Fox News reports that as the Islamic State is forced from its former strongholds, a U.N. panel is warning the next terror threat in the region could come, once again, from Al Qaeda — led by the son of Usama bin Laden, Hamza bin Laden.

The UN Report delivered to the Security Council and released earlier this week, included disquieting conclusions about both the Isis and Al Qaeda terror networks.

The report found that while ISIS had been defeated militarily in Iraq and most of Syria, it rallied in early 2018, and still had approximately 20,000-30,000 members in the two countries.

The U.S.-led coalition in the region racked up numerous military wins against the group in 2017 and helped reduce its territory to mere pockets of Syria.

At the State of the Union address this year, President Trump declared victory: “I’m proud to report that the coalition to defeat ISIS has liberated very close to 100 percent of the territory just recently held by these killers in Iraq and in Syria.”

The U.N. report found ISIS, though, is in the process of moving from “a proto-State network to a covert network” that continues to threaten other countries, and its leadership is still intact under Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

Yet the report also raised significant concerns about Al Qaeda, which fell into the background amid the international attention on ISIS and its brutal tactics, particularly after the death of Usama bin Laden in 2011.

The report found that Al Qaeda is still a global network showing resilience, and it is stronger than ISIS in places like Somalia, Yemen and South Asia — and its leadership in Iran has grown more prominent.

Further, Hamza bin Laden has “continued to emerge as a leadership figure in Al Qaeda,” the report said.

“Al Qaeda’s leadership demonstrates strategic patience and its regional affiliates exercise good tactical judgment, embedding themselves in local issues and becoming players,” it said.

While the U.N. said there is little evidence as yet of a direct global threat from Al Qaeda, “improved leadership and enhanced communication will probably increase the threat over time, as will any rise in the tendency, already visible in some regions, of ISIL supporters to join Al Qaeda.”

Al Qaeda is like a hydra- lop off one head and another appears. It needs to be dealt with quickly and severely, and a good starting point would be Hamza bin Laden.

Reuters is reporting A man deliberately drove a car into pedestrians and cyclists on Tuesday before ramming it into barriers outside Britain’s parliament in what appeared to be the second terrorism attack on the building in just under 18 months, police said.

Police said a silver Ford Fiesta was driven through a group of cyclists and pedestrians during the morning rush hour before hitting a barrier in front of the Houses of Parliament at 0637 GMT.

Three people were injured in the incident. The driver, a man in his 20s, was arrested by armed officers at the scene moments later. He was not co-operating with detectives, Britain’s counter-terrorism police chief said.

“Given that this appears to be a deliberate act, the method, and this being an iconic site, we are treating it as a terrorist incident,” London Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu told reporters.

Camera footage showed the vehicle taking a wrong turn before veering across the road and into a security lane leading to parliament before smashing into the protective barrier as two police officers jumped to safety.

The man was detained on suspicion of terrorism offences and no weapons had been found, Basu said.

Basu said the suspect in Tuesday’s incident was in custody but was not co-operating with detectives. Although he had not been formally identified, the man was not believed to be known to security forces, Basu added.

It infuriates me when one of these meltdowns “has” been identified and was known to authorities. If he’s known why the hell is he still in-country?

Update
Breitbart Link

The man being held on suspicion of terrorism after the Westminster car attack on Tuesday has been named as Salih Khater by British newspapers.

The event, in which 15 cyclists and pedestrians were reportedly struck before Khater’s silver Ford Focus hit the Palace of Westminster anti-terror barrier just before 07:40 BST, is being investigated by British counter-terror police. He has been arrested under the 2006 terrorism act.

Police said in a statement that “Given that it appears to have been a deliberate act, the method used and the iconic location, it is being treated as a terrorist incident and the investigation is being led by officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command.”

Described by police at the time of his arrest as a male in his late 20s, the terror suspect has now been named by British newspaper the Daily Mail as 29-year-old Sudanese immigrant Salih Khater, now a British citizen living in Birmingham.

Before driving into Whitehall and Westminster, Khater is believed to have spent hours driving around London in the Tottenham Court Road area late at night. He then spent around 90 minutes driving around and near the Houses of Parliament.

Officers were searching three addresses across Birmingham and Nottingham in the Midlands Tuesday night.

Although unsaid in the press release, he’s doubtless another practitioner of The Religion of Peace, Inish Allah.

Reuters Link

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday called for “swift and just” legal action from new courts after the head of the judiciary said on state television, the country faced an “economic war”.

The rial has lost about 50% of its value since April, under the threat of reinitiated U.S. sanctions, with heavy demand for dollars among ordinary Iranians trying to protect their savings.

The cost of living has also soared, sparking sporadic protests against both profiteering and corruption, with many protesters chanting anti-government slogans.

The central bank and the judiciary have blamed “enemies” for the fall of the currency and a rapid rise in the price of gold coins, and the judiciary has said more than 40 people including a former central bank deputy have been arrested on charges carrying the death penalty.

The judiciary has suggested that arch-foes the United States and Israel as well as regional rival Saudi Arabia and government opponents living in exile are fomenting the unrest.

“The current special economic conditions are considered an economic war,” judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani said in a letter to Khamenei, calling for the setting up of special courts to deal quickly with financial crimes, the television report said.

Washington this week reimposed sanctions on Iran’s purchase of U.S. dollars, its trade in gold and precious metals and its dealings with metals, coal and industrial-related software.

The United States has told other countries they must halt imports of Iranian oil from early November or face U.S. financial measures.

In response, Iran test-fired a ballistic a missile just days before Trump’s administration slapped new sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The test of an Iranian Fateh-110 short-range ballistic missile coincided with a large-scale naval exercise by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard forces late last week in the Strait of Hormuz, to rehearse “swarm” tactics. 30% of the world’s oil passes through this waterway each year. A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment on the Iranian ballistic missile launch.