The terrorist attacks that shook France on Friday will surely be remembered for a long time, considering the fact that the allied nations, online organizations and advocates have declared war towards ISIS, and other terrorist organization.
Recent reports indicate that the French authorities have managed to conclude that the man, known by the name of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a terrorist who spent some time fighting for ISIS, was the mastermind behind the Paris terrorist attacks, leaving behind over 130 dead and hundreds of injured.
The report comes from a French official that has been briefed on the current state of the investigation, and proceeded to speak anonymously, due to the fact that he was not authorized to discuss any of the operational details, or offer information about the ongoing investigation. He stated that the Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud was already a suspect in another investigation, concerning a Belgian terrorist plot, which was foiled back in January this year.
According to the reports of President Francois Hollande, it seems like the attacks were originally planned over in Syria, and then organized in Belgium, only to be carried out on French soil. The president also went ahead and described Syria as clearly the biggest factory of terrorists that the world has seen until now. Based on this, President Hollande stated that he is completely determined to annihilate the Islamic State, by saying that now, France is officially at war against this entity. Together with this, the President also said that he is proposing legislative framework meant to extend the state of emergency to three months. Together with this, there are also plans meant to make it easier to revoke French citizenship of people who don’t have dual passports, especially those who are involved in terrorism activities of any kind.
It’s important to note that the state of emergency imposed by Mr. Hollande empowers the police to carry out raids without the need of search warrants. With this in mind, over 168 raids like these took place in lots of regions around France until now. During the raids, the police also arrested around 23 people, and managed to confiscate 19 weapons, including handguns, long guns and heavy weapons. Computer hardware and narcotics were also seized by the law enforcement, and a total of 104 people were placed under house arrest.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that several raids have also taken place in Belgium, where heavily armed intervention teams have raided the Molenbeek region of the capital, in order to look for a man, who has played an important part in organizing and carrying out the attacks. Right now, he is still nowhere to be found, although sources point that he will likely be found and detained by the end of the week.
Based on everything that has been outlined so far, it seems like the French investigation is gaining ground quickly. However, regardless of whether all people involved with the attacks are found or not, the war on terrorism must continue according to the officials.
What do you personally think about this strategy? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
