Small Wars Journal

A View of ISIS’s Evolution in New Details of Paris Attacks

Sun, 03/20/2016 - 5:28pm

A View of ISIS’s Evolution in New Details of Paris Attacks by Rukmini Callimachi, Alissa J. Rubin, and Laure Fourquet, New York Times

Investigators found crates’ worth of disposable cellphones. All around Paris, they found traces of improved bomb-making materials. And they began piecing together a multilayered terrorist attack that evaded detection until much too late.

In the immediate aftermath of the Paris terror attacks on Nov. 13, French investigators came face to face with the reality that they had missed earlier signs that the Islamic State was building the machinery to mount sustained terrorist strikes in Europe.

Now, the arrest in Belgium on Friday of Salah Abdeslam, who officials say was the logistics chief for the Paris attacks, offers a crucial opportunity to address the many unanswered questions surrounding how they were planned…

Read on.