By: Harleen Kaur
One hundred thirty were killed during the Paris attacks on the evening of 13 November 2015. ISIS was responsible for these six terrorist attacks in and outside the French capital. A number were killed in a series of suicide bombing including the 89 killed outside the Bataclan theatre. France was placed in a state of emergency following the attacks, the first since the 2005 riots, and has been in high alert ever since. These were the deadliest attacks on Paris since World War II.
French President François Hollande said the attack was “an act of war” by ISIS. Their motive was to retaliate France’s involvement in both the Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars and their bombing of various ISIL targets.
A week after the attacks Belgium has placed Brussels at a the highest threat level after they were said to be in the presence of a “serious and imminent threat”. This followed the raids conducted by the authorities investigating the Paris attacks. Salah Abdeslam was seen crossing the border into Belgium, police had questioned him although they were unaware of his involvement, following the attacks and now his location is unknown.
2 days after the attack, France launched an airstrike targeting Al-Raqqah as part of their anti- ISIL bombing campaign, Operation Chammal. The United Nations Security Council also endorsed the French resolution gathering international support for counterterrorism efforts, specifically aimed toward ISIS.
Many have displayed their sympathy and shared their prayers via social media. Social media has drawn much attention to the issue starting hashtags such as #prayforparis and have started posting pictures of the eiffel tower in a piece sign. Even Saturday Night Live skipped their cold open in order to honor Paris. Yet, some have criticized the population for not paying attention to any other issues before these attacks. For example, the day before the attacks 43 were killed in Beirut after a bombing. No attention was given to this tragedy, and people keep saying that it is only after the Paris attacks in which society is now not safe or secure.
While the attacks have created an uproar in society against ISIS in retrospect nothing has really been done. Involvement has remained relatively the same, and this is unlikely to change drastically because countries are unwilling to send large amounts of troops. If many countries were willing to support France with large numbers of ground troops then we may actually be able to stop these terrorist attacks.
