Europe Confronts ISIS at Its Gates

Adriel Kasonta

Security, Europe

The West has failed to learn from its previous experience in the Middle East.

According to the coalition fighting against ISIS, led by the United States, between September 2014 and July 2015 Belgium executed nearly 800 sorties and 163 airstrikes over Iraq. They were set to resume these operations this summer, battling its militants after its claim of responsibility for the twin assaults in Belgium's capital of Brussels that killed more than thirty people and wounded about two hundred others.

The two loud explosions took place at Brussels Airport shortly before seven o’clock in the morning on Tuesday. The first happened outside security checkpoints for ticketed passengers and near the airline check-in counters; the other—the subway station blast—happened in the Brussels district of Maelbeek, near the heart of European Union, and NATO headquarters. “Islamic State fighters opened fire inside Zaventem Airport, before several of them detonated their explosive belts, as a martyrdom bomber detonated his explosive belt in the Maelbeek metro station,” reported the Amaq website, which is affiliated with the terrorist group. “This is an attack against our values, our freedom, and our democracy,” Brussels Mayor Ivan Mayeur said at a press conference after the tragedy. “We won't let anyone attack our values in a cowardly way,” he added.

The Maelbeek massacre immediately triggered security alerts across Europe.