Preemptive strikes: Germany tightens its grip on militants after the defeat of ISIS
Monday 30/December/2019 - 05:02 PM
Shaimaa Yahya
Germany is significantly intensifying its efforts to combat terrorism and domestic violence. After the recent attacks, the focus has been on ISIS’s terrorist cells, especially sleeper cells. The German authorities must pressure Islamist extremists, confront terrorism, monitor extremism, and develop strategies to address these ideas in order to limit their numbers and reduce their risk.
Data from Germany’s security services indicated that the numbers of Islamists in the country decreased in 2019, with fewer Islamists classified as dangerous compared to their numbers in 2018. There were 679 Islamist extremists classified as dangerous, whereas this number had reached 774 people in July 2018.
The defeat of ISIS in the Middle East had a major role in the retreat of radical Islamists and the threat of terrorism in Europe. ISIS had made many significant breakthroughs in spreading the extremist ideology, especially with its methods of recruitment. The organization moved from a vertical hierarchy to a horizontal framework, allowing it to recruit large numbers faster and more effectively than al-Qaeda. This greatly boosted the organization’s ability to remobilize, which was clearly evident among Muslims in Europe and North America, as well as the organization's propaganda that appeared in many languages.
During 2018 and 2019, German intelligence and police services had many security reviews and Interior Minister Horst Seehofer instituted a number of measures, including getting a firm grip on Germany’s borders, especially the German-Belgian Triangle, as well as exerting tight control over extremist imams and mosques.
The Ministry of the Interior has taken strict measures on social media against extremist rhetoric, enhancing human and financial resources to the intelligence services, in addition to improving security cooperation between the Germany’s state interior ministers.
Fear of a return
Despite the almost complete elimination of ISIS and the killing of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, there are mounting security warnings of the possibility of the organization’s return and resumption of operations. Sleeper cells could “awaken” and pose a threat to the countries where they are present, especially in Syria, Iraq or neighboring countries. Previously, terrorism was linked to al-Qaeda in the Levant under the leadership of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. At that time, al-Qaeda had the ability to rebuild and restructure, review its strategy and ideology, and then rise again.
After the killing of Zarqawi, there was a conviction that the organization would inevitably go through a weak stage, as the organization lost a lot of land and leaders, mainly in 2006. The expectations were that the organization was in a phase of severe decline, until it reappeared more strongly in 2010. There are fears that ISIS could adopt a similar strategy and return once again from the ashes of its defeat.
