The Chicago Times Fear and confusion as al-Shabab fighters overran a U.S. airfield in Kenya by Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Eric Schmitt, Charlie Savage and Helene Cooper Armed with rifles and explosives, about a dozen al-Shabab fighters destroyed an American surveillance plane as it was taking off and ignited an hourslong gunfight this month on a sprawling military base in Kenya that houses U.S. troops. By the time al-Shabab was done, portions of the airfield were burning and three Americans were dead.Surprised by the attack, U.S. commandos took around an hour to respond. Many of the local Kenyan forces, assigned to defend the base, hid in the grass, while other U.S. troops and support staff were corralled into tents, with little protection, to wait out the battle. It would require hours to evacuate one of the wounded to a military hospital in Djibouti, roughly 1,500 miles away. The brazen assault at...

Military Times Joint Syria Raid Killed ISIS Oil Official Who Financed Sleeper Cells By Chad GarlandIRBIL, Iraq -- An Islamic State group official who oversaw oil and gas operations and helped finance sleeper cells was killed last week in a joint coalition special operations raid with Syrian partner forces, the military said.The ISIS official known by the pseudonym Abu al-Ward al-Iraqi was killed along with another militant who officials have not yet identified during the raid in Deir al-Zour province on Jan. 14, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement on Sunday.Al-Iraqi's death "disrupts and degrades" ISIS's ability to finance terrorist activities in the Middle Euphrates River Valley along the Iraq-Syria border, said U.S. Army Col. Myles B. Caggins III, a military spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, via email.It's among the latest takedowns of top ISIS leaders since the killing in late October of the group's leader, Abu...

Yahoo News Apple And The FBI At Odds Over Terrorist's Cellphones Mike Bebernes Editor,Yahoo News 360 The U.S. government is pressuring Apple to unlock two phones belonging to a Saudi air force officer who went on a deadly shooting rampage at a Pensacola, Fla., naval base in December. Mohammed Alshamrani killed three people and injured eight others before dying in a shootout with sheriff’s deputies. Last week Attorney General William Barr — who called the shooting an act of terrorism — admonished Apple for refusing to unlock Alshamrani’s phones, which are protected by passwords. President Trump blasted the company on Twitter and called for Apple “to step up to the plate and help our great Country, NOW!"Apple has declined to open the phones but said it had helped the investigation by handing over “many gigabytes of information” from Alshamrani’s account stored on its servers. Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/apple-and-fbi-at-odds-over-terrorists-cellphone-221956762.html...

The Washington Times Iran Expands Support For Taliban, Targets U.S. Troops In Afghanistan By Guy TaylorEscalating U.S.-Iran tensions mean Afghanistan, which shares a border with Iran, could be the next proxy battleground between Washington and Tehran, a clash that threatens to undermine the Trump administration’s pursuit of a peace deal with the Taliban and eventual drawdown of American troops.Administration officials have recently warned of the potential for expanding Iranian activity in Afghanistan, and sources say Tehran’s support for the Taliban is well known in intelligence circles, where analysts are examining the extent to which the insurgent group already outsources some of its attack planning operations to Iran.Communications intercepted between Taliban operatives based in Mashhad, Iran, and their counterparts working in Quetta, Pakistan, have exposed at least some level of such operational connectivity, one source told The Washington Times. Read more: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jan/20/iran-expands-taliban-support-targets-us-troops-afg/...

  BBC News Terrorism Laws To Get Tougher Within Weeks, Government Vows Terror offenders will face more time in jail and be monitored more closely as part of new laws being introduced within weeks, the government has said.Automatic early release from prison will be scrapped for terror offenders while a minimum jail term of 14 years for serious crimes will be introduced.The Home Office said a bill would be brought before Parliament by mid-March.Home Secretary Priti Patel said the government had faced "hard truths" since an attack in London in November.Convicted terror offender Usman Khan had been on license from prison when he fatally stabbed Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt at Fishmongers' Hall near London Bridge on 29 November last year.Khan had been released from jail on license in 2018, half-way through a 16-year sentence for terrorism offenses.Following the November attack, the government launched an urgent review into the license...