The air strikes were launched on the opening day of the G20 summit in Turkey where world leaders in a draft statement raised the alarm over an escalating global movement of “foreign terrorist fighters”. In recent weeks, the sense of danger had spiked. “We do not have information on the date and place for implementing these terrorist operations at this time”, the Iraqi dispatch read in part.
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The attackers in Friday’s terrorist assault in Paris communicated at a few point beforehand with known members of the Islamic State in Syria, officials on both sides of the Atlantic say, adding evidence to the assertions that the radical group coordinated or helped carry out the attacks rather than simply inspired them.
Cruickshank said the next challenge was the emergence of a major ISIS propaganda video if they eventually do take credit for the Paris attacks.
The prime minister said authorities have so far identified 103 of the dead, who included journalists, lawyers, students, parents of small children.
In an interview last month with French broadcaster RTL, Hollande acknowledged French airstrikes on other Islamic State camps in Raqqa, the capital of IS’ self-proclaimed caliphate, and elsewhere in Syria, saying “there are terrorists training to lead the fight in Syria but can also plant bombs in our country”.
An attacker who blew himself up outside the national soccer stadium was found with a Syrian passport with the name Ahmad Al Mohammad, a 25-year-old born in Idlib, the prosecutor’s office said. Police have been searching intensively for accomplices.
In addition to the military moves, France has remained insistent that Assad must go – a stronger stance than that of the United States, which recently has tamped down demands for Assad’s quick departure.
All these French and Iraqi security and intelligence officials spoke with the AP on condition of anonymity, citing the ongoing investigation.
The Iraqi government has been sharing intelligence with various coalition nations since they launched their airstrike campaign against the Islamic State group previous year.
Seven of the gunmen and suicide bombers died in the bloodshed, with three blowing themselves up outside the Stade de France as France and Germany were playing an global football friendly.
Stavridis, who is dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, said North Atlantic Treaty Organisation special forces could be called on in Iraq and Syria as aircraft spotters and as trainers of anti-IS fighters.
The USA military probably handed over a list of targets the coalition was planning to strike to the French to let them fly the sorties, said retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, a military analyst.
“And unless that changes strategically, we can expect more attacks like this”, said Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. He first referred to Islamic State as the “JV” – junior varsity compared to al-Qaeda. “There’s also a USA presence on the ground in Syria – that will likely increase”. The Charlie Hebdo attackers claimed links to extremists in Yemen, while the kosher market attacker claimed ties to the Islamic State group.
Experts noted that several factors may have been behind the failures in January: Security services are drowning in data, overwhelmed by the quantity of people and emails they are expected to track, and hampered by the inability to make pre-emptive arrests in democratic countries.
Ultimately, the US might have little choice. The French were already on high alert.
Obtaining intelligence about the Islamic State group has been no easy feat given difficulties accessing territory held by the radical Sunni group. There have been more than 1,000 French nationals traveling to Syria and Iraq.
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The death toll of the carnage is reportedly around 160 and over 200 are injured.
