Spain Arrests ISIS Cell Planning Terrorist Attacks in Europe

FILE: Spanish civil guard members lead a person arrested on suspicion of links to militant group ISIS after a house search in Granada, southern Spain April 16, 2016. REUTERS/Pepe Marin
FILE: Spanish civil guard members lead a person arrested on suspicion of links to militant group ISIS after a house search in Granada, southern Spain April 16, 2016. REUTERS/Pepe Marin
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Spain Arrests ISIS Cell Planning Terrorist Attacks in Europe

FILE: Spanish civil guard members lead a person arrested on suspicion of links to militant group ISIS after a house search in Granada, southern Spain April 16, 2016. REUTERS/Pepe Marin
FILE: Spanish civil guard members lead a person arrested on suspicion of links to militant group ISIS after a house search in Granada, southern Spain April 16, 2016. REUTERS/Pepe Marin

The Spanish police have detained five people on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist group. Earlier, three other suspects were detained this year on charges of belonging to the same cell.

Investigations revealed that the ISIS affiliates have been trying to establish bases in several European Union countries and form cells to carry out terrorist plots.

The source said that these elements arrived in European countries through illegal immigration networks that use the seaports in southern Spain.

A spokesman for the Spanish police said that the detainees were very dangerous, and they almost acquired automatic weapons, including Kalashnikovs.

The spokesman said that the cell includes a group of Algerian youths, including two ISIS members, who had previously participated in the Syrian war. The agencies monitored their entry to Spain late last year.

Police sources said that following investigations and analysis of documents seized from the first group of suspects, a fourth person of Algerian nationality was arrested, whom they referred to as "Sheikh."

The sources said that the Sheikh entered from southern Spain by the sea with a group of illegal immigrants two months after the arrest of the cell members.

A Spanish security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Sheikh is responsible for recruiting new jihadist elements.

He was already known to law enforcement after being arrested in Turkey in 2016 while trying to join ISIS in Syria. He was deported to Algeria and sentenced to prison on terrorism charges.

After his release, he visited countries including Malaysia, Tanzania, and from there to the lands south of the Sahara, where he continued to recruit new members.

The source said that he continued to communicate with leading ISIS members and that he is the leader of the cell whose members were arrested.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the Sheikh was surrounded by Algerian youths who had previously been prosecuted for robbing tourists in Barcelona. ​

He persuaded them to join ISIS given his "great influence," and they began to help him recruit elements.



France Holds Rare Defense Cabinet Meeting over Iran as Tensions with US Mount

Military personnel stand guard at a nuclear facility in the Zardanjan area of Isfahan, Iran, April 19, 2024, in this screengrab taken from video. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo
Military personnel stand guard at a nuclear facility in the Zardanjan area of Isfahan, Iran, April 19, 2024, in this screengrab taken from video. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo
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France Holds Rare Defense Cabinet Meeting over Iran as Tensions with US Mount

Military personnel stand guard at a nuclear facility in the Zardanjan area of Isfahan, Iran, April 19, 2024, in this screengrab taken from video. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo
Military personnel stand guard at a nuclear facility in the Zardanjan area of Isfahan, Iran, April 19, 2024, in this screengrab taken from video. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo

French President Emmanuel Macron was convening key ministers and experts on Wednesday to discuss Iran, including its nuclear program, amid growing tensions between Tehran and US President Donald Trump, three diplomatic sources said, Reuters reported.

Such a cabinet meeting dedicated to a specific subject is rare and highlights mounting concern among Washington's European allies that the United States and Israel could launch airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities unless there is a quick negotiated deal on its nuclear program.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reinforced US military capability in the Middle East with more warplanes, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, amid a US bombing campaign against the Houthis who control much of Yemen and are supported by Iran.

A senior European official said European strategists were asking themselves whether the campaign could be a precursor to a US strike on Iran in the coming months.

Trump, who has urged Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to engage immediately in negotiations, threatened Iran on Sunday with bombing and secondary tariffs if it did not come to an agreement over its nuclear program, which Western countries say amounts to weapons development.

The foreign minister of Iran's direct adversary Israel will be in Paris on Thursday. Diplomatic sources said ministers from France, Britain and Germany were hoping to discuss the Iran dossier with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio when they convene in Brussels for a NATO ministerial meeting this week.

Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed strict limits on Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump also reimposed sweeping US sanctions.

Since then, Iran has far surpassed that deal's limits on uranium enrichment, producing stocks at a high level of fissile purity, well above what Western powers say is justifiable for a civilian energy program and close to that required for nuclear warheads. Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon.

France, Britain and Germany have sought in recent months to raise pressure on Iran in a bid to coax it back into discussions over its nuclear program.

They have held several rounds of talks with Iran including at technical level last week, to try to lay the groundwork for some form of agreement.

But the Trump administration has focused initially on a campaign of "maximum pressure", and the Europeans have found coordination complicated, diplomats say.

The European powers had hoped to convince Iran to begin negotiating new restrictions on its nuclear activities with a view to having a deal by August at the latest.

That would give enough time to set new limits for Iran's program and lift sanctions before the 2015 accord expires in October 2025.