Menacing terrorist organizations are capitalizing on migration

Some may think that conflicts in the Middle East and terrorism are distant phenomena. But the fact is that migration from the region is bringing these problems to Europe. According to an intelligence report prepared for Hungary's Committee on National Security, three well-known terrorist organisations have already made verbal threats and are likely to appear on the migration route leading through the country.

Karlsruhe, 2023. július 6. Német rendõrök helikopterhez kísérik a hét õrizetbe vett, feltételezett iszlamista terrorista egyikét Karlsruhéban 2023. július 6-án. Az öt tádzsikisztáni, egy türkmenisztáni és egy kirgizisztáni férfi a gyanú szerint az Iszlám Állam (IÁ) terrorszervezet terroristasejtjéhez tartozik. MTI/EPA/Ronald Wittek Fotó: Ronald Wittek

A few weeks ago, on October 10, just days after the brutal terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas, the founder and ex-chief of the political wing of the terrorist organization called on its followers to commit new acts of terror. Khaled Mashal addressed Muslims around the world, summarizing in four points what he is asking them to do. 

Two of these are particularly noteworthy. The first point is to exhibit as much rage as possible, sending the message of anger to everyone. And in the fourth point, which he called the most important, he asked all Muslims in the world to carry jihad on their souls, to fight and become martyrs for Al-Aqsa. This is effectively a call for global jihad.

This Hamas statement is also cited in the intelligence report prepared for the Hungarian Parliament National Security Committee. The main findings of the document, entitled "National Security Aspects of Illegal Migration in the Serbian-Hungarian Border Region", include references to other terrorist organizations in addition to Hamas. The document notes that ISIS and Al-Qaeda, two also well-known terrorist groups. have also joined the Palestinian call to action.

Growing risk

The menacing threat also affects Hungary, as the report states that "the general escalation of calls to action and tension levels has led to an increase in information suggesting a heightened risk of terrorist attacks (also) on potential European targets". Although Hungary - unlike many other EU member states - does not have a significant Arab diaspora, we are, nevertheless, on a migration transit route.

This is why the National Information Center states that 

in terms of internal security, the risk of terrorism has increased proportionately with migration pressure and as a direct consequence of the war between Israel and Hamas. There is a high probability that terrorist networks will utilize the routes of illegal migration – including the Western Balkan route passing through Hungary.

This reveals how the problem is linked to the deplorable conditions on the southern side of the Serbian-Hungarian border. The report also reveals that the people-smuggling gangs operating there are not only becoming increasingly organized and violent, but have already in part come under Middle Eastern influence. 

The Hungarian intelligence also have information that the leadership of a terrorist organization in the Middle East has already expressed the need to acquire, i.e. buy, entire human trafficking networks. This is how they would then bring human smuggling under their control at our southern borders.

Lone wolves?

The dangers are further compounded by the manner in which terrorists have operated in recent years. Jan Op Gen Oorth, Europol spokesman, told Euronews. According to him, Islamist terrorism is still the biggest terrorist threat in Western Europe and "lone wolves are expected to continue to carry out most of the terrorist attacks." 

At the same time, Europol also found that lone wolves may not be so lone after all, as they see the process of recruitment and radicalization as being  increasingly coordinated.

Terror in Europe

It is worth remembering that in 2015, when the biggest wave of migration in recent times arrived on the European continent, the number of Islamist terrorist attacks rose from four in the previous year to seventeen. According to Europol, four people were killed in such attacks in 2014 and 150 in 2015.

In 2015, the siege of Roszke took place, when aggressive migrants attacked Hungarian border guards. Massive, uncontrolled crowds of people arrived in Europe in 2016 as well. That year, 135 people lost their lives in ten attacks.

2016 was also the year of the terrorist attack in Nice which claimed the lives of 86 people and injured 458. ISIS, one of the groups putting out threats now, claimed to have committed that attack.

On November 2, 2020, four people were killed and 23 injured in a terrorist attack in central Vienna. The perpetrator in this case was also a "lone wolf", but four people helped him. Last year, a total of 380 terrorists were arrested on our continent, 266 of them were Islamists.

Cover photo: German police officers escort one of the seven detained suspected Islamist terrorists to a helicopter in Karlsruhe on July 6, 2023 (Photo: MTI/EPA/Ronald Wittek)