The News
An alleged terror plot aimed at Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna this week is the latest in a slew of foiled attacks across Europe recorded in recent months.
On Friday, Austrian officials detained an 18-year-old Iraqi national in connection with the plot. It came after authorities earlier this week arrested an Austrian citizen who is suspected of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and planning the attack.
European security officials have warned of a growing risk of terrorism across the continent, as the Islamic State regains influence and the war in Gaza amplifies existing tensions.
SIGNALS
Islamic State regaining strength after US withdrawal from Afghanistan
The teenage terror suspects in Austria were “radicalized by the internet,” local police said, and Islamic State propaganda was found at one of the suspect’s homes. The Islamic State’s influence is rising, as the 2021 US retreat from Afghanistan has allowed one of its factions, ISIS-K, to regroup despite a Taliban counterinsurgency. Suspected ISIS-K members have been arrested in Germany, Turkey, and the Netherlands in recent months, and people affiliated with or inspired by the group carried out successful terror attacks in Iran and Russia earlier this year. Germany’s domestic intelligence chief said ISIS-K operatives have infiltrated Western Europe “under cover of the refugee exodus from Ukraine,” and warned the group is using online propaganda to encourage supporters to attack targets in Europe.
War in Gaza radicalizing new generation
European security officials have warned the growing terrorism threat may be fed by the increased tensions surrounding the Israel-Hamas conflict. Austria, Spain, Portugal, and Slovenia have all increased their threat levels due to the crisis in the Middle East, while antisemitism and Islamophobia on the continent have surged, raising concerns that the conflict could radicalize new extremists. Global terror groups are likely to use the conflict to “recruit and mobilize,” two European counterterrorism experts wrote in Lawfare. In France, schools have received more than 800 bomb threats since Hamas’s October 7 attack last year, and several terrorist attacks have been foiled.
Paris Olympics have been the biggest security concern for European officials
Europe’s biggest security concern has been the Paris Olympics, which come to an end on Sunday. French officials warned that both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State wanted to target the Olympics, and France has deployed tens of thousands of additional police officers in Paris. French security services arrested a teenager suspected of plotting a suicide bombing inspired by Islamist militants, as well as a far-right extremist who planned an attack. So far, high-speed rail lines and internet cables appear to have been sabotaged, although they were quickly repaired. While the perpetrators remain unidentified, French officials have hinted that an anticapitalist “ultraleft” group may be the culprit, The New York Times reported.