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[–] axolotl__peyotl [S] 0 points 9 points 9 points (+9|-0) ago (edited ago)
France, still reeling from the carnage that unfolded in the streets of Paris last Friday, conducted dozens upon dozens of police raids on Tuesday, after more than 160 similar operations carried out on Monday led to the discovery of numerous weapons including a rocket launcher, Kalashnikov, and a bulletproof vest.
French authorities are still largely in the dark regarding how many people were ultimately involved in the attack and with suspected “mastermind” Abdelhamid Abaaoud out of reach in Syria, police are focused on locating Salah Abdeslam who allegedly helped with logistics and rented a black Volkswagen Polo used by the gunmen who stormed the Bataclan concert hall.
Of course really, the raids are a frantic attempt to track down and neutralize anything and everything before something else bad happens. As Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on France Inter radio, "we don't know if there are accomplices in Belgium and in France... we still don't know the number of people involved in the attacks.”
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says more than 100 people have been placed under house arrest and dozens have been arrested in the sweeping crackdown. "Under a state of emergency – which has been in place since the attacks on Friday – security services, police have extra powers and freedom to make arrests, search houses and confiscate weapons without judicial oversight," The Sydney Morning Herald notes.
President Hollande told a joint session of the French parliament on Monday that "France is at war" and that he wants the state of emergency extended by three months. Hollande also proposed constitutional changes. As The Herald put it on Tuesday, Hollande wants “to create a new version of ‘exceptional measures’, giving the government some emergency powers available under martial law.” Here’s Le Monde (translated), noting that Hollande’s proposals mirror George Bush’s Patriot Act:
Here's the bullet point summary from BBC:
If some of that sounds like it could be a slippery slope to you, you're probably correct. "Those returning from Syria could be placed under house arrest," AFP reported, citing a government source.
Cazeneuve also said 115,000 security personnel have been mobilized in order to "ensure Frances security." The police officers, gendarmes and soldiers are being deployed across France. Hollande also evoked a never before used clause in the Treaty on EU which compels member nations to provide France with "aid and assistance by all means in their power"
Meanwhile, the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle will be deployed to the eastern Mediterranean while French fighter jets pounded Raqqa for the second day in a row. Residents of the city (or "captives" as they might more appropriately be called given the fact that between ISIS and airstrikes they live in a perpetual state of paralysis), describe the last two nights as "insane." One activist who spoke to al-Jazeera described two "insane" nights and interestingly, also said that the French aren't really bombing anything and the only real damage is being done by the Russians:
A couple of things stand out here. First, note that according to the source cited above, the French (using US "intelligence") are hitting targets where there are no fighters. The Russians, on the other hand, are hitting anything and everything which could hint at what many have alluded to all along - namely that the US is either i) intentionally avoiding ISIS, ii) scared of collateral damage, or iii) some combination of both and that's now finding its way into French strikes via the provision of intelligence from Washington to Paris.
Second, the Russians are the ones doing the real damage to ISIS although there is of course the allegation that they are targeting hospitals because these days, everyone has to accuse everyone else of bombing hospitals.
Finally, note that now, the French are doing exactly what they and other Western powers accused Russia of doing last month at Aleppo: exacerbating the migrant crisis by wreaking havoc on populated areas.
But we suppose they had no choice...