After the attack in Brussels, concerns are growing: the terrorist attack in Israel and the war in Gaza could provide a motivational boost to IS supporters in Europe. In Syria, jihadists are fighting for a new “caliphate”.
The shock in Brussels is profound after the two murders committed by an assassin on Tuesday night. In a video, the attacker described himself as a supporter of the terrorist organization called Islamic State (IS). This is not the first time that Brussels has been the scene of an attack. In March 2016, IS supporters murdered more than 30 people at the airport and a metro station. Six months earlier, IS carried out a series of coordinated attacks in Paris, killing 130 people. Here too a trail led to Belgium. It was the time when IS brought terror to Europe with large, strategically planned attacks.
With the dismantling of the IS “caliphate” in 2019, the jihadists’ operational options also appear to have diminished recently. In recent years, it has mainly been individual perpetrators, so-called lone wolves, who have carried out attacks. The loss of its territory, which stretched across large parts of Syria and Iraq, was also a bitter propaganda defeat for the once-feared terrorist militia. But Hamas’ terrorist massacres in southern Israel and Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip could provide a new boost of motivation for IS supporters in Europe. And jihadists are also trying to regain ground in Syria and Iraq.
IS ambush attacks
Safety precautions have recently been strengthened in several European countries.