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Hit hard by jihadism, Europe faced with the fear of a "new wave"

2021-03-22T21:43:48.682Z


Experts in questions of terrorism and Islamist radicalization drew up, on Monday, a complete panorama of the terrorist threat on the Old Continent, during a summit organized by the think tank Elnet and the Institut Montaigne.


A real dive into the heart of European jihadism.

This was proposed Monday by the think tank European Leadership Network (Elnet), organizer, with the Montaigne Institute, of the European summit “

Islamist radicalization and terrorist threat

”.

After a first part, on January 11, a group of experts worked on the profile of jihadists from the countries of the Union.

Read also: Terrorism: DGSE - DGSI, the exclusive interview with intelligence chiefs

Hakim El Karoui, essayist, consultant and expert for the Montaigne Institute, detailed the results of his latest study after eighteen months of work involving five people.

Based on open data, covering some 700 French jihadists (parties or inclinations), 300 British, 300 Belgians and 200 Germans, they paint a robot portrait as close as possible to reality.

With an average age of 25 years, these individuals (20% of women) have, as regards the tricolor contingent, almost all of the French nationality.

60% come from immigration of Maghreb origin and there are also 25 to 30% converts, friends of neighborhoods who have embraced radical Islam.

The geographical concentration is extremely important, even beyond the departments or regions traditionally mentioned (Paris, Lyon, North, East, etc.).

Twelve municipalities bring together 50% of jihadists and three-quarters of them come from 48 French cities.

Finally, far from being marginalized, a third of them have a vocational training, a quarter of university and another quarter of high school.

However, with difficult access to employment.

A wave could occur in Europe via a salafization of minds or the development of armed groups commanded no longer from outside but from European soil.

Hakim El Karoui underlines that the situation is more or less the same in Germany and Belgium but differs in the United Kingdom with a higher socio-economic level (a third of students, doctors, engineers) and a closer link with families already rigorous.

The expert expresses his fear for the future.

After a period 2000-2010 marked by the establishment of Salafism, then the 2010s with "

the Syrian call for air

" and the tenfold increase in potential jihadists, we can fear "

a new wave

".

A wave that could occur in Europe via a salafization of minds or the development of armed groups commanded no longer from outside but from European soil.

A European scourge

In the Netherlands, the historian Seran de Leede emphasizes female jihad (100 departures from this country or a third of the total) with an average age of 20 years and a large number of double nationals (mostly Moroccan) and converted (31% against 7% for men).

And roles much more diverse than expected, from recruiters to fundraisers, including traffickers of arms or equipment or organizers of armed actions, also participating in them.

The researcher underlines that for some of these women the jihadist commitment can even be seen as a factor of “

liberation

” despite the theoretical role assigned to women by Islamist organizations.

Finally in Belgium, the historian Pieter Van Ostaeyen expresses his concern about the 290 jihadists who are still in the area (165 combatants are also supposed to be dead and 40 detained in camps, the majority of whom are women and children).

To read also: Laurent Nuñez: "The Islamic State is reconstituted in the underground"

Faced with these continental constants, which remind us that the phenomenon does not stop at national borders, three high-level officials spoke at the summit.

National coordinator of intelligence and the fight against terrorism, Laurent Nuñez recalled the importance of bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the field of intelligence within the anti-terrorism group which brings together, outside the European bodies, the countries of the Union and its neighbors (Switzerland, Norway, etc.).

For him, the Balkans (with the Maghreb), where ghosts have returned from the Syrian-Iraqi zone, are particularly monitored.

And the French official recalled that the author of the Vienna attack in November 2020 was, through his family, from the Albanian minority in North Macedonia.

And that he was in contact with Daesh members in the Balkans.

Number 2 of the internal intelligence of the Federal Republic (BfV), the German Sinan Selen spoke of the progression of Salafism in his country with some 12,150 identified Salafists.

He also underlined that alongside an ever-present terrorist threat (arrest of a Tajik cell in April 2020, anti-terrorist operation in Denmark and Germany in February 2021), it was also necessary to be concerned about those who advocate "

separation". of society

”and send to these organizations“

the signal that we will not stand

”this separatism.

And to recall the ban at the beginning of the month of a radical association in Berlin.

France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany… The global scourge calls for a global response.

Read also: Financing of terrorism: the discreet work of the intelligence services is bearing fruit

In conclusion, the European coordinator for the fight against terrorism, Gilles de Kerchove, recognizes the sovereignty of the Member States but recalls what the Union can bring to the common fight in the field of files (Schengen), police and judicial cooperation, the fight against the trafficking of weapons, explosives and even online propaganda.

The field is very vast.

And time is running out because, with some 5,000 departures from Europe and a string of attacks, the Syrian-Iraqi jihad has hit the Old Continent with full force.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-03-22

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