Last
week, France was under siege for three days by Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaeda
in Yemen or Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) terrorists. It’s regarded as the vilest
paroxysm of terrorism in France since the Algerian War and was labeled as France’s
9/11. The impact created by these heinous attacks intensified worries about the
failure of the French security and intelligence agencies. Further the
underprivileged immigrant in suburbs and the radicalizations of alienated young
people on society’s margins make France vulnerable for such future attacks. The
radicalization of a small group of people within French society who are
disintegrates them and rejects the core value of French people. President Francois
Hollande had stated that France means liberty and fraternity. This shows that there an abyss between Islam
and the values of the West.
The latest reports indicate that the
French and USA intelligence services had known these terrorists and at one
point of time did not pursued on them further. The attacks are well coordinated
and the terrorist know each other well. They are well trained and had the
capability to handle weapons. Their movements and declarations aftermath of
massacre indicate on this.
Interestingly these terrorist are
born in France and they seemed to be integrated with French society and culture
at early of their life. But what had causes them to be became the most
notorious terrorist in France. Further what had triggered the intelligence
services of France and USA dropped out completely the said terrorists from
their national radar/watch list/database even though both Kouachi brothers on
the USA no-fly list.
France has been seen as the most
aggressive country in Europe in its surveillance of Islamists and willingness
to seize its own citizens’ passports and to prevent them from departing for
Syria and Iraq as a frontrunner tackling jihadists’ movement but over the past
two years the increased number of jihadists travelling to Syria and Iraq and
keep tracking them become an unbearable task to accomplish. This can be the
reason why the brothers are listed as the less threatening to national
security. Similarly in 2012, Mohammed Merah, a French citizen, killed seven
people including children in southwestern France. Last year, another Frenchman,
Mehdi Nemouche, killed four people in Brussels where French authorities knew
that he had returned to Europe from Syria.
Amedy Coulibaly and the Kouachi brothers
(Cherif and Said) are belonging to the same jihadist network known as the
Buttes-Chaumont network. This network radicalized young people into militant
Islam and sent several of them to fight in Iraq during early 2000s. The three
deceptively working together but their loyalties are on two rival
organiszations i.e. AQAP and IS.
The meeting of Coulibaly and Cherif
Kouachi with Djamel Beghal (a French –Algerian jihadist who was accused of
planning an attack on the American Embassy in Paris in 2001) is probably the preparatory
point of radicalization of them. Probably both of them are recruited while in
prison by Beghal in 2005. Beghal was
excluded from UK on the ground of national security in 2009. Further reports
had directed that he had organized an al-Qaeda cell in the Midlands, building a
network among emigres who used the Indian and Pakistani communities as cover.
He was alleged helped recruit Richard Reid, the shoe bomber and Zacarias
Moussaoui, the 20th 9/11 hijacker. The homegrown terrorists who are
come from sleeper cells like in this case are the most dangerous and
unmanageable by security and intelligence agencies.
The role of American born cleric,
Anwar al-Awlaki who is heading the external operations and recruitment of
European terrorist for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) had financed
and trained Said Kouachi during his trip to Yemen in 2011 should have caused
some apprehension to the security and intelligence agencies in France and USA.
According to intelligence reports there are more than 3,000 European citizens, including
at least 1,200 from France have flocked to Syria and Iraq to fight along IS and
estimated some 200 jihadists have returned home and they can cause serious
problem akin as a time bomb for national security. AQAP’s magazine ‘Inspire’ had listed Charlie
Hebdo and its editor in chief as their precedence targets. Even though
there are well documented reports on the brothers who had visited Yemen (a
breeding ground for terrorist) and subsequent decisive inaction of relevant
agencies to monitor and detain them had let the siege last week.
The biggest tasks for the
authorities are the detection of terrorists, sympathizers, handlers, funders
together with their motivations and modes and methods of acts of violence.
Further the exposing of gaps in security measures together with ethnic,
religious and political tensions have contributed to such atrocities happened
in France.
The biggest questions are how they
manage to evade surveillance and execute a bold ttack despite being well known
to the country’s intelligence and security services. The failure to identify
and stop such attacks a major lapse in intelligence. Even though USA
intelligence agencies track down young people who are traveling in and out of
Yemen but the said brothers and other French nationals had handed over to
French security services. The office Charlie Hebdo was not protected well even
though the intelligence agencies knew of the serious threat. Even though it can
pointed out that it’s a problem of resources and understaffed by security and
intelligence agencies for these lapses but enhancing security measures and
national security always must be prioritized for the said agencies.
Cherif was presented as an ordinary
immigrant youngster before tumbling into a subterranean world of fanatical
faith and calls for vengeance against USA troops in Iraq and other forces
perceived as enemies of Islam. Another foreign associate of Cherif,
Tunisian-French jihadist Boubaker Hakim, a member of the IS who has been
actively recruiting and building a network of fighters across Northern Africa
and in European immigrants communities since 2011. Hakim helped found a network
of young jihadists in Buttes-Chaumont and recruited the young local Muslims to
fight in Iraq. The brothers are representing a new powerful phenomenon i.e.
well trained; determined and connected to al-Qaeda network.
The profound factors of a terrorist
attacks, firstly the influx of immigrants from ‘hotspot’ countries on terrorism
like Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Nigeria; secondly, the debarment of young persons
from a particular religious or ethnic group into mainstream society; thirdly,
political and economic disengagement between members of a society; lastly, the
lax of security and intelligence instruments and availability of information on
terrorism among those agencies contribute such attacks occurred within a state.
In nutshell, legislation, various
methods and mode of intelligence will be ineffective without the preemptive
role of public. It is impossible to monitor the suspected perpetrators all the
time. The change of circumstances which happened so drastically makes the
intelligence and security agencies task to detect the said terrorist is unmanageable.
Therefore the public role is so
crucial to maintain peace and security of any nation.
They must fill the gap by assisting
and supporting the relevant agencies to safeguard the national sovereignty without
any hesitation. This will prevent the nation from terrorist attack and protect the national security.
Kuala Lumpur.
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