According to a top EU official, all of the perpetrators of the coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris that have been identified are European Union nationals.
This announcement brings into question the validity of a Syrian passport found close by the body of a dead attacker. Federica Mogherini, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, delivered this message after a meeting with EU foreign ministers.
“Let me underline, the profile of the terrorists so far identified tells us this is an internal threat,” “It is all EU citizens so far. This can change with the hours, but so far it is quite clear it is an issue of internal domestic security.”
It would be far far far easier for ISIS to send a European national to the US through JFK than formally apply to come as a refugee.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) November 17, 2015
The majority of the attackers involved in Friday’s massacre have been identified as French or Belgian nationals. An Egyptian passport was also found at one of the sites in the aftermath of the attacks. However, according to the Egyptian Ambassador to France, the passport belonged to a critically wounded victim caught in the crossfire and not a terrorist.
The discovery of the Syrian passport caused an international stir, with some politicians in Europe and the U.S. aiming for a complete stop to Syrian refugee resettlement within their borders. An increasing number of largely right wing state governors are doing everything they can to bar Syrian refugees entry, including defunding the settlement program. This is despite the fact that American officials recently told CBS News that the passport could be a fake. This looks like a possibility, as British-daily the Independent reported that a man was arrested in Serbia while carrying a duplicate Syrian passport with details that matched the one found in Paris.
[ThinkProgress] Featured image via the Telegraph
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