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A2 UP FRONT
Saturday 3 december 2016

Europol warns of fresh threats to Europe Kerry: US, Russia studying new

MIKE CORDER munity here,” Wainwright citizens from the kind of proposals to stop Syria fighting
Associated Press told The Associated Press atrocities that unfortunate-
THE HAGUE, Netherlands at Europol’s headquarters. ly we’ve suffered in the last BRADLEY KLAPPER
(AP) — Europol warned Fri- In the report released Fri- two years.” Associated Press
day that the Islamic State day, Europol said car Community leaders also ROME (AP) — The United States and Russia are study-
group could launch fresh bombs and other tactics have a role to play in di- ing new ways to break a monthslong diplomatic
attacks in Europe in the the Islamic State group minishing the threat from deadlock over how to stop the fighting in the Syrian
near future, and the agen- uses in Iraq and Syria could IS recruiters and trainers city of Aleppo, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said
cy’s director said police also be deployed in Eu- who prey on marginalized Friday. He said the “ideas” will be tested in follow-up
forces across the continent rope. It said past attacks youths — some of whom discussions between American and Russian diplo-
are investigating more than such as those in France may have mental health mats next week.
50 terrorism cases. and Belgium over the last problems or backgrounds Kerry would only describe those fresh approaches
Europol — the European two years show that ex- in petty crime — and incite as designed to lead to talks between Syria’s govern-
Union’s police agency — tremists acting in the name them to carry out attacks, ment and rebels, a goal that has remained elusive
since early 2014, while stressing that the U.S. and Rus-
sia won’t wait for Donald Trump’s presidency to begin
on Jan. 20. But given the repeated failures of the for-
mer Cold War foes to halt Syria’s 5 ½-year civil war, it is
unclear how much hope the new effort holds.
“We have exchanged a set of ideas, which there will
be a meeting on early next week in Geneva, and we
have to wait and see whether those ideas have any
legs to them,” Kerry said after meeting Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov in Rome. “I will say that both
sides understand the importance of trying to contin-
ue the diplomacy and trying to see if something can
be done. Nobody is waiting for the next administra-
tion. We both feel there is urgency.”
Kerry said he will gauge progress with Lavrov when
they meet again on the sidelines of a European secu-
rity conference in Hamburg, Germany, on Wednes-
day.
“Nobody is resigned to the violence,” the American
said at a news conference later in the day.
While the talks were going on, Syria showed off its re-
Europol director Rob Wainwright poses for a picture during an interview in The Hague, Nether- cent gains in Aleppo, once the country’s largest city
lands, Friday, Dec. 2, 2016. The Islamic State group is likely to carry out new attacks in the Eu- and commercial center.
ropean Union in the near future, probably targeting countries that are members of the U.S.-led State media reported Friday from areas captured this
coalition fighting the extremist organization in Syria and Iraq, EU police agency Europol said in a week in a Russian-backed ground offensive, airing
report published Friday.
(AP Photo/Mike Corder) reports of roads being restored, debris removed and
civilians resettled. The U.N. aid agency said an esti-
said in a grim analysis of of IS can effectively plan Wainwright said. mated 31,500 people have been displaced as a re-
IS tactics published Friday complex attacks. “We have to work in the sult of the recent fighting, which takes Syrian President
that EUcountries participat- “Estimates from some intel- community with faith lead- Bashar Assad’s government closer to capturing the
ing in the U.S.-led coalition ligence services indicate ers, with parents, with whole city and completing what would be perhaps a
fighting the extremist group several dozen people di- teachers to try and make devastating blow to U.S.-backed rebel forces.
in Syria and Iraq are most rected by IS may be cur- sure that these young im- The war has killed as many as half a million people
at risk. rently present in Europe pressionable minds are not since 2011, contributed to Europe’s worst refugee cri-
France and Belgium are with a capability to commit turned so easily,” he said. sis since World War II and allowed the Islamic State
among the European na- terrorist attacks,” accord- The Europol report noted a group to emerge as a global terror threat.
tions that have joined the ing to the report, which shift in IS attacks from sym- Friday’s diplomatic discussions took place in a hotel
U.S.-led coalition. Others draws on counterterrorism bolic targets like police offi- several stories above an Italian-hosted conference
include Britain, the Nether- intelligence from around cers and military personnel on the Mediterranean region, and Russia’s Lavrov
lands and Denmark. Ger- Europe as well as media to indiscriminate attacks on emphasized that his country won’t allow Syria to fol-
many’s military also is in- reports and previously pub- civilian targets, such as the low the example of lawless Libya after NATO’s 2011
volved, but not in combat licized calls by IS leaders for attacks a year ago in Paris intervention that helped topple dictator Moammar
operations. attacks. at a rock concert, the na- Gadhafi. That country now is experiencing perhaps
Europol director Rob Wain- Despite the warnings, Wain- tional stadium and bustling its worst violence in two years as rival militias and ex-
wright said in an interview wright expressed optimism sidewalk cafes. tremist groups such as IS continue to vie for power.
that counterterrorism agen- that the counterterrorism “Indiscriminate attacks While Washington has accused Moscow of war
cies are tackling the threat efforts will likely, over the have a very powerful ef- crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria, Lavrov
from IS in cooperation with long term, rein in the threat fect on the public in gen- blamed both the U.S. and United Nations for the cur-
his Hague-based agency. posed by Islamic State. eral, which is one of the rent situation.
Europol currently is assisting “We’re not there yet. I think main goals of terrorism: to He lamented that the U.S. has been unable to fulfill
more than 50 terror investi- we will get there. It might seriously intimidate a popu- its commitment under several past cease-fire plans
gations by national agen- be replaced in the future, lation,” according to the to separate the so-called “moderate” opposition
cies across the continent, of course, by another itera- report, which concludes groups from the al-Qaida-linked fighters that Russia
he said. tion in the international ter- the focus on so-called soft says it is targeting. And he questioned why the U.N.
“That says something about rorist scene,” he said. “So targets means that attack- isn’t restarting peace talks or rushing aid to areas of
the level of the threat, but it doesn’t have to be the ing critical infrastructure Syria in need, something the global body has been
also about the level of inter- new normal, but we have like power grids and nucle- extremely reticent to do since a September convoy
connectedness amongst to take the right measures, ar facilities is “currently not was hit by an airstrike. The U.S. has blamed Russia for
the counterterrorist com- right now, to protect our a priority.”q that attack, a charge Moscow denies.q