Growing ISIS threat for Switzerland

Nahla Abdelmonem

Like other European states, Switzerland was the scene of a series of terrorist attacks in the past period.

On November 24, a 28-year-old woman stabbed two other women at a grocery store in the southern city of Lugano. The assailant also strangled one of the two victims.

According to Swiss authorities, the attack was ideological in nature. They added that the attacker was known to police, having been investigated against terrorism-related reasons in 2017.

The attacker was linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). She was part of the electronic jihad campaign of the terrorist organization.

Terrorist upsurge

Switzerland is afraid that the scope of terrorist attacks will widen in the coming period, which can cause human losses.

Earlier this month, a man known for publishing extremist materials on social media stabbed another in Morges district which overlooks Lake Geneva.

On October 27, a Swiss court upheld a prison sentence and suspension for two extremists who published propaganda of al-Qaeda on social media.

On November 24, the Swiss intelligence warned against what it called the rising Islamist threat.

However, the intelligence said this rising threat did not mean that Switzerland was the prime target of the terrorists at present.

It noted that Switzerland is among the targets of terrorist organizations which consider western countries a bunch of infidel states.

ISIS and its sympathizers pose major dangers to Switzerland. According to the Swiss intelligence, the terrorist organization uses social media to influence its sympathizers and followers across Switzerland.