Thursday, 14 November 2024

France Raises Terror Alert to Highest Level After Suspected ISIS Attack in Moscow

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France Raises Terror Alert to Highest Level After Suspected ISIS Attack in Moscow
A French soldier, part of the CHRISTIAN HARTMANN/POOL/AFP/AFP via Getty Images

The government of France raised its terror threat warning to its highest level on Sunday evening in the wake of the suspected ISIS attack on a Moscow concert hall that left at least 137 dead.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said that the government would be raising its Vigipirate terror alert system to level three, the highest level in which the country is urged to exercise “maximum vigilance and protection in case of an imminent threat or in the aftermath of an attack.”

“Given the claim of responsibility for the attack by the Islamic State and the threats weighing on our country, we have decided to raise the Vigipirate posture to its highest level: emergency attack,” Attal wrote on social media following a meeting of the Defense and National Security Council at the Elysée Palace convened by President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday.

In a statement provided to Le Figaro, the prime minister's office at the Hôtel Matignon added: “The claim for the Moscow attack comes from the Islamic State in Khorasan. However, this organization threatens France and has been involved in several recent foiled attack plans in several European countries, including Germany and France.

“The Prime Minister asked the Secretary General of Defense and National Security, under his authority, to convene a meeting first thing tomorrow (Monday) bringing together all the security services impacted by the increase in the Vigipirate level.”

The raising of the terror threat level comes just a little over two months after it was downgraded to level two. The government previously raised the threat level to its highest level after a teacher was stabbed to death in the city of Aras in October by Chechnyan migrant Mohamed Mogouchkov after Hamas called for a global “day of jihad” in response to the then-expected military response from Israel after the October 7th terror attacks.

On Sunday, Russia charged four men, Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, Muhammadsobir Fayzov, Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, and Shamsidin Fariduni with committing acts of terrorism following the attack on the Crocus City Hall in the Krasnogorsk suburb of Moscow. To date, seven other people have been arrested for allegedly helping the four men carry out the terror attack.

ISIS claimed responsibility for orchestrating the attack, in which the shooters mowed down civilians at a rock concert and set fire to the venue, killing at least 137 and injuring more than 100. The radical Islamist terror group claimed that it was carried out at the behest of the splinter cell Islamic State in Khorasan, or IS-K group.

The Kremlin has so far not validated the claims from the Islamist group and Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that the suspected terrorists may have been assisted by Ukraine, given that they were arrested near the Ukrainian border in the Bryansk region of Russia.

Ukraine has denied all involvement and said that it was “absurd” to suggest that the men could have crossed into Ukraine from that area as it is heavily fortified with Russian soldiers. The United States has also claimed that ISIS was to blame for the attack and that its intelligence indicated that there was no involvement from Ukraine.

The nature of the attack in Moscow has drawn comparisons to the ISIS attack on the Bataclan Theatre in Paris in 2015, in which 90 people were killed by Islamist gunmen who stormed a rock concert by the Eagles of Death Metal.

France has been ramping up security measures in recent months as Paris prepares to host the Summer Olympic Games, which will be held in the city from July 26th to August 11th.

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