blockade the Taiwan strait...
Counterterrorism
Violent terrorist groups have shaped their propaganda using Covid-19 misinformation to “advance their narrative”, a Europol report has found. The EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT) is produced by Europol on an annual basis and is used by police forces and…
At least 15 soldiers and three civilians were killed in coordinated "terrorist" attacks in Mali, the chronically unstable country's army said Wednesday, the latest deadly violence to rock the Sahel state. In Kalumba, near the Mauritanian border, "the death toll on the friendly side is…
Military & Defense
President Joe Biden's administration has kept hundreds of U.S. soldiers in place in Syria with no major policy plans, even as Russia, Iran and Turkey turn up the heat in the long-running conflict. Since supporting rebels in the 2011 uprising that sought to overthrow Syrian…
As Washington tackles the conundrum over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's potential visit to Taiwan, a report has stated that some officials in the Biden administration are worried China might move against the self-ruled island in the next 18 months. The Biden administration is…
Cybersecurity
North Korea is likely to face stronger sanctions including measures aimed at curbing its cyberattack capabilities if it conducts a nuclear test that it has been preparing, South Korea's foreign minister said on Wednesday. Park Jin, who took office in May as new President…
Moldova is working to step up cyber defenses to protect its critical infrastructure from rising threats amid the war in neighboring Ukraine. Officials in the country of roughly three million people are planning overhauls to create basic cybersecurity rules and institutions…
Counterintelligence & Espionage
Iran's intelligence ministry said Wednesday that agents linked to Israel's Mossad who were arrested last week were also members of an outlawed Kurdish rebel group who planned to target a "sensitive defence centre." The ministry had announced on Saturday that it arrested…
Federal investigators are asking that two people living in Hawaii under the assumed names of dead Texas children be held without bail. According to government documents, Walter Glenn Primrose and Gwynn Darle Morrison were arrested Friday morning. Government records…
Transnational Organized Crime
A bodyguard of Gebran Bassil, the leader of Lebanon's Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and son-in-law of President Michel Aoun, has been charged by the FBI for gun smuggling. George Ajaltouni allegedly purchased weapons at gun shows and dealerships in Ohio and shipped…
On average nearly one person an hour is shot dead in South Africa, experts say. And the lived experience for some on the ground bears out the extent of gun violence. "Every night there are bullets. Shooting, every day," said one resident of Soweto, who asked to remain anonymous…