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The Return of ‘Marco Polo’… Paris Unveils Plot to Kill Iranians in Europe

Members of the French riot police take part in a training exercise to handle violent demonstrations, in Ris-Orangis, south of Paris, in France, August 30, 2021. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo
Members of the French riot police take part in a training exercise to handle violent demonstrations, in Ris-Orangis, south of Paris, in France, August 30, 2021. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo
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The Return of ‘Marco Polo’… Paris Unveils Plot to Kill Iranians in Europe

Members of the French riot police take part in a training exercise to handle violent demonstrations, in Ris-Orangis, south of Paris, in France, August 30, 2021. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo
Members of the French riot police take part in a training exercise to handle violent demonstrations, in Ris-Orangis, south of Paris, in France, August 30, 2021. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo

Iranian intelligence services have returned to using assassinations in Europe, French authorities revealed on Sunday.

This came after a couple was detained on accusations that one of them was the main France-based operative for an Iran-sponsored terrorist cell that planned acts of violence in France and Germany.

A report by France's General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) said the case of the detained couple signals a revival in Iranian state-sponsored terrorism in Europe, AFP reported.

On May 4, French authorities charged Abdelkrim S., 34, and his partner Sabrina B., 33, with conspiring with a criminal terrorist organization and placed them in pretrial detention.

The case, known as “Marco Polo,” was revealed Thursday by French news website Mediapart, which said the Iranian (secret) services have resumed a targeted killing policy in the old continent.

It said the services are keen on recruiting criminals, including drug lords, to conduct such operations.

“Since 2015, the Iranian (secret) services have resumed a targeted killing policy,” the French security agency wrote, adding that “the threat has worsened again in the context of the Israel-Hamas war.”

It said the alleged objective for Iranian intelligence was to target civilians and sow fear in Europe among the country's political opposition as well as among Jews and Israelis.

Iran is accused of recruiting criminals, including drug lords, to conduct such operations.

Abdelkrim S. was previously sentenced to 10 years in prison in a killing in Marseille and released on probation in July 2023.

He is accused of being the main France-based operative for an Iran-sponsored terrorist cell that planned acts of violence in France and Germany.

A former fellow inmate is believed to have connected the suspect with the cell's coordinator, a major drug trafficker from the Lyon area who likely visited Iran in May, according to the DGSI.

The group intended to attack a Paris-based former employee at an Israeli security firm and three of his colleagues residing in the Paris suburbs.

Three Israeli-German citizens in Munich and Berlin were also among the targets.

Investigators believe that Abdelkrim S., despite his probation, made multiple trips to Germany for scouting purposes, including travels to Berlin with his wife.

He denied the accusations and said he simply had purchases to make.

French authorities are also crediting the cell with plots to set fire to four Israeli-owned companies in the south of France between late December 2023 and early January 2024, said a police source.

Abdelkrim S. rejected the claims, saying he had acted as a go-between on Telegram for the mastermind and other individuals involved in a planned insurance scam, the source added.

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Fire Tornadoes are a Risk Under California's Extreme Wildfire Conditions

The National Weather Service warned Tuesday that the combination of high winds and severely dry conditions have created a “particularly dangerous situation” - The AP
The National Weather Service warned Tuesday that the combination of high winds and severely dry conditions have created a “particularly dangerous situation” - The AP
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Fire Tornadoes are a Risk Under California's Extreme Wildfire Conditions

The National Weather Service warned Tuesday that the combination of high winds and severely dry conditions have created a “particularly dangerous situation” - The AP
The National Weather Service warned Tuesday that the combination of high winds and severely dry conditions have created a “particularly dangerous situation” - The AP

As if they aren’t already facing enough, firefighters in California also could encounter fire tornadoes — a rare but dangerous phenomenon in which wildfires create their own weather.

The National Weather Service warned Tuesday that the combination of high winds and severely dry conditions have created a “particularly dangerous situation” in which any new fire could explode in size. The advisory, which runs into Wednesday, didn’t mention tornadoes, but meteorologist Todd Hall said they're possible given the extreme conditions.

 

A look at fire tornadoes according to The AP.

What is a fire tornado? Fire whirl, fire devil, fire tornado or even firenado — scientists, firefighters and regular folks use multiple terms to describe similar phenomena, and they don’t always agree on what’s what. Some say fire whirls are formed only by heat, while fire tornadoes involve clouds generated by the fire itself.

The National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s glossary of wildland fire terms doesn’t include an entry for fire tornado, but it defines a fire whirl as a “spinning vortex column of ascending hot air and gases rising from a fire and carrying aloft smoke, debris and flame,” and says large whirls “have the intensity of a small tornado.”

Wildfires with turbulent plumes can produce clouds that in turn can produce lightning or a vortex of ash, smoke and flames, said Leila Carvalho, professor of meteorology and climatology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“There is a rotation caused by very strong wind shear and a very hot, localized low-pressure system,” she said.

What is a fire tornado capable of? Fire tornadoes can make fires stronger by sucking up air, Carvalho said. “It creates a tornado track, and wherever this goes, the destruction is like any other tornado.”

In 2018, a fire tornado the size of three football fields killed a firefighter as it exploded in what already was a vast and devastating wildfire near near Redding, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) north of San Francisco in northern California. Scientists later described an ice-capped cloud that reached 7 miles (11 km) into the air and caused winds up to 143 mph (230 kph).

Research also suggests fire tornadoes can carry airborne embers, also called firebrands, over long distances, said James Urban, an assistant professor in the Department of Fire Protection Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. They also can change the fire’s behavior, he said.

“That’s also something that is dangerous and scary for first responders, or really anyone,” he said. “It can change and maybe go in a different direction.”

The interaction between wind, the fire plume and topography determines whether a tornado will develop, he said. For example, sometimes a certain topography will restrict airflow in such a way that a spiral pattern develops.

Can you make one in a lab? Together with San José State University, Worcester Polytech is part of a Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center. In the lab in Worcester, researchers have created small fire tornadoes by putting up walls around a fire or arranging a bunch of little fires that together restrict airflow. But that’s on a much smaller scale than what’s happening with the wildfires.

“We’ve got the biggest fire lab in the US for a university, but we cannot get something the size of what’s been reported at these fires,” he said. “You can’t really bottle that and put it in a lab.”