As if the French hadn’t enough on their plates, with turbulent elections and an underwhelming Euros performance, they’ve now had to contend with the prospect of terrorism blighting the Olympic Games. At least one major terror plot has been foiled by the French authorities, and pro-Islamic State channels are issuing threats to stadiums and fans.
The main concern comes from the Afghanistan-based ‘Islamic State of the Khorasan Region’ (IS-K), and for good reason too. Back in March 2023, US Army General Michael Kurilla warned Congress that IS-K could launch an attack against European targets with ‘little to no warning’. A year later, the group took responsibility for the attack on the Crocus City Hall in Moscow, which killed 130 people and left many more injured.
A much larger problem is IS-K’s use of the hawala system, an informal network of brokers who transfer money with little-to-no regulation
How does IS-K finance its global ambitions? The group’s prerunner, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, controlled an area four times the size of Wales back in 2015.
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