posted by Christopher W. Holton
Two years after the Jihadist attacks that have turned Paris into a virtual armed camp, the plague of Jihad that the French imported into their society continues to pose a violent terrorist threat.
Two years after militants killed 130 people in co-ordinated attacks across Paris, French officials say there remains an unprecedented level of “internal” threat.
With Islamic State (IS) losing ground in Iraq and Syria, hundreds of French citizens – and in some cases their children – are expected to attempt to return to France, leaving the government in a quandary over how to deal with them.
There has also been the passage of more stringent French legislation, with the most recent law, effective this month, giving police extended powers to search properties, conduct electronic eavesdropping and shut mosques or other locations suspected of preaching hatred.
While he has ended the state of emergency brought in after the attacks, heavily-armed soldiers still patrol the streets of Paris daily, and barely a week goes by without a police operation to round up suspects. According to the interior ministry, extraordinary measures have helped intelligence agencies thwart more than 30 attacks in the last two years. Last week, the police arrested nine people and another was apprehended in Switzerland in a co-ordinated counter-terrorism operation.
French prosecutor Francois Molins has said that while larger cells are still plotting, more attacks are likely to come from isolated individuals using “low-cost” methods such as cars or knives to kill.
“We are witnessing a new bout of isolated actions, 11 since the beginning of the year, which supports the idea of an increasing endogenous threat,”
Of particular concern is what to do about hundreds of French citizens who went to fight with IS and may now seek to return. French secret services estimates that around 690 French nationals are now in Iraq and Syria, including 295 women. Estimates from late 2015 suggested around 2,000 French citizens had gone to fight with IS.
http://www.gulf-times.com/story/570952/France-frets-over-internal-threat-two-years-after-
Terror Trends Bulletin 