France is no longer ‘easy target’ as it understands terrorism ‘better than UK and Spain'
FRANCE, a long been a prime target for extremists, has been more or less spared from the recent wave of large-scale terrorist attacks because it understands the threat posed by Islamic militant groups “better than its neighbours,” political scientist Gilles Kepel said.
France has long been a prime target for extremists
Although French counter-terrorism officials have thwarted seven terror plots since January, all successful attacks this past year have been against the country’s security forces, and not against civilians.
Mr Kepel, an expert on Islamic terrorism, told the French news channel BFM TV: “France has developed a robust counter-strategy that has proved hugely successful, and has made a lot of progress over the last two years in preventing large-scale attacks on home soil.”
The country, which was brought to its knees following the bloody terrorist attacks in Paris and in Nice, now understands the terrorist mind – the process of radicalisation and what drives extremists to commit mass murder – “better than its European neighbours,” Mr Kepel continued.
He said: “Terrorists have realised that France, which is teeming with security officers, is a tricky target, and has become a lot more difficult to enter and attack than its neighbours.”
French counter-terrorism officials have thwarted seven terror plots since January
The Paris terror attacks killed 130 people
Fifteen people were killed in a terror attack in Barcelona
Having a centralised intelligence apparatus, according to the Islam expert, allows French counter-terrorism officials to identify and track aspiring jihadists more quickly than their British, German, and Spanish counterparts.
“Unlike France, the UK, Germany and Spain have more than one intelligence agency, and as a result, important intelligence is not always passed on between services. A centralisation of intelligence-gathering would help them combat the terror threat more efficiently,” he said.