Apr 25 2019 — Stewart Bell — Global News — Flying its black flags, the Islamic State group advanced across Syria and Iraq in convoys of pickups and SUVs, some mounted with heavy guns and reinforced with metal plates. Vehicles were central to the ISIS campaign, but like any trucks, they broke down, and mechanics were needed to keep them on the road.
Mar 14 2019 — Stewart Bell — Global News — The Gaddafis lost Libya in 2011, when rebel fighters captured and killed longtime dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. But the family still holds a small patch of territory in Canada’s largest city. “Nobody comes, nobody goes,” the property manager at 10 Navy Wharf Ct., who asked not to be identified by name, said of the 40th-floor […]
Feb 27 2019 — Stewart Bell — Global News — The RCMP is preparing for the return of at least a dozen Canadians detained in Syria amidst the collapse of the so-called Islamic State, a senior law enforcement official has told Global News. The capture of suspected Canadian ISIS members, and uncertainty over their fate due to a planned U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria, has […]
Feb 16 2019 — Stewart Bell — Global News — A Canadian captured in northern Syria last month has admitted he helped produce ISIS propaganda videos that showed prisoners digging their own graves and being executed, according to a local source.
Jan 28 2019 — Stewart Bell — Global News — A Canadian Jewish organization has been stripped of its charity status following a government audit that found it had provided support to “foreign armed forces,” according to documents obtained by Global News.
Jan 17 2019 — Stewart Bell — Global News — For more than four years, authorities have been trying to identify an ISIS member with a distinctly Canadian accent who was narrating the terrorist group’s English-language propaganda. He voiced videos showing mass executions and may have participated in them. His audio statements claimed responsibility for attacks in Paris and Orlando and threatened more.
Jan 14 2019 — Stewart Bell — Global News — Another alleged Canadian ISIS member has been captured in northern Syria, according to local Kurdish forces, who posted a video of the man. In the brief video, the man identified himself as Mohamed Abdullah Mohamed and said he was an Ethiopian-Canadian.
Jan 8 2019 — Stewart Bell — Global News — Discussions about killing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have been appearing on a Facebook page for Canadians who align themselves with the so-called yellow vest protests in France. The Yellow Vests Canada group has gathered more than 100,000 members on Facebook since it launched a month ago as French anti-government demonstrations got underway. But while the […]
Nov 5 2018 — Stewart Bell — Global News — A letter complaining about food, addressed to a prominent Canadian member of the so-called Islamic State, has been found in the group’s former capital of Raqqa, Syria. Written on a page torn from a notebook, apparently by an English-speaking ISIS fighter, the letter warns the lack of food could have a “negative impact” on the […]
Oct 25 2018 — Stewart Bell — Global News — An organization representing the families of extremist group members is demanding the government repatriate 16 Canadians it says are being held in detention camps in northern Syria. Families Against Violent Extremism said in a statement obtained Wednesday by Global News that nine of the captives were adults and seven were infants and children under age […]
Oct 22 2018 — Stewart Bell — Global News — The political debate over what to do with Canadians who were part of the so-called Islamic State returned to Parliament on Monday, with the Conservatives demanding a federal strategy on the matter. An opposition motion tabled in the House of Commons called on the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to put forward a plan […]
Oct 16 2018 — Stewart Bell — Global News — On Sept. 19, 2014, the so-called Islamic State released a gruesome video in which Syrian prisoners dug their own graves, and were then lined up and executed. But what struck some observers was the narrator. He sounded Canadian. “Yup, it’s another Canadian,” Muhammed Ali, an ISIS member from Mississauga, Ont., told Global News in a […]
Oct 11 2018 — Stewart Bell — Global News — From the road, Roj Camp looks like the other tent cities that have sprung up in Syria — a grid of white tents and children flying kites made from sticks and plastic bags. But the armed Kurdish fighters guarding the front gate are a sign it’s not just another refugee camp: It’s a detention centre […]
Oct 10 2018 — Stewart Bell — Global News — Muhammed Ali sat on the couch in the prison commander’s office, still wearing the T-shirt and sweatpants he had on four months ago when he was captured by Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria. Four years ago, the Canadian was a defiant voice of the so-called Islamic State, using his social media accounts to spread beheading […]
Oct 8 2018 — Stewart Bell — Global News — A high-profile Canadian member of the so-called Islamic State has been caught while attempting to return to Canada, Global News has confirmed. Muhammad Ali, 28, who left Toronto in 2014 to join ISIS, was captured by Kurdish forces as he tried to flee from Syria to Turkey. Global News interviewed Ali at a makeshift prison […]