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Three men suspected of plotting a terrorist attack were arrested in various locations across France on the morning of July 13th. Djebril A. (23), Antoine F. (19), and Ismael K. (17) have been accused of plotting an Islamic State-inspired attack on the French military base of Fort Bear in January of next year.

There, they planned to kidnap and decapitate a high-ranking military member, while filming the incident to put on the Internet, consistent with the numerous videos posted by IS members. Djebril formerly worked as a signalman in the French navy at a nearby military base, and the target of the plotted attack “is thought to have been his former boss”.

There was a fourth suspect arrested on Monday who was 16 years old, but he was released when the time allotted to hold him in custody expired. The other three suspects claim that he “had been dropped from the plot, because he was too young”.

Last night the three suspects were moved to Paris to appear before a judge today. Reportedly, prosecutor Francois Molins stated today that Ismael was previously told by an IS jihadist to, “hit France”.

All three suspects had previous plans to travel to Syria to undoubtedly pursue efforts to join the Islamic State. Ismael had already been under the watch of French intelligence personnel for his activity on social media and “connections to French jihadists in prison”, especially after his mother contacted authorities to report her son’s worrisome “radicalization”.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Thursday that, “We are facing a terrorist threat that we have never seen before-an external threat and an internal threat”. The Prime Minister was referring to the increase in jihadist terrorist attacks that have been conducted not by Islamic State jihadists themselves, but by sympathizers who have been targeted and recruited from overseas.

While this incident occurred in France, plots and attacks of this nature are just as concerning here at home. However, as Fred Fleitz from the Center discussed previously on Free Fire, our current administration has a destructive habit of refusing to acknowledge attacks of these nature for what they really are: attacks staged by the Global Jihad Movement. By referring to these attacks as “violent extremism” instead of intentional acts of jihadist terrorism, this only perpetuates the false narrative that violent jihadist Islam is not as significant a problem as it so clearly is.

This false narrative is potentially as destructive as the attacks themselves. The longer the Obama administration refuses to recognize the seriousness of the Global Jihad Movement here in the US, the longer violent jihadist attacks will persist and worsen with no adversarial force to stop it.

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