The horrific Paris terrorist attacks have been met with shock and panic. In truth though, surprise would not a word used by the French people themselves. However, politicians and the media stand united in one thing — capitalising on events. In the unforgettable words of Winston Churchill “never let a good crisis go to waste.”
The latest terror attack was the worst in France’s history, turning 2015 into the deadliest year in terms of terror attacks on French soil with six such events killing at least 150 (129+ in the latest Paris atrocity) and injuring at least 500 overall.
2014 saw three attacks and only four attacks combined over the previous ten years.
It brings back memories of the 1980’s where 35 individual terror attacks in France took place over a decade where 82 people were killed and 1023 were injured. 24 of those terror attacks were attributed to organisations with middle eastern connections such as Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) and the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions or FARL.
In the past twelve months France has suffered the following;
21st August — train stabbing and attempted mass shooting.
June 26th — a 35-year-old delivery driver named Yassin Salhi, a radical Islamist, decapitated his boss and attempted to carry out an apparent suicide attack on a gas factory near Lyon.
April 19th -Unsuccessful attack against 2 churches in Villejuif by an Algerian jihadist.
Feb 3rd — 3 military men, guarding a Jewish community center in Nice, are attacked by Moussa Coulibaly.
8th Jan — January 2015 ÃŽle-de-France attacks, a mass shooting at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo office in Paris.
Dec 22nd 2014 — 2014 — Nantes attack. A man yelling “Allahu Akbar” ran over 10 pedestrians with his vehicle, killing one, then attempted suicide.
Dec 21st 2014 — Dijon attack. A man yelling “Allahu Akbar” ran over 11 pedestrians with his vehicle.
Dec 20th 2014 — Joué-lès-Tours attack. A man yelling “Allahu Akbar” attacked a police office with a knife. He was killed and 3 police officers were injured.
The French have a long history in meddling in Middle Eastern regions, very particularly in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq that came with the defeat and subsequent partitioning of the Ottoman empire nearly 100 years ago.