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Since the start of the Hamas/Israel war nearly a month ago, the world at large has seen a significant uptick of anti-Israel violence. Even fairly peaceful countries like Canada have not been spared from these acts of violence.
In addition to the suspicious explosion at the Canadian Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria that was reported last week, also on 06 November 2023, suspected pro-Palestinian vandals attempted to burn down a synagogue located in Montreal, Quebec. Unlike the Abuja incident, this attack occurred overnight, and the damage to the building was minimal and no one was harmed. To date, no arrests have been made.
Three days later, on 09 November 2023, at 4:30am local time, an unknown gunman fired shots at the front doors of two Jewish schools; the Yeshiva Gedolah and Talmud Torah Elementary School, both located in Montreal Quebec. No injuries were reported and again, no arrests have been made. However, it should be noted that TRAC is certain that this particular incident is linked to the clashes that took place hours earlier between groups of pro-Israel and pro-Palestine students at Concordia University, in which several were injured and one person was arrested.
Yet again, three days later, on 12 November, at 5:00am local time, an unknown individual fired multiple shots at the Yeshiva Gedola Jewish school. Responding police found bullet impact marks on the building, as well as an unspecified number of shell cases. Similar to the two previous incidents, no injuries were reported nor have arrests been made.
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Many groups are targeting Jewish people and institutions around the globe in an attempt to equate them with Israel’s involvement in the Gaza strip and attacks carried out by the state of Israel are oftentimes used to justify violence against Jewish targets.
What is of keen interest is the ideological convergence of pro-Palestinian and/or Hamas sympathizers and right-wing extremist groups. While the right-wing extremists possess a general hatred for the Jewish, pro-Palestinian separatists and radical Islamists also share this viewpoint in regards to the relationship between Palestine an Israel, making attacks like those taking place in Canada difficult to attribute to one specific group.
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TRAC Incident Report:
Biafran Dragon Fighter Marine (DFM) Commando Blows Up an Oil Vessel and Two Military Gunships, Killing Three, Cameroonian Territorial Waters, Bakassi Peninsula, Cameroon
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On 13 November, in the morning hours, a Dragon Fighter Marine (DFM) commando carried out an assault on an oil vessel in the territorial waters of Cameroon, in the Bakassi Peninsula.
The ship was anchored at a creek in Bakassi, waiting to load oil from a depot. With heavy weapons, the assailants attacked the vessel and two escort military gunboats belonging to the Nigerian-Cameroonian Joint Border Force. The commando then placed IEDs on the targeted oil vessel and the military gunboats and blew them up.
Three soldiers were killed, while six persons were seriously injured. No precise data concerning the entirety of the damage to the military boats or the oil ship are available.
This incident marks the first significant operation by DFM in November 2023. After having been struck by the Cameroonian Air Force back on 02 November, it is highly likely that the group convened to maintain a low profile and reorganize its forces.
TRAC maintains that the group disposes of a large arsenal of explosives to fabricate Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), along with heavy weapons such as PK machine guns. The blowing up of one oil vessel and two military gunboats confirms DFM’s skill.
This is the third maritime operation carried out by DFM on Nigerian and Cameroonian targets, portraying the group’s configuration as a specialized maritime unit of the Biafran Liberation Army (BLA). The repeated attacks in Bakassi further confirms TRAC’s assumption that the group has at least one operative base in the said peninsula.
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TRAC Incident Report:
Cyberattack Leads DP World Australia Port Operator to Suspend its Freight Activities for Three Days, Sidney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Fremantle, Australia
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On 11 November 2023, a cybersecurity incident forced Australia's largest port operators, DP World Australia, to disconnect its facilities from the internet and suspend its cargo movements for three days in the ports of Sidney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Fremantle.
This incident is the latest of a wave of cyberattacks that have targeted Australia in recent months. According to government reports, state-sponsored cyber groups and hackers have substantially increased assaults over the past year, with one primary target being Australia's critical infrastructure. There is a shared belief that its new defense agreement with Britain and the U.S. has likely made the country more of a target.
DP World Australia manages around 40% of goods shipped in and out of the country from the four Australian port terminals of Sidney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Fremantle. Details in connection with the motive behind this attack were not disclosed. However, TRAC suspects that the hackers responsible for the said disruption demanded the payment of a ransom.
Of note, the attack occurred during the night hours when most employees were off duty, so they were not able to notice anomalies in the systems and adopt countermeasures. However, normal operations resumed at all facilities on 13 November.
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TRAC Incident Report:
Atlanta Police and ‘Cop City’ Clash at the New Atlanta Training Center Site, Weelaunee Forest, DeKalb County,
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
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On 13 November 2023, Atlanta Police clashed Atlanta Forest Defenders supporters at the site of the new Atlanta Training Center Site dubbed "Cop City" in the Weelaunee Forest in DeKalb County, in the Atlanta, Georgia area. Protesters, some wearing protective gear against tear gas, clashed with officers in riot gear outside the training center site. Tear gas was deployed after officers pushed back, prompting a protester to throw a canister back at them.
The event aimed to halt construction that has united environmentalists and anti-police protesters nationwide. The movement, as expressed by protester Sam Beard, brings together environmental concerns and calls for police abolition. While some protesters retreated or tried to mitigate tear gas effects, others fled into nearby woods before exiting with hands raised. Despite clashes, the protesters eventually dispersed without arrests, with tear gas effects being the primary reported injuries.
The conflict between forest defenders, anarchists, and the police has long been spiraling out of control. Booby traps containing syringes containing traces of fentanyl were spread in the woods by the Atlanta Forest Defenders, as revenge for a state trooper shooting at them and killing Tortuguita on 18 January 2023. So the fact that this 13 November march of more than 400 protesters turned violent is not a surprise. The protestors shouted “stop Cop City” and “Viva, viva Tortuguita,” invoking the nickname of the activist who was fatally shot by state troopers while camping in the woods in protest earlier this year.
These protests have been ongoing for over two years against the proposed training center and have led to a significant indictment of 61 protesters in August under Georgia’s anti-racketeering law. The protesters, labelled as “militant anarchists” by Attorney General Chris Carr, organized a march dubbed “Block Cop City,” as part of a nationwide movement against the project.
The Atlanta (Weelaunee) forest had overgrown on top of the old Federal Atlanta Penitentiary Farm, which has a contentious past that involved using inmates as slave labor. In recent years, portions of the forest have been cleared out to make way for the construction of a new and expansive police training center. Anarchists across the U.S., as well as some internationally, have started pledging their attacks, mostly on any private industry being paid to help the building of Cop City, in the name of 'Atlanta Forest Defenders' and their mission is not only to prevent the forest from being eliminated, but to stop Atlanta police from using the land.
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TRAC Incident Report:
Al-Shabaab Targets Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's Residence with Multiple Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), Abdiadiz District, Mogadishu, Somalia
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TRAC Poster Report: Ansar al-Khalifah (Islamic State East Asia) Circulates a Poster "Call of Jihad" Features Children (Cubs) in Philippines | |
TRAC Incident Report: Houthi (Ansarallah) Militants Launched Ballistic Missiles Towards the City of Eilat, Israel | | | | |
