Russia, which began its strikes in Syria at the end of September, has always said its main target is Islamic State.
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Belgian police conducted raids in the area Saturday night and early Sunday and arrested seven people suspected of knowledge or involvement with the bloody attacks in Paris, not the first time people from Molenbeek have taken part in worldwide terrorism.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility.
The US intelligence community is scouring its own data to see if any warning signs were missed in the lead-up to Friday’s deadly terror attacks in Paris, though top USA and French officials argued Monday that intelligence lapses were not to blame.
And an arms dealer from the city was arrested for allegedly providing arms to Amedy Coulibaly, the ISIS sympathizer who attacked a Paris kosher supermarket in January. Asked why his government wasn’t doing more, he said it “has already taken a number of initiatives at the preventive level”. “I think people are terrified”, Dogan said.
Arriving for talks in Brussels, Greek Defense Minister Panagiotis Kammenos told reporters that the Paris attacks were a game-changer for the bloc. Prosecutor Francois Molins previously said most of the other terrorists committed suicide by detonating bomb belts.
THE awful details of the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday night are still emerging today, but for many in France and around the world, one word used by President Francoise Hollande seemed to sum up the worldwide reaction to the killings: “war”.
Such a ceasefire would free nations supporting Syria’s various factions to concentrate more on the Islamic State, which is ineligible for the truce and has come under greater military scrutiny since Friday’s attacks in Paris.
Salah is a practicing Muslim, according to his brother. Another brother was arrested in Belgium, authorities said.
He said Salah Abdeslam prayed and attended a mosque occasionally, but also dressed in jeans and pullovers. Hamza Attou, 21, says he went along to keep Amri company, his lawyer Carine Couquelet said.
“They also land in districts which are breeding grounds for radicalisation”, she said, before taking a dig at her socialist predecessor: “One should have been firmer from the start”.
The trail led to the three brothers following the discovery of two cars registered in Belgium, one of them near the Bataclan concert hall where 89 people were gunned down, and the other in a Paris suburb, Belgian prosecutors said.
At least one man, Salah Abdeslam, a Belgian-born French national, remains at large following the attacks, which have been claimed by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. One attack destroyed 116 fuel trucks used by the organization near the Iraqi border, while others struck fighting positions and explosives caches in both countries, according to a statement from the Combined Joint Task Force, which is coordinating the global operation.
“This is just raw terror”, he said, vowing that the campaign against IS will succeed.
The identifications provide new clues to investigators trying to establish how three teams of gunmen and suicide bombers could strike in the heart of one of Europe’s most heavily policed cities. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive investigation.
– In a show of solidarity, British Prime Minister David Cameron was joining Prince William at a soccer match Tuesday night between England and France in London’s Wembley Stadium. Armed police were patrolling the site. Not only did the citizens of the United Kingdom carry on in the face of terrorist attacks, the Troubles proved in the end that hard-core tactics such as imprisonment without trial and soldiers on the ground can not win the struggle against a small band of terrorists – instead, peace was found through engagement, realpolitik and a proper consideration of where power and influence really lies. Children went to school and the Eiffel Tower reopening to tourists after a two-day shutdown. The BBC reported in January that authorities seeking Abaaoud had detained people in Greece. He said the multiple passport registrations could be “a trail that was intentionally laid”.
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– German police arrested seven people near the western city of Aachen, but later released them, saying no links to the Paris attacks were found.
