26 March 2016

‘The Crucible Of Terror’ — How ISIS Established Network Of Terror In Brussels — Despite Police Surveillance; ISIS Reportedly Dispatches 400 Jihadis Across Europe To Strike In Deadly Waves’

March 24, 2016 
www.fortunascorner.com
Jake Wallis Simons writes on the March 23, 2016 Daily Mail Online, that “the seeds of the terror blasts that shook Europe, were planned by a brotherhood of childhood friends who grew up just a few doors away from each other in a part of Brussels dubbed “the crucible of terror.” “Police following the trail of the terrorists murderers behind the atrocities in France and Belgium have repeatedly arrived at a single block of housing in Molenbeek, a district of Brussels known as a hotbed of jihadism.”
“The center of the deadly network is the Abdelslam family home, a first floor apartment on Gemeenplaats, behind the police station — and just around the corner from the home of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ‘brains’ behind the Paris attacks,” Mr. Simons wrote. “Questions remain,” he adds “about how a gang of young men, all of whom were Belgian citizens,” were “transformed into death-loving monsters, showing loyalty to each other; but, [demonstrating] a profound hatred of their country and fellow citizens.”

“Belgian authorities were so focused on Molenbeek, known as the hotbed of jihadism, that they were unaware that Europe’s most wanted man was forming a new terror network in Schaerbeek, another Muslim-dominated area just three miles down the road,” Mr. Simons wrote. “The local community there views police with contempt,” the locals told The Daily Mail Online, “and are unlikely to report terrorists to the authorities, even if they do not have jihadist sympathies themselves.” “Frankly, I wasn’t surprised,’ a policewoman who wished to remain anonymous told The Daily Mail Online. “Nobody takes what happens in the district seriously. Every day, we arrest well known criminals, and the next day they are back on the street. It is frustrating that we are doing our work; but, the justice system doesn’t back us up. These people aren’t being prosecuted, or fined, they are just being released. We arrest them,and nothing happens. One or two hours later they smile and mock us, believing they are on the winning side. The lack of respect for police and for Belgium in the local multicultural community meant that the terror cell could operate without fear of being reported. This made Schaerbeek — which has been ‘off the radar’ for terror police — the ideal place for the terror jihadi to hideout. We have been asking for the higher authorities to take this district more seriously; but, it hasn’t happened,” she said. The Daily Mail Online added that the policewoman’s commanding officer, who also wanted to remain anonymous, agreed with her observations. “We have not been blind to the fact that something serious has been going on here.”

ISIS Reportedly Dispatches 400 Jihadis Across Europe To Strike In Deadly Waves’
Reading the above, one gets a better understanding of how militant Islam is allowed, or has been allowed to flourish in the ghettos and downtrodden areas of Brussels. Authorities and intelligence professionals there have their work cut out for them; and, if the title above is correct — more attacks are coming, as some 400-600 ISIS sleeper agents — individuals who have been fighting in Iraq and Syria for ISIS — are now back, scattered across Europe, and poised to attack. Romil Patel writes in the March 23, 2016 edition of the International Business Times, that “the fanned out network of interlocking terror cells — similar to the ones who conducted the Paris and Brussels attacks, have “orders to choose the time, place, and method [of attack] to cause maximum damage.”

It is increasingly evident that level of complexity and sophistication of the Brussels attack required extensive planning, rehearsals, movement of weapons, money, people, etc. It would seem most likely that such activities were likely perfected at one or more of the jihadi ‘training camps’ scattered throughout Iraq, Syria, Libya, and elsewhere. Not all 400-600 of these malcontents will actually carry out additional terror attacks. Some no doubt will get cold feet, others may lose their enthusiasm to actually conduct such an attack, etc. As the late Beatle John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens when you are making other plans.” Having said that, some 5,000 Europeans have made the trek to Iraq and Syria to fight on behalf of the Islamic State — and, many have returned to Europe and could be poised, or recruited to carry out terror attacks on the continent. 

There is no good news here. The migrant crisis is engulfing Europe, feeding into a growing anti-EU movement; and a return to separate borders; and, a less willingness to absorb more refugees fleeing war-torn Iraq, Syria, and Libya. The situation is going to get much worse it would seem, in the short-to-mid-term.

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