Hundreds of terrorists: Second generation of ISIS threatens Europe's security
Late
November 2019, the movement on the London Bridge in the middle of the British
capital was proceeding normally, and as soon as the sun was about to rise the
situation on the famous bridge changed, then at four o'clock, Osman Khan, a
former prisoner and convict in terrorist cases, attacked passersby near the
bridge with a knife. Two people were killed during the attack before the police
could kill the attacker.
q,Ama the media arm of ISIS, said that Khan
is one of the so-called "caliphate soldiers", and that he carried out
the attack in response to the organization's call to target the international
alliance sponsors.
Adnani
and the Heart Beat Strategy
The
London Bridge attack reorganized ISIS into a spotlight in the heart of the old
continent, after its star faded for a short time. The attack coincided with the
restoration of a number of children who had been in the detention camps in
Syria after years spent in moving between “ISIS strongholds” and detention
camps.
ISIS
resorted to the strategy of "hitting in the heart of Europe", several
years ago, due to pressure on what was known as the "strongholds of
spatial succession" in Syria and Iraq, and Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, a
former spokesman for ISIS and the Emir of the committee delegated to the
organization management, was the loudest voice who called for the need to hit
the old continent.
Through
a succession of audio recordings, Al-Adnani incited supporters of ISIS in
Europe to launch attacks against civilian and military targets alike, and he
directly supervised the terrorist cells that carried out the bloody Paris
attacks in November 2015.
In
his last vocal speech, before his death, Adnani called upon ISIS soldiers and
supporters in Europe and America to stop trying to reach the “spatial land of
succession” that was besieged in Syria, Iraq and Libya, and start carrying out
terrorist attacks inside the countries in which they reside.
The
shift in ISIS strategy came in conjunction with the start of the international
coalition to pursue a policy of "maximum pressure" on the remaining
strongholds of organization, so it tried to reduce pressure by disturbing the
internal security of countries.
Al-Adnani
said: "We have learned that some of you cannot work because they are
unable to reach military targets, and they refrain from targeting civilians, so
they can be subjected to suspicion of permissibility and legitimacy ... knowing
that there is no bloodshed and that there are so-called innocent people."
During
the period that followed the speech of the former ISIS spokesperson, the
organization worked through what is known as the Department of External
Operations to establish organizational networks inside Europe in preparation
for the "long war" phase that will follow the collapse of the
"spatial caliphate", according to a previous study by the
Anti-Terrorism Center at the American Military West Point.
The
organization spent two years in "preparation", before the spatial
caliphate collapsed with the fall of the Syrian village of Al-Baghuz Fawqani in
the grip of the SDF, backed by the international coalition, but the threat
posed by ISIS remained nonetheless.
After
the fall of ISIS's last bastion, thousands of Arab and European fighters
affiliated with it and their families were detained in camps supervised by
"SDF" forces in eastern Syria, while others were arrested while
trying to escape through the Turkish lands from which they entered the
terrorist group's strongholds.
According
to Juergen Stock, the Secretary General of the European Police Agency,
"Europol", the old continent may face a second wave of ISIS fighters,
who can be called the "second generation" of ISIS.
The
warnings of the Secretary-General of Europol came in the context of warning it
of the danger of returning from conflict areas, in addition to the threat posed
by European terrorists detained in Syria and Iraq, as European countries face a
legal problem that may lead to the failure to condemn these returnees or detain
them for a few periods and then release them again.
In
the same context, the American Getson Institute for Studies considered that the
organization "ISIS" has "safe havens" in Europe, explaining
that the current policy pursued by European countries will not lead to the
detention of "ISIS" returning fighters for a long time, and then they
will be released to return and start a new wave of ISIS terrorism.