By Anthony Kimery, Editor-in-Chief, and Kylie Bull, Managing Editor
Homeland Security Today
Special to In Homeland Security
Given the nature of the deadly attack on the Paris-based Charlie Hebdo newspaper offices last week, US counterterrorism intelligence sources told Homeland Security Today on condition of anonymity that there’s been what they described as “pretty actionable” intelligence in various forms that’s been connected to indicate the Paris attack was well-planned and “very likely” carried out by well-trained jihadists – possibly from France since they reportedly spoke fluent French — who likely received their training on the battlefields of Syria and Iraq fighting with the Islamic State.
Le Point has reported that French police are focusing on two suspects the magazine described as “French-Algerian.” According to Le Point, the two men, 32 and 34-years old, returned to France from Syria, and that in 2008 one of them was tied to an Iraqi network in Paris that encouraged young men to join jihadists in Iraq. The magazine reported he was also arrested in 2005 as he attempted to travel to Damascus.
Moreover, the sources said, intelligence indicates the attack may be the beginning of a larger coordinated plan of action against numerous individuals jihadists have been identifying for assassination going back to at least 2010, including individuals in the United States, although previous jihadi hit lists against Western individuals in 2011 drew mostly yawns from many intelligence officials and authorities.
The attack on Charlie Hebdo’s offices occurred during a time of intensified worries in France and other Western European nations over the hundreds of radicalized Muslims and self-radicalized jihadist European citizens who went to fight with the Islamic State and feared would return to carry out jihadi attacks in their own countries – a uneasiness that has had Western counterterrorism authorities on edge since ISIS declared itself an Islamic State and appointed its own so-called Caliph.
Former CIA counterterrorism analyst Aki Peritz told BBC World News the attacks were “very professional, well thought out, well researched and well executed.”
In November, French Islamic State members released a video through the Al Hayat Media Center calling on Muslims to carry out jihadi attacks on French soil and offering operational support.
According to witnesses, at least one of the attackers claimed he was an Al Qaeda member. Counterterrorism intelligence officials said on background there’s indications the attackers belong to one of the jihadist group’s affiliates, likely Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has long urged such attacks, and even developed “hit lists” of people to kill.
Paris is no stranger to lone wolf attacks. In November 2013, Abdelhakim Dekhar was behind several attacks in central Paris. He critically wounded a photographer at the offices of Liberation newspaper before opening fire on the offices of Société Générale bank in the La Défense district and taking a motorist hostage. Paris police said Dekhar’s DNA matched genetic prints found on the shotgun cartridges he used and a car he commandeered during the attack.
Homeland Security Today Contributing Writer Dave Sloggett wrote in August that, “All across Europe, security services have become increasing candid about the threat their nations face from terrorism linked to Syria and Iraq by the establishment of the Islamic State. Their openness about the scale of the problem they face is clear. They are trying to prepare Europeans that another terrorist atrocity cannot be prevented in the West. The problems with preventing people from traveling overseas and potentially returning ready to conduct acts of extreme violence — as leaders of the Islamic State have claimed they will do — are simply too huge.”
Sloggett conducted a study of data released by the various security agencies of thirteen European countries that revealed a mixed picture of radicalization when analyzed in the context of the local demographics.
“Aside from Turkey,” he said, “whose population is nearly all classified as Muslims, France is the country with the next highest Muslim population at around 5.5 million out of a total of 63 million people. This represents around 9 percent of the total population. French authorities have been very clear that they believe around 700 people have traveled to Syria, a rate of 1 in 8,000 of the Muslim population. Despite having a similar overall population, Turkish authorities believe that, like France, only 700 have crossed the border into Syria.”
What was clearly a professional, coordinated attack by heavily armed, presumably Islamist jihadists shouting “we have avenged the prophet” and “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) as they stormed the offices of the Paris-based satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo – which has repeatedly angered jihadists in the past for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed – they killed at least 12 people, including editor Stephane “Charb” Charbonnier, four cartoonists and two police officers in the deadliest attack in France in four decades.
The attack occurred just hours after the newspaper published a cartoon of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi earlier today. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the newspaper’s website was crashed early Wednesday after an apparent cyber attack.
“I saw them leaving and shooting. They were wearing masks. These guys were serious,” said a witness who declined to give his name. “At first I thought it was special forces chasing drug traffickers or something. We weren’t expecting this. You would think we were in a movie.”
One of the police officers reportedly was assigned as Charbonnier’s bodyguard in response to prior death threats against him, a police official told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
Charbonnier had been under police protection for quite some time because of death threats over the newspaper’s satirical depictions of Prophet Mohammed.
The gunmen called out the names of their victims, and after the attack quickly fled (possibly changing vehicles several times, according to police), while calling out: “We have avenged the Prophet Mohammed, we have killed Charlie Hebdo.”
Any depiction of the prophet is forbidden by Islam, and punishable by death.
The magazine has been on Jihadists’ hit list for its numerous satirical portrayals of Prophet Mohamed over the years, including a cartoon of a turbaned Muslim on a wheelchair pushed by a man dressed as an orthodox Jew with the caption, “Intouchables 2.” Another cartoon on the back page depicted a naked Mohammed exposing his butt to a film director, which was apparently inspired by a 1963 film starring French film star Brigitte Bardot.
In 2011, Charlie Hebdo made headlines when it named the Prophet Muhammad as editor-in-chief of an edition of the newspaper titled, “Sharia Hebdo,” and featured Prophet Mohammed as guest editor. Not surprisingly, the edition of the publication incited outrage and its offices firebombed.
The attack and further threats of violence didn’t deter Charlie Hebdo, which continued to publish more Muhammad illustrations the following year.
Read the full article at Homeland Security Today.
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