Spain shudders at prospect of ISIS attacks during Christmas

Muazz Mohamed

The Islamic State group (aka ISIS) threatened to stage attacks in Spain six times in 2019. Nonetheless, the terrorist organization had not carried out any of these attacks.

In early December, ISIS released a new video, threatening to launch attacks during Christmas.

The videos raises questions on whether this threat will turn out to be empty like the previous ones. This seventh video shows a police vehicle and photos of four militants carrying machine guns as they walk in a forest.

Spain was the only European state to be threatened by ISIS with attacks during Christmas. The terrorist organization threatened the US too.

The threats forced Spanish authorities to cancel out a musical concert by a group of Venezuelan artists in Madrid. The concert was support to be held on December 22.

The concert organizer, who is also the head of NGO Refugees Without Borders, expressed sorrow at the cancelation of the musical event.

Al-Azhar said these threats aim at spreading fear among people. It added that the threats had lost their force because terrorist organizations make them every now and then.

In early December, Egypt’s religious establishment warned against attacks by terrorist organizations during Christmas.

The defeats ISIS sustained in the past months, it said, could prod it into launching attacks in order to prove that it is still alive.

Beginnings

ISIS first appeared in Spain in August 2017 when it claimed responsibility for an attack that left 13 people dead and 50 others injured.

The attack was launched with a vehicle that drove over people in a tourist area. ISIS launched two other attacks, in which it killed 13 people. Spanish police declared after the attacks that it had arrested two people, including a Moroccan national, who were connected with the attacks.

In August 2018, investigations by Spanish police showed that ISIS had planned a larger attack during a football match.

A Spanish newspaper warned in July 2018 that dozens of ISIS militants could travel to Spain from Syria.