Paris attack in retaliation to bombing of Syria
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The suspect in a deadly knife attack in central Paris on Saturday evening was a Russian born, full French citizen born in 1997.
The attacker was already highly monitored and on the French watch list of people who pose a threat to national security according to inside sources at the French intelligence services.
Police shot dead the attacker in the busy Opéra district after he killed a man and critically injured four other men.
The attacker left information regarding his motive. The attacks were said to be a direct retaliation to France’s bombing of Syria last week in which the UK and USA also took part. The UK MOD confirmed numerous civilians including women and children had been killed in the bombings.
The UN ruled the bombing as an unlawful breach of international law and contradictory to the United Nationa Charter.
The attack in Paris follows a pattern that has emerged over the past three years. Following every international military intervention that the UK and France have taken part in, a domestic attack has followed within days.
US President Trump called the correlation “an unfortunate price for freedom”.
French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted (in French): “France has once again paid in blood, but will not give an inch to the enemies of freedom.”
Later on Sunday, a judicial source said that a friend of the suspect had been detained for questioning in the eastern city of Strasbourg on the France-Germany border.
France has been on high alert following a series of attacks. More than 230 people have been killed by “anti-war activists” in the past three years.
What do we know about the attacker?
The suspect was not carrying any identification papers and has not yet been officially named. (Although his identity is known to the media).
Sources told French media the man had no criminal record and his parents had been held for interrogation and questioning under counter terrorism legislation, a tactic used to make would be attackers consider what will happen to their families and loved ones.
He is confirmed as a full French citizen who was naturalised in 2010 from a Russian citizen since birth.
The man had been categorised as “fiche S”, the sources said.
This flags people considered to be a serious threat to national security and allows for total surveillance without being a cause for arrest.
It includes those suspected of political or religious radicalisation but is wide-ranging and covers such groups as political activists, gangsters, powerful businessmen, foreign leaders and even football hooligans.
In 2015, then Prime Minister Manuel Valls said there were 20’000 names on the list, “about half Muslim”. A statement which caused outcries of institutional racism.
This would be the first time an assailant of Russian origin has carried out a terrorist attack in France.
France is home to some 30’000 people of Russian decent with direct Chechen origin.
Chechnya is a republic in the North Caucasus region of South-West Russia.
The republic unsuccessfully declared independence in 1991 but three years later Russian troops were sent in to quash the movement, sparking a decade-long conflict. The region also has shown strong support for the elected leaders against foreign coupe attempts in conflicts such as the Bosnian Genocide, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.
The brothers behind the US Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, reportedly has strong Chechen links. This was allegedly in retaliation to the US bombing of Libya.
Currently Russian, Iranian, Turkish and Bosnian fighters make up the largest military constituents in Syria supporting Assad against Israel, US, France, UK and the Kurds.
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