Homeland Security Network Blog

Syria rebels say they shot, killed one Russian pilot as he parachuted, fate of other pilot unknown The Associated Press Russian President Vladimir Putin has called Turkey's decision to down a Russian warplane near the Syria border a "stab in the back." Speaking at a meeting in Sochi, Russia with Jordan's King Abdullah, Putin on Tuesday accepted his condolences on the death of a Russian pilot who was reportedly captured and dead. Putin said the Russian SU-24 jet was shot by a missile from a Turkish jet over Syria about one kilometre away from the Turkish border, which he described as a "stab in the back by the terrorists' accomplices." Putin warned that the incident would have "significant consequences" for its relations with Turkey and criticized Ankara for turning to NATO to discuss the incident instead of first explaining to Russia what happened. Turkey claimed that its F-16s fired on the Russian plane after it...

By Louise Dewast and Emily Shapiro Two brothers suspected of being involved in the Paris terror attacks that killed 130 people began to change roughly six months before when they "stopped drinking and started praying," their brother told Belgian broadcasting network RTBF. Mohamed Abdeslam told RTBF he saw his brothers Salah, a fugitive, and Brahim, a suicide bomber who officials said died on Boulevard Voltaire, two or three days before they left. He said the pair told their mother they were going skiing sometime before the attacks in Paris last Friday. "I didn't notice anything. There were no goodbyes," said Mohamed Abdeslam.   Paris Fugitive Seemed 'Extremely Angry' After Attacks, Friend Says     Friends Say ISIS Paris Fugitive Called Them; Desperate, Hiding in Brussels     Second Paris Stadium Suicide Bomber Also Traveled Through Greece, French Officials Say   He said his brothers "started changing maybe six months ago." "[They]...

BBC News Belgian police have made 16 arrests in anti-terror raids, but suspected Paris attacks gunman Salah Abdeslam remains at large, the authorities have said. Some 22 raids were carried out Sunday across Brussels and Charleroi, the federal prosecutor's spokesman said. Brussels remains on the highest level of terror alert. Universities, schools and the metro system will stay closed on Monday. More than 130 died and 350 were injured in the Paris attacks 10 days ago. Police fired two shots at a car during an operation in the Brussels district of Molenbeek, injuring one suspect who was later arrested. No weapons or explosives were found during the searches on Sunday, spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt told a news conference. UK Prime Minister David Cameron is in Paris for talks with French President Francois Hollande, where he said the two leaders had agreed to step up co-operation on countering international terrorism, including...

Security Solutions International's Henry Morgenstern speaks to MSNBC on the Paris Terror Attacks

The terror group’s apocalyptic vision is a powerful recruiting pitch By Liz Goodwin  In a boastful press release after the Paris attacks that left 130 dead earlier in the month, ISIS celebrated its “victory” over the city it called the “lead carrier of the cross.” “Allah granted victory upon their hands and cast terror into the hearts of the crusaders in their very own homeland,” the group wrote. The medieval language is a glimpse into the terror group’s little-discussed apocalyptic ideology, one that draws on prophecies written after Muhammad’s death that were used to motivate Muslims to battle by caliphs who lived more than a thousand years ago. While al-Qaida occasionally hinted at these doomsday writings foretelling a grand battle with infidels at the end of the world, ISIS has made them the bedrock of its brand. These prophecies are so entwined with ISIS’ identity that the group has pasted a...

      The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center Main events of the week The main events of the week were the shooting and suicide bombing attacks carried out by ISIS in Paris by eight terrorists operating at six different sites. At least 130 people were killed in the terror attack. This operation, which was carefully planned and directed by ISIS, is a deviation from ISIS’s known modus operandi in Western countries. The Paris attack was preceded by two other killing attacks (interception of the Russian aircraft and a suicide bombing attack in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburb of Beirut). These attacks demonstrate ISIS’s operational ability to carry out complex attacks in various locales far from its bastions of power in Syria and Iraq. The attacks were followed by an ISIS media campaign threatening to carry out additional attacks against France and other Western countries.In the meantime, ISIS suffered a...