26/03/24
France faces a growing, multi-faceted terrorist threat
In the wake of the Moscow attack, France has raised the national security alert system to its maximum level. Intelligence services fear an increase in recruitments from Central Asia, targeting young individuals present in France.
The attack in Moscow on Friday, March 22, claimed by the Islamic State (IS) organization, was keenly felt in France. Just two days after the attack, a defense council meeting was held at the Elysée Palace to discuss the terrorist threat, against the backdrop of the upcoming Olympic Games in the summer and the growing number of threats against schools. After the meeting, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said that because of "the Islamic State having claimed responsibility for the attack and the threats hanging over our country, we have decided to raise the Vigipirate [France's national security alert system] threat to its highest level."
Arriving on Monday morning in French Guiana, President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that, according to the "information" the intelligence services "have," "it was an Islamic State entity that fomented this attack and carried it out." IS Khorasan Province (IS-K) – active in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia – was "apparently involved in the attack, [and] had carried out several attempts on our own soil in recent months," said Macron, without disclosing which ones. "In view of its ramifications and intentions, and as a precautionary measure but with credible and solid elements, it has been decided to raise the Vigipirate level," he added.
In Paris, Attal said that "the Islamist terrorist threat is real, it is strong" and that "it has never wavered." "Our mobilization is so that we can face it," "we are acting everywhere to asphyxiate it," with the deployment of "exceptional means across the territory," he added.
Two attacks foiled in 2024
Following the raising of the national security alert system to its maximum level, the prime minister announced that 4,000 additional military personnel" were placed "on alert" in addition to the 3,000 already deployed as part of Operation Sentinelle, an anti-terrorist operation activated after the January 2015 attacks in the Paris region.
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