//The Wire//1930Z April 9, 2024//

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//BLUF: TENSIONS REMAIN IN THE MIDDLE EAST FOLLOWING MULTIPLE INCIDENTS.//

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-International Events-

Middle East: Following the events surrounding the targeting of the Iranian Embassy compound in Damascus, tensions remain throughout the region in many respects. Tensions in Gaza remain elevated as Israeli strikes continue and the invasion of Rafah enters the final planning steps. Of note, Israeli forces have withdrawn from Gaza substantially, possibly to allocate forces for the invasion of Rafah, and possibly to prevent becoming overstretched in the North as an additional front opens up in the South. Conversely, as Ramadan draws to an end, an increase in targeting is expected (and has been announced) by Hamas and Hezbollah, with uncertain levels of confidence in their ability to make good on their threats. AC: Most American pundits have also threatened an increased likelihood that Iran will directly attack the United States in response to the Iranian Embassy strike. Though U.S. bases in Syria will almost certainly receive increased levels of indirect fire attacks, diplomatically, a larger more direct attack on the U.S. makes little sense in this specific instance. From the Iranian perspective, Israel is the nation that directly attacked them, so Israel shall be the target, purely out of the desire to save face in the international community. As to what the Iranian response will be, ballistic missile attacks are the most logical attack vector, but anything goes at this point.

-HomeFront-

Idaho: Saturday afternoon the FBI arrested Alexander Mercurio at his parent’s house after he allegedly planned to provide materiel support to ISIS. He had allegedly been a part of various online communities supportive of ISIS, and had allegedly been planning to conduct an attack at a church.

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Analyst Comments: In the raid on Mercurio’s home, no evidence indicating an imminent threat was found. However, several of his father’s firearms (which were stored in a locked closet) were seized. According to the criminal complaint, Mercurio had been under surveillance for almost two years. As he is currently 18 years old, this means that he was under federal surveillance since he was a minor. As a result, it is difficult to determine if this case was a legitimate case of potential terrorism. Considering the current trends involving similar cases, much discernment is called for when examining the particulars of this case, and how the entire situation began in the first place. It is remarkable how many cases arise when an underage individual (usually with some sort of mental disability, though that is not clear in this specific case), attempts to engage in illegal activity online, and on their very first try always end up communicating directly with a federal informant.

Analyst: S2A1

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