France raises its terror alert level to the highest level in the wake of the Moscow attack.

 

French soldiers on patrol. France24.

France has raised its terror alert level to the highest level in the wake of the deadly ISIS terror attack in Moscow. France24. France has three terror alert levels and the highest level allows for the deployment of armed soldiers and patrols in public areas. ISIS took credit for the deadly attack in Moscow that left at least 137 people. France has a long history of jihadist terror attacks, with the 2015 Paris attacks being the most notable. France only moves their terror level in the wake of an attack in France or in anticipation of one. 

My Comment:

This is a wise move by the French. There is a major risk of terrorism in the wake of the Moscow attack and there is a good chance that it could happen in France. ISIS has a long history of attacking France and some of their most notable attacks have occurred in the country. 

The threat is two-fold. The actual handlers in the Moscow attacks have not been tracked down and they could be funding further attacks. It's very possible that the cell responsible for funding and supplying the attack could be plotting further attacks and some of them could be in France. The Moscow attack wasn't particularly difficult to pull off, the attackers were hired for a ridiculously small amount, probably less than the firearms and Molotov's they were armed with. And they never even had to make the 2nd payment since they got caught right away!

The other threat is that this attack in Moscow is going to inspire new attacks. This has happened in the wake of other major attacks where some lone wolf attacker decides to try their own attack because they were inspired by the larger attack. These attacks will likely be incompetent, like the lone guy with a knife that tries to attack armed soldiers or police, but they could still end up killing or injuring them. Again, France, with their large and radicalized Muslim population, could be extremely vulnerable to this as well. 

Will raising the terror level help things? Probably. Unlike most countries, France puts soldiers on the streets when they have a terror alert. Those soldiers are well armed and can and have responded to terror attacks. 

I do think that the threat is well beyond just France though. ISIS has reformed in Afghanistan and are using it as a base to attack other countries and if they can hire people in Russia they can also do so in Europe. There is a real chance of a follow up attack in the next few days or weeks. 

I also think that the threat is high in the United States. Our border is completely open and I am sure that there are radicals that made it in during the massive wave of illegal immigrants. I do wonder if there are links between ISIS-K and American radicals, it's unclear how big ISIS-K is in terms of organization and funds. But we also have the aforementioned threat of home grown lone wolfs to worry about as well...