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Paris In Mourning Following ISIS Attack
The Eiffel Tower has gone dark. The Louvre Museum is silent. Paris is in mourning and essentially closed until further notice, after an orchestrated attack on Friday by the ISIS terror group turned the City of Lights into a blood bath.
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Today, France is coming to grips with the deadliest act of violence on its soil since World War II: coordinated gun-and-suicide bombing attacks across Paris that left upwards of 100 people dead and more than 300 people injured.
At least 3 groups of attackers, including 7 suicide bombers, carried out an act of barbarism that shattered an otherwise typical Parisian night. Militants launched multiple gun and bomb attacks over the course of 20 minutes in areas of Paris that were packed with people.
Three suicide bombs targeted spots around the national Stade de France stadium, where a France vs. Germany soccer match was underway. Around the same time, bullets flew across a trendy Paris neighborhood as gunmen targeted a string of crowded cafes. Next, attackers stormed the Bataclan concert hall, where the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal was performing. Amateur video footage showed the band ducking for cover as the shooting began.
The attackers opened fire on the panicked audience and took several hostage. As police closed in, 3 of the terrorists detonated explosive belts, killing themselves. Yet another assailant detonated a suicide bomb on Boulevard Voltaire, near the music hall.
In an online statement in Arabic and French circulated by supporters, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks. The statement called Paris “the capital of prostitution and obscenity” and mocked France’s air attacks on suspected ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq, saying France’s air power was “of no use to them in the streets and rotten alleys of Paris.”
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President Francois Hollande declared 3 days of national mourning and raised the nation’s security to its highest level, calling the massacre “an act of war that was prepared, organized, planned from abroad with internal help.” He added that France will increase its military efforts to crush ISIS and “will be merciless toward the barbarians of Islamic State group.”
With troops already active in a U.S.-led coalition bombing suspected ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq, France wasted no time in proceeding with payback. On Sunday, French fighter jets bombed a series of ISIS sites in Raqqa, Syria, in what officials are describing as a major bombardment.
ISIS claims Raqqa as the capital of its so-called caliphate, so the targets in Sunday’s airstrikes included a command center, a recruitment center, an ammunition storage base and a training camp for the terror group. At least 12 French aircraft and 10 fighter jets were involved in the airstrikes. More than 20 bombs were dropped and all of the targets were destroyed.
In an expected propaganda campaign, pro-ISIS news agency have since claimed the sites were abandoned before they were hit.
For the past several days Parisians have been in a state of shock. Out of fear that more attacks could occur, the streets of Paris have turned into a ghost town, although hundreds gathered outside a hospital near the Bataclan concert hall to donate blood.
According to French authorities, all 7 attackers wore identical suicide vests containing the explosive TATP and all 7 of them died. Six were due to suicide bombings, while police shot the other assailant, exploding his suicide vest.
Major tourist attractions throughout Europe beefed up security following the attacks. The United States also went on high alert out of precaution.
President Obama immediately condemned the terror attacks, calling them an “outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians” and pledging the U.S. government’s assistance to France.
“This is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values we share,” Mr. Obama said in a statement from the White House Briefing Room. “We stand prepared and ready to provide whatever assistance the people of France need to respond.”
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I just happened to be watching MSNBC Friday evening when Breaking News interupted the program with reports that a possible terror attack was unfolding in Paris, France.
I watched for several hours after that, bouncing back-and-forth between CNN and MSNBC, until the whole horrific event ended,
There is much I want to say about the actions of Our government as well as the actions of the governments of our European allies. There is much I want to say about our news media. But I will hold my peace…..For Now.
. …..and simply say………..
My heart goes out to all those directly impacted by this insane tragedy, especially those who lost thier lives (may they R.I.P) and those who were critically injured.