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Brussels attacks highlight growing IS threat
By Frayan Doctor
27 March 2016
KARACHI: Radical terrorism once again visited Europe, this time striking at the heart of the European Union’s seat of power. Still reeling from the devastating attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015, Brussels was in virtual lockdown as militants from the so-called Islamic State (IS) launched multiple attacks on the morning of March 22, 2016 on its international airport, and smack in the middle of the city’s metro subway network.If the Paris attacks were blamed on the failure of France and EU’s intelligence failure, then the carnage in Brussels highlights the sophistication in the terrorist outfit’s planning, recruiting, financing and evasion capabilities. What is particularly striking is how; an hour after the twin blasts at the main terminal of Zaventem international airport, at 9:00am, another explosion hit the Maelbeek metro station, with the bomb planted in the middle carriage of a train. Maelbeek is the station closest to not only the city’s highest offices, but also a couple of blocks away from the European Parliament, EU headquarters and all its associated offices. French President Francois Hollande summed up the intent of the attacks when he said: “Terrorists struck Brussels, but it was Europe that was targeted.”
The links between the Paris and Brussels attacks are clear. The terror in the former originated from Brussels, with its key suspect Salah Abdeslam arrested in the Belgian capital, days before IS struck in the ‘European capital’. The ability with which Abdeslam evaded French and Belgian authorities for four months, and for the three attackers in Brussels to execute their grisly intentions speaks volumes about IS’s frightening prowess and the EU intelligence apparatus’s failure in countering the group’s proliferation in its backyard.
Fissures have appeared within the 28-member bloc on how to deal with the refugee crisis on its shared borders. Over the past 16 months, millions of Afghan, Syrian and Iraqi refugees, among others, have poured into Europe, fleeing the devastating conflicts that have torn their countries apart along ethnic and religious lines. The fear is that among those genuinely escaping horrific crimes against humanity and systemic abuse, there are terrorists disguising themselves as those persecuted by the pro-government, rebel and militant groups fighting in the conflicts.
Then, there is the very serious issue of accommodating such an overwhelming number of refugees and migrants, with the resources of every EU nation, including Germany, stretched to their absolute limits in processing and helping set them up in an alien environment to smoothen the assimilation process. This has led to tensions skyrocketing between the refugees and native Europeans. Widespread sexual assaults in Cologne, Germany on December 31, 2015, and other crime sprees allegedly carried out by the refugees have fuelled the calls for a total ban on allowing citizens from war-torn nations to seek refuge in Europe. Far-right and ultra-nationalist parties in the bloc have taken advantage of this to increase their political clout. Governments are split on how to distribute them on a quota system.
Europe is now facing a threat to its very existence that has flourished following the destruction of World War II. It has never been as vulnerable since 1945. It is dealing with a growing security crisis that it seems unable to stop. Hundreds of Europeans have joined up with IS in Iraq and Syria. The influx of refugees and migrants from the Middle East has increased xenophobia and lack of integration, all of which plays into the hands of the IS, which uses these pretexts to recruit misguided and alienated youth who feel economically, socially and culturally isolated, even in countries which they call home by birth. The next steps taken by the EU establishment will reveal just how prepared they are to curb any further
