focus - arab times · thwarting of a possible attack before the 2014 winter olympics in sochi,...

ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2015

15INTERNATIONAL

A woman walks past the ‘Les Beguines’ bar owned by Ibrahim Abdeslam, one of three brothers implicated in Paris attacks stands closed in Brussels’s Molenbeek district on Nov 17. (Inset): MohamedAbdeslam addresses the media at his home in the Molenbeek neighborhood in Brussels on Monday. After his weekend detention, Mohamed Abdeslam was released by police, and spoke to reporters

about his brother Brahim who died during a suicide attack Friday and his other brother Salah who is a fugitive, following terror attacks in Paris. (AFP/AP)

This picture taken on Nov 16, showsa general view of a house whereSamy Amimour, one of the perpetra-tors of the Paris terror attacks isbelieved to have lived in Bobigny,suburban Paris. One of the suicidebombers who attacked a Paris con-cert hall had gone to Syria two yearsago after being radicalised in France,his family had told AFP beforeFriday’s attacks. Paris born SamyAmimour, 28 had been charged withterror offences ‘after an abotiveattempt to travel to Yemen’, Parisprosecutors said, but his family saidhe travelled to Syria in 2013. (AFP)

Focus

Failures exposed

‘Security’ faceharsh spotlightPARIS, Nov 17, (AFP): France’ssecurity services are once againfacing a harsh spotlight after failingto prevent the brutal attacks in Pariscarried out by the Islamic Stategroup.

There is particular concern overthe failure to intercept 28-year-oldFrenchman Samy Amimour, one of

the suicidebombers in themassacre at theBataclan concerthall.

A case wasopened againsthim in France in2012 after anabortive attemptto go to Yemen,

but he was still able to travel toSyria a year later, triggering aninternational warrant for his arrest.

That did not stop him sneakingback into France and taking part inFriday’s bloody attacks in the capi-tal.

“We have a problem with con-trolling (Europe’s) Schengen bor-ders — a big one,” said AlainChouet, a former security chief atFrance’s DGSE external intelli-gence service.

“(Amimour’s) arrival shouldhave triggered a red flag. But theseguys understand very well the tech-niques for entering and exiting theSchengen zone. They’ve practisedit a lot.”

FlakThe intelligence services are also

taking flak over another of the gun-man who blew himself up at theBataclan, Omar Ismail Mostefai.

He had been on the radar since2010 and was subject to an “S-file”as a known extremist.

Turkey says it alerted France thathe was a potential threat on twooccasions — in December andJanuary — after he travelled to thecountry in 2013, likely on his wayto Syria.

But Turkey “never got a responsefrom France”, a senior official inAnkara told AFP.

Belgium represents anothermajor problem for European securi-ty, with several of the attackersknown to local police but little doneto track their movements.

“You understand that if theBelgians don’t warn us, we can’t doanything,” a senior French policesource said Monday.

SlipDespite the criticism, experts say

the scale of the challenge makes itimpossible to keep track of every-thing.

“Fingers will be pointed at theFrench intelligence services butgiven the sheer number of individu-als they have to monitor, they arefinding it overwhelming, and it wasalways likely that some would slipthrough the net,” said Kit Nicholl,France security analyst for IHSCountry Risk in London.

France has contributed the high-est number of citizens to the jihadin Syria and Iraq.

More than 500 French fightersare thought to be with Islamic Statein Syria and Iraq, according to offi-cial figures, while 250 havereturned and some 750 expressed adesire to go there. More than10,000 people have “S-file” statusas potential extremists.

France passed a new legal frame-work over the summer, giving theauthorities sweeping powers to bugphones and online conversationswith little judicial oversight.

But as with the case of theKouachi brothers who carried out theattacks on Charlie Hebdo magazinein January, “it’s clear the problemisn’t identifying potential terrorists,it’s having the resources for analysisand assessment,” said Nicholl.

“Those with training abroad willprobably have the awareness ofhow to circumvent surveillance,either by avoiding communicationsaltogether or using advancedencryption technologies that areadvancing at such a pace that it’shard for intelligence agencies tostay ahead,” he added.

A former counter-terrorism spe-cialist for the DGSE, speaking oncondition of anonymity, said therewere three theories.

“Either no one saw anything, andthat’s a big worry, or we saw thingsand we didn’t understand them, whichis also a problem, or we saw thingsand despite everything they were ableto carry out the attack,” he said.

“It means we either have a prob-lem of intelligence, or analysis of theintelligence, or of the chain of com-mand among the security services.The challenge was made harder bythe fact it was prepared in Belgium.”

“It has to be said: even thoughthe Belgians have the highest pro-portion of people leaving for Syria,they are not up to the task. In thisgroup, many of the guys wereknown in Brussels.

“Someone has screwed up,” hesaid.

But counter-terrorism officialsare forced to make difficult choicesabout which people to prioritisewith limited resources.

Europe

Explosives in hand cream: A seniorRussian official on Monday revealed thethwarting of a possible attack before the2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, sayingfemale suicide bombers had planned tosmuggle explosives onto an aircraft inhand cream.

Deputy Foreign Minister OlegSyromolotov, who has responsibility forcounter-terrorism, said the suspectedattackers were detained in Austria andFrance.

“The female suicide bombers whowere in France had plans showingwhere they were supposed to put theexplosives,” Russian news agenciesquoted him saying during an appearancebefore the upper house of Russia’s par-liament. “Their explosives were in handcream.”

The reports didn’t specify where thesuspects were when they were detained orwhether they were trying to board aflight.

Syromolotov, a veteran of Russia’sFSB security service who took up hisForeign Ministry post this year, stressedthat international security cooperation hadhelped to keep the Sochi Olympics safe.(AP)

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‘IS could attack Rome’: IslamicState (IS) could attack Rome with dronesduring a Roman Catholic Holy Yearbeginning next month and air space overthe capital will be closed to dronesthroughout the event, Italian InteriorMinister Angelino Alfano said onMonday.

Countries across Europe are tighteningemergency precautions after Friday’s gunand bomb rampage in Paris which killedat least 129 people, France’s worst atroci-ty since World War Two, and was claimedby the jihadist IS.

Addressing the Chamber of Deputies(parliament), Alfano said drones will bebanned from air space over the centre ofRome throughout the Holy Year, or“Jubilee” that begins on Dec 8 and isexpected to draw millions of tourists tothe Italian capital.

Following repeated threats attributed toIS on social media against Rome and theVatican, security would be tightenedaround sites considered potential targets,particularly in and around St Peter’sSquare, Alfano said.

“Particular attention has been dedicated

Shooting

Chouet

Molenbeek breeding ground for radical violence: mayor

From barkeeper to suicide bomberBRUSSELS, Nov 17, (RTRS): Twoweeks ago, the mayor of Molenbeekordered the closure of a neighbour-hood bar where Brussels police hadfound young men dealing drugs andsmoking dope over the summer.

Last Friday, the owner blew himselfup at another laid-back corner cafe,this time in Paris, on a mission of ret-ribution from Islamic State.

Brahim Abdeslam’s journey frombarkeeper to suicide bomber remains amystery, along with the whereaboutsof his younger brother Salah, now onthe run as Europe’s most wanted manbut until recently the manager ofBrahim’s bar, Les Beguines.

The brothers sold the business justsix weeks ago.

There is a seeming disconnectbetween the ownership by Muslims,whose religion forbids the use of alco-hol and tobacco, of a bar, where drugswere being dealt, on a quiet street inthe low-rent Brussels borough ofMolenbeek who have become thefocus of a manhunt for violentIslamists with ties to Syria.

Yet time and again, investigationsafter attacks like those that killed 129people in Paris have uncovered talesof workaday Arab immigrant lives,assimilated to the profane daily caresand pleasures of European cities, thathave turned, unseen to family andfriends, into explosions of pious, suici-dal fanaticism.

“It’s shocking, especially when it’speople you’ve hung out with,” said 25-year-old Nabil, as he walked homefrom work to his apartment nearby,past the cafe on rue des Beguines, nowshuttered by court order, whichBrahim Abdeslam, 31, had owned.

“They were regular guys, whoenjoyed a laugh,” he said, still wearinghis workclothes and a Nike baseballcap. “There was nothing radical aboutthem. ... They were here just last weekhanging out. ... I think they wereindoctrinated. ... There is some mas-termind behind it all.”

Hicham, also 25 and in blue track-suit and sneakers, echoed that view ofBrahim and Salah: “They smoked.They didn’t go to the mosque or any-thing. We saw them every day at thecafe,” he said. Brahim, with a voice“like Sylvester Stallone,” could, heconceded, at times be “a bit crazy”.

“We played cards. We talked aboutfootball,” he added. “We talked aboutthe everyday. Nothing jihadist, notabout Islam.”

Those sentiments were echoed byfamily including a third brother, a localcouncil employee, who was released onMonday after two days in custody, andby former workmates of Salah at thetram repair shop — though the lattertold public radio that the “joker” Salahlost that job in 2011 for absenteeism.

Belgian media also reported that

Salah spent time in jail for robberyfive years ago alongside anotherMolenbeek man, AbdelhamidAbaaoud, 28. French investigatorsbelieve Abaaoud may have ordered theParis attacks from Syria, where he hasbecome an Internet propagandist forIslamic State under the nom de guerreAbu Omar al-Belgiki — the Belgian.

Belgian police could not confirmany previous record for the brothers orwhether they had been under surveil-lance.

What is clear is that the bar thebrothers ran had annoyed some of itsneighbours and, in August, been raid-ed by police.

Details posted on the door, on theground floor of a typical brick-built19th-century townhouse and con-firmed by police to Reuters, stated:“The premises have been used for theconsumption of banned hallucinogenicsubstances.”

The notice ordered a five-monthclosure from Nov 5, and said policefound “a strong smell of drugs” andashtrays containing “partially smokedjoints”, while a number of customerswere found to be carrying drugs ontheir persons.

The notice said the manager hadbeen given a chance, on Sept 4, toobject. “But he did not reply to ourinvitation”.

Molenbeek Mayor FrancoiseSchepmans has described Molenbeek asa “breeding ground for radical vio-lence”, suffering from high youth unem-ployment and overcrowding. Belgianministers have promised to “clean it up.”

The Abdeslams do not appear tohave figured among the jobless. Legaldocuments reviewed by Reuters andfirst reported by Belgian newspaperL’Echo show that Brahim, a Frenchcitizen born in Brussels, formed acompany in March 2013 to run the bar.

In December that year, Brahimstepped aside as manager of the compa-ny in favour of Salah, but remained themain owner. Two other family mem-bers held small stakes at various times.

On Sept 30 this year, after the clo-sure warning, the family sold out to anindividual who gave an address insouthern Belgium. That person couldnot be contacted by Reuters.

The documents listed both brothers’address as the family home in a four-storey house facing Molenbeek townhall across a cobbled square. There,Mohammed Abdeslam, the brotherheld by police, told reporters the fam-ily were stunned by events.

“We’ve never had problems withthe law,” he said on the doorstep. “Myparents are in shock and can’t quitetake in what’s happened,” he added,saying they had had no idea Brahimwas going to Paris on Friday or whereSalah now was.

Crackdown on firearms eyed

Belgium urges EU intelligence sharingBRUSSELS, Nov 17, (Agencies):Belgian Foreign Minister DidierReynders called in an interview withAFP Monday for intelligence shar-ing in Europe to be strengthened inthe wake of the Paris attacks.

At least 129 people were killed inFriday’s gun and suicide attacks inthe French capital, and Belgianintelligence services have comeunder growing scrutiny followingrevelations that several of theattackers lived in Belgium.

“We have to be able to trace theselinks wherever they are, whether it’sin France or Belgium or elsewhere inEurope,” Reynders said.

“Because we have to be able tolook at where the perpetrators ofthese attacks in Paris came fromand how to dismantle the existingnetworks.”

French President FrancoisHollande said the attacks were“planned in Syria, prepared andorganised in Belgium and perpetrat-ed on our soil with French complicity”.

Reynders said he had been call-ing for more intelligence sharing inthe EU and NATO “for severalyears”.

“I hope that after all theseattacks, these dramas, there will bea change of mentality,” he said.

“Whether it’s the control of ourexternal borders, or the exchangeof information including sensitiveinformation between countries, thismust be done more and more inEurope.”

An emergency meeting of EUinterior ministers this Friday, whichwas called at France’s request,

would be a good opportunity tomake progress, he added.

“I hope there will be concretemeasures, such as border controlissues, but also for the exchange ofdata on passengers,” he said,referring to a controversial EU planto share name records for airlinepassengers.

Defending Belgium’s record, hesaid it was “impossible to live in azero-risk situation when you seewhat is happening around the world.”

He said intelligence sharingwould help shore up Europe’s pass-port-free Schengen area and pushforward slow-moving plans to share160,000 refugees around Europe.

“We can work on the relocationof refugees around Europe, but wewould have to above all check whois coming, and could they pose adanger or not,” he said.

Belgian police on Mondaycharged two people who werearrested after the Paris attacks withinvolvement in terrorism.

A major police operation in theMolenbeek district of Brussels, aknown militant hotbed, ended with-out finding wanted suspect SalahAbdeslam, who was born inBrussels.

Also:BRUSSELS: The European Unionplans to tighten rules governing theissue and use of guns, EU officialssaid after interior ministers weresummoned to a crisis meeting inBrussels following the deadlyattacks by armed militants in Paris.

Ministers, who will meet on

Friday, will try to push throughquickly rules aimed at making itmore difficult to acquire weaponsand to track them better — possiblymarking firearms with serial num-bers — and do more to ensure thatguns de-activated for sale as col-lectors items cannot be fired again.

Firearms can be de-activated sothat they can no longer be used forlethal action. But loopholes and dif-ferent national legislation amongEU members can be exploitedallowing for weapons, though to beout of use, to be re-activated.

This is particularly pressingbecause of evidence that theJanuary attack on French maga-zine Charlie Hebdo was carriedout with Kalashnikov rifles that hadpreviously been decommissionedfor legal sale, EU officials say.

The European Commission, theEU executive, has been workingsince 2013 on new rules for com-mon minimum standards acrossthe EU on deactivation ofweapons, and on a review of exist-ing legislation on firearms to“reduce the legal uncertaintycaused by national divergences”,an EU official said.

“Work on this is now being signif-icantly accelerated,” a Commissionspokeswoman told a news briefingon Monday.

As weapons can be brought intoEurope from neighbouring coun-tries, ministers on Friday willaddress ways of strengtheningchecks at the external borders ofthe passport-free Schengen area,which includes most EU nations.

to the risk of an attack from the air, usingdrones,” he said.

Earlier on Monday Italy’s civil aviationauthority, which had already announcedan increase in security in the immediateaftermath of Friday’s Paris attacks, said ithad ordered airport directors to tightenmeasures further.

It advised passengers on departingflights to arrive at airports earlier to allowfor longer waiting times due to stricter

search procedures. (RTRS)❑ ❑ ❑

Kosovo nabs terror suspects:Turkey has handed over to Kosovoauthorities three people suspected ofbeing involved in terrorist groupings.

Police said Monday that that the threesuspects were arrested at the border cross-ing with neighboring Macedonia afterbeing returned from Turkey.

They added that the suspects werequestioned and evidence of the chargeswas found at two locations.

Police did not give clear indications ofwhat evidence they had found or what ter-rorist acts the suspects were involved in. Afew hundred Kosovo-born volunteers havegone to join the Islamic State group in Syriaand Iraq, mainly passing through Turkey.They often appear on their propagandavideos warning of imminent attacks. (AP)Oleg Alfano