Amid escalating tensions in the Middle East since the war that broke out in the Gaza Strip on October 7, and growing international fears about the return of terrorist attacks, especially in Europe, the United States renewed its warnings.
FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed that concern is growing about the possibility of an attack similar to what happened in Moscow last month, which was claimed by ISIS Khorasan.
In an interview with NBC yesterday, Ray repeated what he had said recently, that the terrorist threat had risen since October 7, pointing to the presence of individual elements or small groups that had become extremists within America due to the Israeli war on Gaza.
He also pointed to growing fears of a coordinated terrorist attack in a public place, after intelligence officials over the past decade ruled out such a possibility.
The bloody attack, which was carried out by shooting live bullets at civilians, and also setting fire to it by detonating bombs in the hall of the “Crocus City” building, which is about 20 kilometres from the Kremlin, late last month (March 2024), led to the death of about 150 people and the injury of 285.
This attack, which was claimed by ISIS, prompted a number of European governments to raise security alert levels in anticipation of similar attacks on their lands.
Especially since Western security officials closely familiar with ISIS’ work in Iraq and Syria believe that the organisation has abandoned its project to rebuild the so-called caliphate, but it still believes that carrying out successful strikes on international targets is “beneficial to it and the morale of its supporters.”
Analysts at the Washington Institute, a US-based think tank, also opined that ISIS may re-prioritize its foreign operations across branches.
The Gaza war and the threats of China and Russia
In response to a question about protests and violence on college campuses due to Israel’s war on Gaza, Wray said, “The FBI is very focused on working with state and local law enforcement on college campuses, and beyond to try to make sure that we stay ahead of the threat of anti-Semitic violence.” and preventing violence against the Jewish community.”
“The FBI does not monitor protests, but it shares intelligence on specific threats of violence with universities, state and local law enforcement,” he said.
When asked about the threat to national security posed by the TikTok application, as Congress is moving towards passing a bill requiring the Chinese parent company to sell the platform, Ray said, “National security officials are concerned that TikTok provides Chinese intelligence services with the ability to collect data and control… Recommendation algorithm.
This means “the ability to push CCP narratives, pro-CCP narratives, minimise criticism of the Chinese government, and in fact, recruit millions of users as unwitting apologists for CCP propaganda,” he explained.
He added that the Chinese government also has “the ability to control software, which provides the opportunity to technically hack devices, phones, and millions of phones.”
