Photo: Christian Hartmann / Reuters

France is experiencing the worst terrorist attack in its history. Those killed and wounded number in the hundreds. The scale of the attack is unprecedented, even compared to the January terrorist attacks on ‘Charlie Hebdo’, the satirical weekly, as well as on a Hebrew supermarket. Back then one could still say that these were lone wolf attacks, but now time it is obvious that this was a coordinated, carefully planned operation, one that appears to have involved more than a dozen attackers.

War has been declared against France, and the war is merciless. There were hundreds of hostages taken in the Le Bataclan concert hall. That night Paris experienced its own ‘Nord-Ost’ (ed: mass hostage taking similar to the Moscow theater crisis of October 23–26, 2002).

The Islamic State claimed credit for this series of attacks. The specific names of those who carried it out are not yet known, but this is a case where we can safely anticipate without fear of contradiction. Certainly it appears that the attack was organized from North Africa. Most likely, some of the terrorists underwent military training in Syria, Iraq or Libya. According to hostages who were able to escape the Le Bataclan concert hall, the attackers shouted: “This is for Syria.” ISIS declared: “This is vendetta for Syria. This France’s September 11th.”

The French armed forces in Syria do not play a very visible role, only recently having been activated. In early November, for example, the French Air Force attacked oil fields under the control of ISIS, and the only French aircraft carrier, Charles de Gaulle, has been sent to the waters off Syria.

The terrorist attacks in Paris are a challenge leveled not only against France, but the entire Western world. I would venture to say that for some the consequences will be much more serious than their role of part of the US-headed coalition on the Syrian-Iraqi front. Experience shows that in the fight against jihadists and their so-called caliphate, half measures are not enough. War must be real — and destructive. It would be desirable to join together in an alliance with Russia, as well as Iran and other opponents of the Sunni jihadists.

And another lesson that I think France (and not just France) can take away from this tragedy: there should be zero tolerance towards Islamic radicals who return from these war zones, who gather there and sign up to be members of ISIS. They should not remain at liberty while we wait for them to commit new terrorist attacks. The principle of the presumption of innocence cannot be applied to these in the same way as the other, law-abiding citizens.

France after all never declared war on them — they declared war on France. And on all of us.

See more at:
www.kommersant.ru/doc/2854666

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