BRUSSELS — In the 10 years since the Brussels terror attacks, the EU has tightened its security strategy but the internet is opening up new threats, according to the bloc’s counterterrorism coordinator.  Daesh is “mutating jihadism,” Bartjan Wegter told POLITICO in an interview on the eve of the anniversary of the terrorist attacks in Brussels, which pushed the bloc to bolster border protection and step up collaboration and information-sharing. The group has “calculated that it’s much more effective to radicalize people who are already inside the EU through online environments rather than to organize orchestrated attacks from outside our borders,” he said.  “And they’re very good at it.” Ten years ago, two terrorists from Daesh (also known as the so-called Islamic State) blew themselves up at Brussels Airport. Another explosion tore through a metro car at Maelbeek station, in the heart of Brussels’ EU district. Thirty-two people were killed, and hundreds more injured.  The attacks came just months after terrorists killed 130 people in attacks on a concert hall, a stadium, restaurants and bars in Paris, exposing gaps in information-sharing in the bloc’s free-travel area. The terrorists had moved between countries, planning the attacks in one and carrying them out in another, said Wegter, who is Dutch. “That’s where our vulnerabilities were.” Today, violent jihadism remains a threat and new large-scale attacks can’t be excluded. But the probability is “much, much lower today than it was 10 years ago,” said Wegter. In the aftermath of the attacks, the bloc changed its security strategy with a focus on prevention and a “security reflex” across every policy field, according to Wegter. It’s also stepping up police and judicial collaboration through Europol and Eurojust, and it’s putting in place databases — including the Schengen Information System — so countries could alert each other about high-risk individuals, as well as an entry/exit system to monitor who enters and leaves the free-travel area. But the bloc is facing a new type of threat, as security officials see a gradual increase in attempted terrorist attacks by lone actors. A lot of that is being cultivated online and increasingly, younger people are involved. “We’ve seen cases of children 12 years old. And, the radicalization process [is] also happening faster,” Wegter said. “Sometimes we’re talking about weeks or months.” In 2024, a third of all arrests connected to potential terror threats were of people aged between 12 and 20 years old, and France recorded a tripling of the number of minors radicalized between 2023 and 2024, said Wegter.  “Just put yourself in the shoes of law enforcement … You’re dealing with young people who spend most of their time online … Who may not have a criminal record. Who, if they are plotting attacks, may not be using registered weapons. It’s very hard to prevent.” Violent jihadism is just one of the threats EU security officials worry are being cultivated online. Wegter said there is also an emerging trend of a violent right-wing extremist narrative online — and to a lesser extent, violent left-wing extremism. There’s also what he called “nihilistic extremist violence,” a new phenomenon that can feature elements of different ideologies or a drive to overthrow the system, but which is fundamentally minors seeking an identity through violence. “What we see online, some of these images are so horrible that even law enforcement needs psychological support to see this kind of stuff,” said Wegter. Law enforcement’s ability to get access to encrypted data and information on people under investigation is crucial, he stressed, and he drew parallels with the steps the EU took to secure the Schengen free movement 10 years ago. “If you want to preserve the good things of the internet, we also need to make sure that we have … some key mechanisms to safeguard the internet also.”

‘ALL I COULD DO WAS JUST WAIT AND PRAY’: AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE BRUSSELS BOMBINGS 10 years ago, terror attacks shook the Belgian capital. Here’s how the day and its aftermath unfolded, in the words of those who lived it. By SONJA RIJNEN and SEBASTIAN STARCEVIC Illustration by Patrik Svensson for POLITICO On March 22, 2016, just before 8 a.m. on an ordinary weekday morning, two explosions ripped through the departure hall of the main international airport in Brussels. The nail-packed bombs shredded flesh and blew off limbs as flaming tiles rained down from the ceiling. About an hour later, across town, a third detonation took out a train carriage at a metro station in the city’s European Quarter. Tensions and security measures in Brussels had been escalating since coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks had killed more than 130 people in Paris four months earlier, including 90 at a rock concert in the Bataclan theater.  Advertisement Belgian officials had warned of possible strikes just days before, after raids in Brussels led to the capture of key suspects linked to the deadly assaults in neighboring France. A decade on, POLITICO spoke with politicians, emergency service officials, journalists, survivors and their families about that fateful morning, reconstructing a timeline of the Brussels bombings and the painful days that followed. *The following interviews were conducted in English, French and Dutch. They have been translated, edited and condensed for clarity. AT ZAVENTEM AIRPORT At 7:58 a.m., two suicide bombers detonated explosives, nine seconds apart, in the crowded departure hall. Karen Northshield, American-Belgian athlete and survivor: I was at the Brussels international airport to fly out to the U.S., like a lot of other people that day. The moment I was hit by the first bomb, literally all hell broke loose. I’m swept off my feet, I’m on my back, fatally injured and just waiting, hoping, praying somebody will come and see me. Tara Palmeri, journalist and former POLITICO reporter: I think I just got a Twitter alert. I was still in bed, hadn’t properly woken up for work yet, and I saw the news of the terror attack. I got in an Uber and asked them to get me as close to the airport as possible. They dropped me off on the highway, and I started walking. When I got there, it was chaos. People were running. It was like a crime scene. Karen Northshield: I was lying on the floor for the longest time. I’m losing my breath. I’m losing every ounce of strength I have in me. There’s blood gushing out of my leg. And I’m thinking: “How did this happen?” There were other survivors that were severely injured. They were waiting for help. There was a lot of noise and crying and yelling and screaming. Of course, it was chaos. Tara Palmeri: I just remember the sound of the sirens. It reminded me of a World War II movie. In my head, I remember feeling like I was in the middle of a war. Karen Northshield: When a life-or-death situation happens, the body can do amazing things. I was able to hoist myself up onto an airport cart. At a certain moment, I looked off to the side and saw somebody running back in. He was a couple meters away from me, looking to see if there were any more bodies to save. I’m thinking: “This is my only chance. It’s now or never.” I do everything I can to gain just enough strength to show him I’m alive, so I wave my hand, and he understands. He comes running to me, pushes me out and wheels me on one of the carts out to the sidewalk, then he disappears. A plume of smoke rises over Brussels airport after the terrorist attack on March 22, 2016 in Brussels, Belgium. | Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images Tara Palmeri: I remember there was this wonderful woman who taught yoga at the gym. She was an American girl [Karen], and she lost, like, half her body. Karen Northshield: It took about an hour before the ambulance finally arrived [at the airport]. I was doing everything I could to stay awake and remain conscious and remain alive. But that hour just felt like hell. I was literally dying, and all I could do was just wait and pray that God would come rescue me. When the ambulance finally arrived, I think my subconscious mind said: “Okay, you’re good. Now you can let them take care of the rest.” AT THE MAELBEEK METRO STATION At 9 a.m., another suicide bomber detonated inside a subway car at Maelbeek Station. Christelle Giovanetti, survivor: On March 22, 2016, I left for work. I didn’t usually take the metro, but once every two months I had a meeting in the city center, which fell on that day. The metro started moving, and as soon as the first car entered the tunnel, the explosion happened. I was sitting in that first car — it was in the second one that the suicide bomber blew himself up. There was a big ball of fire and the sound of a really loud explosion. I was thrown up and then crashed back into my seat. Advertisement Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli, journalist and former POLITICO reporter: I was based in London and had started at POLITICO just a few months prior, so I was on a trip to Brussels. Because I had woken up late, I decided I was going to take the metro from Maelbeek. I was on the phone with my dad because he’d heard on the radio about the bombs that went off at the airport, and he called to check I was OK. While I was talking to him, I heard these loud bangs, and it was the bomb going off at the metro station right below where I was standing, right where I was about to go. Christelle Giovanetti: I remember being in the dark because I was already partially in the subway tunnel. I remember touching my legs and wondering what was on me — it was debris and dust. It felt like I had swallowed dust and had things in my mouth. There was a man next to me who kept praying. Then, there was some movement, there was some noise, and people started switching on their phones, so everything came back to life a bit. The driver came from his cabin and helped us take out a window for an emergency exit. We let people out, women and children first. I was one of the last ones out. Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli: Obviously, when it happened, it was surreal because I’d never been anywhere where bombs were going off. It’s just one of those very strange situations where you realize you’re in the middle of something that will become big news, but in the moment, you don’t really realize it’s happening. I remember just telling my dad I was going to get off the phone. Christelle Giovanetti: I think I was a bit in shock, so instead of leaving like everyone else, I stood stuck on the platform. There were things on the ground, human pieces. I was very taken aback. There was a young woman who was with me who told me not to look. I looked anyway. Policemen stand guard at the entrance of a security perimeter set near the Maelbeek metro station, on March 22, 2016. | Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images I wanted to go into the second train car, but it wasn’t possible. All the people who had died were there. I saw a lot of horrors. I pulled one woman out of the rubble who was stuck and was barely responding. Tine Gregoor, physician and volunteer first responder: My partner and I were by chance in the car in the European Quarter, and I saw on Twitter there had been a second attack in the area. I thought there probably wasn’t a doctor there yet, so I walked to the site. I said: “Je suis medicin” (“I am a doctor”). At some point, I met someone, I think from the fire department, who took me to a first-aid station. The most critically injured were brought there. Christelle Giovanetti: The first police arrived on the opposite platform. There was no light in the station, so we couldn’t see each other well. The officer yelled at me to evacuate, and I shouted back that there were survivors. He replied that I should get out. So, I stepped over a lot of things, and I went up the escalator. I couldn’t even see a meter in front of me because of the smoke. At the top, there were already firemen and ambulances.  Lack of equipment was a problem for everyone. I had respiratory problems because I inhaled a lot of gas from the bomb, but I couldn’t get a mask because they didn’t have enough of them, and they were obviously given to someone who was no longer breathing.  Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli: Basically, the Thon Hotel (on Rue de la Loi) turned into triage, and from the hotel gym — I think it was on the first floor — you could see law enforcement arriving, and people being taken out of the metro station on stretchers, both the injured and the deceased. Tine Gregoor: People just kept coming. Tables were moved to the side, and at one point there were 11 seriously injured people just in that room, which was actually quite small. They were all lying side by side, each one in worse condition than the other. It was very intense. They all had life-threatening injuries. Anyone that could still walk was sent to another room. Christelle Giovanetti: We were triaged based on our injuries and then sent to a hospital. In the beginning, I was surrounded by passersby, people who had taken care of me and other victims. We became very close because we’d all come out of something terrible. One of the people who was on the metro with me and with whom I had spent all morning at the Thon came looking for me. It was good to see him, even though we hadn’t known each other just the day before. He took care of me, went to get me water and charged my phone. Advertisement Tine Gregoor: I was taking care of injuries that were like war injuries. At one point I had a scalp in my hands. The victims couldn’t hear anything, and they were covered in black stuff. I had to improvise a lot because we had very little material. We also had to triage and decide who we thought had the highest chance of survival. There were many people with broken bones, almost all of them had severe burns and some had brain injuries too. You could see their heads were swollen. After an hour, the most seriously injured were taken to the hospital. In the chaos, I’d lost my handbag and keys. I was a bit dazed. I remember a nurse asking me if I was OK, and I said yes. You just had to flip a switch and keep going. FIRST RESPONSE Authorities raced to secure EU institutions, clear the metro and identify victims, while families desperately awaited news. In total, 32 people were killed and more than 340 were injured. Philippe Vansteenkiste, director of V-Europe and special adviser on Victims of Terrorism to the European Commission: On the morning of March 22, I was driving my kids to school. The day before, my wife had told me to stop listening to the news with the kids in the car because it’s not always pleasant, so I’d switched on music that day. When I arrived at the school, I heard that a bomb had exploded at the airport. My sister worked at the airport. Then, I got a call from my mother saying my sister wasn’t answering her phone. She usually did a morning shift that ended at 6 a.m. But someone had called in sick that day, and my sister decided to stay until 8 a.m. At around 8:45 a.m., I suddenly had a very weird feeling I’d never had before. It was like my sister passed by to say goodbye. I jumped in the car and decided to drive straight to my parents. Christian Decobecq, former head of Disaster Victim Identification (DVI), Belgian federal police: I received a call from one of my colleagues who told me there had been an explosion at Zaventem. We’d been fearing attacks — especially after France — and the federal police were on alert. Special police forces stand guard outside the Council Chamber of Brussels on March 24, 2016 during investigations into the Paris and Brussels terror attacks. | Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images The DVI was only a team of seven, but we had a pool of 80 in case of major disasters. I started putting together teams on my whiteboard — teams for recovering bodies, autopsies, speaking to families for identification, and logistics and coordination, etc. We heard about the second explosion in Maelbeek while I was writing the names. So, I drew a line on my whiteboard and assigned a second team. Alexander De Croo, former prime minister of Belgium: At that point, I was deputy prime minister, and my competencies were digital and telecom. The first thing was that the telecom network was crashing. I remember that, without consulting anyone, I sent a tweet asking people to please use IP-based messaging such as WhatsApp instead of calling and sending texts. It’s been my most retweeted post of my whole life. It helped a lot in reducing the tension on the telecom network. Jean-Luca Cocci, head of Dispatching Unit, European Parliament: Once we had more or less understood what had happened, first at the airport and then in the Maelbeek metro, we knew this was something we’d never experienced before. This wasn’t attacks in France or Germany — it was next door. It was the EU’s backyard. The first thing that collapsed was the mobile network because of congestion, so I launched one of the first WhatsApp groups. We needed to immediately inform everybody we could with the means that we had. Tom Michiels, former technical director, Brussels Metro Business Unit: Initially, getting information was almost impossible because communication [was cut off]. But I realized quite quickly that we would need to go on-site. It became apparent we would need a team on standby to clean up the train. We went to Maelbeek, but we were not allowed down. We were there for hours on standby. Advertisement Christian Decobecq: The first thing the DVI does is go on-site and recover the bodies. Once the bodies have been collected, we transport them, and postmortem activities are carried out in collaboration with forensic experts. When I realized it was terrorism, one of the first things that went through my head was: “Do not make mistakes.” The French had told me they made a mistake with two young girls. They didn’t follow the Interpol standards and made a comparison based on visible identification and an ID card. The two girls looked alike, and they gave the news to the wrong family. I thought to myself: “Christian, you must not do that. We will follow the procedures, and that may take some time.” Jean-Luca Cocci: The EU institutions took the decision to keep people at home and let them stay there until we had certainty from the Belgian authorities that no other explosions or attacks were ongoing. We had many requests coming one after the other: What about my kids in school? Should we join them? Should I leave Parliament and go home? It was hard to give instructions because information was coming in from everywhere. So, block by block, step by step, we tried to answer all the questions. Alexander De Croo: Brussels had very strict rules about how much power cell towers could have because of concerns that they might impact our health. We decided to tell telecom networks to double their power to get network stability. By late afternoon, I think we had our first Security Council meeting with government and the heads of security agencies. I think the first major discussions were about if we could have the military in the streets to secure some high-risk areas. It was a tense discussion. It’s still a difficult discussion these days. Dimitri Defre, emergency preparedness coordinator, University Hospital Leuven: That first day was the most dramatic in terms of the medical aspect. But alongside that, we also had the forensic part of things. We were quickly designated the hospital in charge of analyzing all the physical remains of the victims and perpetrators from the airport.  There were a lot of moving parts. We had to improvise because our morgue was not big enough for the extra bodies alongside the usual flow. A ambulance man pushes a stretcher with a body bag outside the Maalbeek metro station. | Philippe Huguen/AFP via Getty Images Philippe Vansteenkiste: We couldn’t find [my sister]. It was a very, very intense and difficult day. No one understood exactly what was going on, and as time goes by, you just get more and more desperate. Then, as evening approaches, suddenly all the helplines are closed because their office hours are over. You start to feel so much frustration because you need help, and it’s just not coming. Tom Michiels: Around 11 p.m., we were allowed down [to the metro]. The police had done their investigation, so we worked for a few hours. We saw quite a scene — the train was folded open like a sardine box. The roof had been blown open and a piece was stuck to the ceiling. We were thinking: “What can we do to get this train back to a depot?” We realized relatively quickly that we needed more equipment, so around 3 or 4 a.m., we made the necessary contact. Our team went to sleep for 3 hours before getting back to work. There were 12 to 15 of us working on the train. There was a bit of urgency to clean up for political reasons. To get the metro running as fast as possible, to show: “Look, we won’t let ourselves get destroyed.” Over four days, we only slept six hours.  Christian Decobecq: There are standards we follow: The bodies must be identified via scientific methods — that is to say, teeth, DNA or fingerprints. Only based on this can we make a positive identification. It takes time, of course. We started this the first day. The DVI also meets with relatives for an interview to establish what the persons looked like. What were they wearing? Do they wear jewelry? Do they have any tattoos or scars? What’s the address of their doctor and dentist? We also asked if they had traveled abroad. If they’d been to America, then maybe we could find their fingerprints.  Philippe Vansteenkiste: We kept searching for [my sister], on and on. On Thursday afternoon, we finally got a call that we should come to the DVI. I went with my mother, and they asked for a description of my sister. It took an hour-and-a-half. Finally, a step was being taken. Advertisement Then, on Friday morning, a policeman called me, thinking I had already received the news that my sister had been killed — I hadn’t. So, it had happened on Tuesday, and I got the news that she had passed away on Friday, a bit by mistake. It took four days. I understand the DVI cannot make errors, but she had a uniform. She had a badge. It can’t be that families have to wait for such a long time. Christian Decobecq: I know that for the bereaved, one minute feels like a century, but we have to be absolutely sure. We can’t make mistakes. At one point, all the families were gathered at a Red Cross center, and I explained as much as I could. There was one family, where the wife came to me and said: “Sir, sir, please give my husband back.” I’ve never forgotten that. THE AFTERMATH  In the ensuing days, political leaders rushed to show resolve and solidarity. But as Belgium struggled to comprehend how the attacks were able to take place, many began demanding answers. Philippe Close, mayor of Brussels: In 2016, I was deputy mayor and a member of the Brussels Parliament. We were aware the risk existed. But in democracies, we think it’s impossible because we live in peace, that it’s unimaginable that people would attack their own country. We know that intelligence services do their utmost to control and arrest terrorist cells, but this last group decided to act, I think because they knew they were recognized by the services. Was the city prepared? For an attack, no. To help the injured people, yes. There was a lot of solidarity. We are one of the most multicultural cities in the world, and it’s important that a large part of the population want to defend that, also after the attack. A Belgian serviceman stands guard at the Maalbeek metro station on its re-opening day on April 25, 2016 in Brussels, after being closed since the 22 March attacks. | John Thys/AFP via Getty Images Alexander De Croo: I found the prime minister [Charles Michel] handled it well. In general, the government did well. But when terrorist attacks happen, one way or another, it is a failure to prevent that. It was a case of really working together with security services and also making some legal reforms to give police and legal institutions more leverage to act against these terrorists. Tara Palmeri: I remember there was a lot of debate about the right to move freely within the EU and how countries like Belgium just aren’t able to protect their citizens the way they can in the U.S. There was a huge sense that they should have done more to protect their citizens. One of the top priorities of a state is to provide security to its people. They weren’t able to do that. Philippe Close: I remember we decided not to freeze the city. It’s a very difficult decision. The advice is to close everything. We didn’t decide that. If we decided to do that, when would we reopen? The population is made more afraid by the measures than the risks. As a politician, you need to pay attention to the balance between the risk and also the values you want to defend, and that our city needs to continue to live. If you don’t defend that, they win. Advertisement Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli: On the evening of the attacks, the day after and the days following, there was an incredible silence at the airport, the train station and around the city in general. It was suddenly extremely empty and quiet. Because it wasn’t very long after the Paris attacks, it was a moment in time in Europe where everyone kind of had a sense of being in potential danger and wanting to avoid situations that could put them in harm’s way. So, everyone was a bit wary of just carrying on with their regular lives. Christelle Giovanetti: The week that followed was really complicated because I felt like there was an attack going on inside my head. I had hearing problems, felt withdrawn in my suffering, and even though the people around me were really present, I couldn’t find what would help me. A woman reacts during a minute of silence held at a makeshift memorial in front of Brussel’s Stock Exchange on Place de la Bourse (Beursplein) on March 24, 2016. | Philippe Huguen/AFP via Getty Images A week after, the police organized a discussion group among victims. It was the first time I met other victims since the attack, and that really helped me. It was the starting point for my recovery. Sitting down with other people who have been through the same thing really helped. In the end, I got four days of sick leave and then went back to work. Karen Northshield: I ended up in the hospital for 79 days — 79 days nonstop in terms of terror, in terms of agony, in terms of suffering. My body, my skin, my cells, my bones, everything was fully in flames. I had zero chance of survival, my heart had stopped so many times, I went into septic shock so many times. Everything I had built up until then, all my hopes, all my dreams just vanished into thin air. Françoise Schepmans, member of the Brussels Parliament and former mayor of Molenbeek: I understand the anger that people felt at that time because it was a period of fear and uncertainty for residents. They were deeply worried. Advertisement Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli: There was a general sense of wariness of the people around you, which I think was the worst part, really. I have always thought of Brussels as an inclusive city where different people mingle, and there’s just a melting pot of people from different walks of life. Suddenly those people or those communities were singled out. Alexander De Croo: This was the first major terrorist attack in 40 years. It opened many people’s eyes to the fact that no one is shielded from this. I think it’s a major trauma in Belgian society. I think that we’ve always been a very stable and peaceful society. People from the security forces [used to] say that we don’t really have a culture of security — and that’s true. But that’s also the type of society we had. Politicians in general were very accessible and had no security forces, parliament and ministries essentially had open doors. That had to change quite a bit. It really changed the way we look at how we have to secure our society. Philippe Close: Our police departments need to study these terrorist actions more. For example, what happens in the Middle East is always a risk for Brussels — and we know it. We need to invest in intelligence. We also need to detect radicalism. A large part of people become [radicalized] on social networks. I think there’s a real responsibility from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and all of them, to manage what we can put on social networks more. Françoise Schepmans: A lot has changed in the last 10 years. People were afraid back then. Today, we are better prepared, better coordinated and better equipped to prevent and respond to threats. We have stronger tools, clearer procedures and more experience in protecting our society. Unfortunately, in today’s world, we have to be aware that anything can happen. That’s why we must stay vigilant and prepared. But at the same time, we cannot live in fear. We have to stay hopeful, united and trust that our institutions and our society are stronger than they were before. Advertisement

LONDON — Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has welcomed an offer from MI5 to help political parties vet their election candidates as hostile states try to infiltrate British democracy. Last month MI5 — Britain’s domestic intelligence agency — said it would help political parties with candidate checks for potential foreign interference risks. A Reform spokesman told POLITICO the party would be “very interested” in taking up the offer, if it “comes to fruition.” Ken McCallum, the director general of MI5, made the offer at a cross-party briefing with U.K. political parties last month, alongside Security Minister Dan Jarvis, three people with knowledge of the meeting told POLITICO. The offer from McCallum is part of a wider effort by the U.K. government and security services to shore up British democracy amid a wave of espionage activity from hostile states. In the past six months, several foreign and U.K.-born citizens have been arrested on suspicion of working for Iran, Russia and China. Earlier this month three former Labour officials, including the husband of a sitting Labour MP and former candidate for North Wales police and crime commissioner, were arrested by counter-terrorism police on suspicion of spying for China. Last year, the former Reform UK leader in Wales Nathan Gill was jailed for accepting bribes to make pro-Russian statements while he was a member of the EU parliament for Reform’s precursor Brexit Party. Britain’s political parties have no standardized system for vetting those who want to become MPs. Each party has its own internal, and in some cases, external processes for probity checks. Reform leader Nigel Farage in 2024 blamed a “reputable vetting company” for oversights in helping sift its candidates ahead of the general election after one praised Hitler and backed Russia’s war in Ukraine. He apologized, adding: “We have been stitched up politically and that’s given us problems.” MI5’s role in vetting is limited to its own staff and certain levels of security clearance for specific government and official roles in Whitehall. Its offer to candidates is expected to be limited to helping parties assess foreign interference risks, rather than any official security clearance. POLITICO asked the six main Westminster parties if they will take MI5 up on its offer to assist in their vetting processes. The ruling Labour Party, the Conservatives, the Greens and the Liberal Democrats all declined to comment. The Scottish National Party did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The offer from Ken McCallum is part of a wider effort by the U.K. government and security services to shore up British democracy amid a wave of espionage activity from hostile states. | Jonathan Brady/PA WIRE/AFP via Getty A Reform UK spokesman said: “If this offer comes to fruition, we would be very interested in taking the MI5 up on it.  “We must do all we can to stamp out foreign interference in our politics. We have seen just last week with the Labour China spy scandal just how deeply embedded this issue is.” The government unveiled its Counter Political Interference and Espionage Action Plan last November. It includes an elections bill, which is currently making its way through parliament. An independent review into financial interference in U.K. democracy is examining the use of cryptocurrency. Ministers are also considering bringing in proscription-like powers to disrupt proxies and state-backed terror groups as part of the plan. A Government spokesperson said: “The Security Minister is coordinating an action plan to ensure we’re doing all we can to safeguard our democracy, including working directly with political parties to help them detect and deter interference and espionage. “We’re also strengthening rules on political funding, rolling out security advice for election candidates, and working with professional networking sites and think tanks to make them a more hostile operating environment for foreign agents.”

LONDON — Judges have ordered British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to reconsider the decision to block the return of a severely disabled mother currently detained in a Syrian camp with her young son. The government has been forced into a rethink after being found to have acted unlawfully in the case for a second time, in a judgment seen by POLITICO after it was handed by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC). “We note the court’s decision on this case and are considering the judgment,” a Home Office spokesperson said. “The government will always take the strongest possible action to protect our national security and our priority remains maintaining the safety and security of our citizens.” The U.K. has taken a different approach from nations like France and Germany in resisting taking back women and children from northeast Syria who left to live under the extremist group ISIS. The U.S. has been urging allies to repatriate citizens on compassionate and counter-radicalization grounds. “Layla,” as the mother in her 40s is pseudonymously known due to an anonymity order, is one of more than a dozen women and her children who have remained stranded in Syria since the Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate was destroyed. She had traveled to Syria in 2014 with her husband, who’s now presumed dead. Stripped of her citizenship, she is detained in the Al Roj camp with her British son, aged around 10. The boy has been her sole carer from a young age after she was injured by an airstrike in 2019. Shrapnel is embedded in her neck, a stroke has caused a life-long neurological disability and she is paralyzed on her right side. A medical expert assesses that she is at risk of death without treatment and there is no prospect of her neurological defects improving. The Home Office’s Special Cases Unit advised that there are “sufficient compassionate and compelling circumstances” to grant her re-entry to the U.K. — but the final decision lies with the home secretary.  Successive ministers have prevented the mother’s return since she was deprived of her citizenship in 2017. The government has twice been criticized by the judiciary for delays in its handling of the case. The court first ordered the government to reconsider the case in November 2024. The legal ruling shows Security Minister Dan Jarvis advised in July last year that an offer should be made to repatriate the child, but was unsure if he would take the risk of allowing Layla into the U.K. Then-Home Secretary Yvette Cooper ruled that, despite concern about the boy’s welfare she would take a “precautionary approach” in light of the “national security risk.” British security service MI5 assessed that Layla, referred to as “T7” in the judgment, was a willing participant in the decision to travel to Syria and that she aligned with ISIS. The security service’s general assessment is that individuals who traveled to Syria to affiliate with ISIS represent a threat. ‘GRAVITY OF THE CONSEQUENCES’ Layla’s legal team, backed by the Reprieve charity, put forward three experts who argued her threat to the U.K. is minimal. In evidence to the court, former MI6 counter-terrorism director Richard Barrett argued it was hard to imagine she would “present an unmanageable threat to national security.” The judges noted this was not zero risk, however, even when taking into account the extent of her mental and physical impairment. Sebastian Gorka has long argued that the U.K. must take back Britons in northeast Syria. | Jason Davis/Getty Images The three-strong SIAC panel ruled that the government’s decision was “inadequately reasoned” and agreed with Layla that a “more rigorous examination” is necessary, considering “the gravity of the consequences.”  They accepted that the home secretary can take a precautionary approach to avoid grave threats, but believed there was an “inadequate explanation for the secretary of state’s reliance on a precautionary approach in the circumstances of this case.”  “It follows that the decision falls to be set aside, and a fresh decision will need to be made,” justice Karen Steyn wrote in the conclusion handed down last Tuesday. She cited national security reasons for not giving further details in the public judgment for why the application for review was allowed. ‘INCUBATORS’ Donald Trump’s deputy assistant Sebastian Gorka has long argued that the U.K. must take back Britons in northeast Syria to aid the international fight against Islamic State. At a high-level conference in September, Head of U.S. Central Command Brad Cooper argued that the terror cult remains significantly influential in detainee camps. He described them as being “incubators for radicalisation,” where 57 percent of detainees are children. “Repatriating vulnerable populations before they are radicalized is not just compassion — it is a decisive blow against ISIS’s ability to regenerate,” he said. “Inaction is not an option. Every day without repatriation compounds the risk to all of us.” One high-profile detainee of Al Roj is Shamima Begum, the woman who traveled to Islamic State territory from east London when she was 15. Mahmood has vowed to fight against Begum’s challenging of the decision to strip her of citizenship in the European Court of Human Rights. Al Roj is controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. Reprieve estimates that there are around 15 British-born women remaining in Syrian camps, and around 30 British children. France has accepted back 600 women and children from camps and prisons in northeast Syria since 2019, Germany 108 and the U.S. 38, according to a tracker by the Rights and Security International charity. Britain stands on 25, with 21 of them children.

LONDON — British police arrested four men Friday on suspicion of aiding Iranian intelligence services. The Metropolitan Police said the four had been detained as part of a counter-terror investigation, and were suspected of surveilling “locations and individuals linked to the Jewish community in the London area.” They have been arrested under Britain’s National Security Act, which covers conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service. “The country to which the investigation relates is Iran,” the force said. The men include one Iranian and three dual British-Iranian nationals. They were arrested in the early hours of Friday morning at addresses in Barnet and Watford “as part of a pre-planned operation,” the Met said. The Met’s head of counter-terrorism policing in London, Helen Flanagan, said the arrests were “part of a long-running investigation and part of our ongoing work to disrupt malign activity where we suspect it.” “We understand the public may be concerned, in particular the Jewish community, and as always, I would ask them to remain vigilant and if they see or hear anything that concerns them, then to contact us,” she added. The arrests come amid heightened vigilance in the U.K. over the possibility of Iranian reprisals after the U.S. and Israel bombed Iran, setting off a broader conflict across the Middle East.

American forces launched airstrikes against ISIS in Nigeria on Thursday, President Donald Trump announced in a post on Truth Social, the administration’s latest show of lethal force in the international arena since Trump returned to the White House early this year. A Pentagon official told POLITICO the agency worked with the Nigerian government to carry out the strikes. On his social media platform, the president said the strike was a consequence for the militant group’s killing of Christians “at levels not seen for many years, and even centuries!” “I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was,” he wrote. “The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing.” There was no immediate word on casualties. Trump has in recent months taken Africa’s most populous country to task for what he claims to be the persecution of Christians within its borders. In November, he threatened to withhold all humanitarian aid — and even invade Nigeria with U.S. troops “guns-a-blazing” — if its government refused to work harder to tamp down the violence. The president has been far from shy in using American military might to promote his international agenda. Trump has now green-lit military strikes in Iran, Syria, the Caribbean and Nigeria, among other sites, since reentering the White House in January. “May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues,” he wrote. The Nigerian Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike. Nigeria has claimed that Christians are not persecuted. “The crisis is far more complex than a simple religious framing suggests,” Taiwo Hassan Adebayo, a researcher at the Institute of Security Studies, told the Associated Press last month.

Two U.S. Army soldiers and one U.S. civilian interpreter were killed while three service members were left wounded in an ambush attack on Saturday in Palmyra, Syria, U.S. officials confirmed. Sean Parnell, the Pentagon spokesperson, confirmed the news on X Saturday morning, saying the two soldiers “were conducting a key leader engagement” and that their mission in the city was “in support of on-going counter-ISIS / counter-terrorism operations in the region. In a press release, U.S. Central Command said the attack was carried out by a “lone ISIS gunman” who was “engaged and killed.” President Donald Trump on Saturday said that in light of the attack, which he framed as an assault on both the U.S. and Syria, there will be “serious retaliation.” The president also said the soldiers were killed “in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them.” A Pentagon official said that Saturday’s attack took place in an area where current Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa does not have control. As of April, the U.S. had about 2,000 troops stationed in Syria involved in advisory, training, and counter-ISIS missions. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth confirmed that the person who perpetrated the attack had been killed. “Let it be known, if you target Americans — anywhere in the world — you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you,” Hegseth added in his post on X. The Kurdish-led and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces also weighed in on X, saying, “We express our regret for the injury of a number of public security personnel and U.S. soldiers following their exposure to gunfire in the Syrian Badia while performing their duties,” according to a translation of the post from Arabic. The U.S. first deployed to Syria during the Obama administration as part of the Operation Inherent Resolve coalition to fight ISIS. After ISIS lost almost all territorial control by 2019, the U.S. did not fully withdraw but kept a smaller contingent of troops in the Middle Eastern nation to prevent the group’s resurgence. In 2024, the longstanding government of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fell, and a new transitional Syrian government formed with U.S. encouragement. Parnell, in his statement, said the soldiers’ names, as well as identifying information about their units, are being withheld for 24 hours after the next of kin notification. He also said an active investigation is underway.

A Luxembourg court on Thursday imprisoned a 23-year-old Swedish man for plotting a terrorist attack on the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, with six years suspended. The ruling caps a yearslong investigation that uncovered a sophisticated bomb-making operation and ties to international extremist networks. The defendant, named as Alexander H., was found guilty of participating in a terrorist organization, as well as multiple violations of European firearms and explosives laws, local newspaper Luxemburger Wort reported. Assistant Prosecutor David Lentz had sought a 12-year sentence in July, arguing that only the action by Luxembourg’s police and intelligence services helped prevent mass casualties. The man was arrested in February 2020 after Luxembourgish authorities uncovered a professionally equipped bomb workshop in the basement of his father’s home in Strassen, central Luxembourg. Investigators found TATP, nitroglycerine, a functional pipe bomb and a parcel bomb addressed to a Swedish film company. A French explosives expert told the court he had never seen a more advanced setup in a terrorism case. According to the court, the defendant — then aged 18 — had spent months preparing attacks in Sweden and the Netherlands, including a planned mass-casualty assault on the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest, which was later canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Investigators discovered a Google document titled “Fun time for Eurovision 2020 — For a better and less over-accepting future,” co-authored with an alleged Dutch accomplice, outlining plans to poison attendees with cyanide or ricin, release chlorine gas, or disperse chemicals through ventilation systems or custom-built rockets, national TV channel RTL reported in July. Police later confirmed the seizure of chlorine-production materials and rocket prototypes. The pair also explored ways to infiltrate security teams, block emergency exits and conduct secondary attacks, including a planned strike on an oil depot in Nacka, Sweden, for which the defendant had already mapped weak points in the site’s perimeter fence. Dutch police questioned but did not arrest the alleged accomplice. The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Rotterdam said that the man did not actually intend to carry out an attack, Dutch outlet Het Parool reported Thursday. According to authorities, the man’s plans were influenced by his involvement in extremist networks such as The Base, a neo-Nazi paramilitary group, Swedish outlet SVT reported in August. The suspended portion of the man’s prison sentence is contingent on his completing a five-year deradicalization program and submitting progress reports to prosecutors every six months. Failure to comply would reinstate the full prison term. The man and the prosecutor now have 40 days to appeal.

Don’t focus so much on Ukraine that you miss the severe threats to European security brewing in Libya. That’s the message Italy and Greece are trying to deliver to their EU and NATO allies, but without much success. Migrant flows from Libya are spiking again, at a time Rome is increasingly concerned about Russia’s growing influence in the unstable North African nation, wielded through arms supplies and a potential new naval base in the northeastern port of Tobruk. Athens has also sent two warships to conduct patrols off Libya in response to the migration surge and its strategic concerns that its archrival, Turkey, is working with the Libyans to carve up the Mediterranean into maritime zones for energy exploration. The zones claim waters just south of the Greek island of Crete, while Athens deems them illegal under international maritime law. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has described Libya as “an emergency that Europe must address together,” but a European attempt to make some diplomatic headway last week degenerated into farce. EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner, accompanied by ministers from Italy, Greece and Malta, was declared “persona non grata” in Benghazi, the territory of the eastern Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar. Accused of unspecified “violations,” the delegation was ordered to leave. “Russia’s role in Libya continues to expand, using it as the central node in its African strategy,” warned one EU diplomat who follows the dossier closely. The diplomat added that a politically connected smuggling network in Libya was supporting Russia’s strategic efforts, helping Moscow to circumvent sanctions and to weaponize migration. Italy and Greece know, however, that tackling a problem as complex as Libya — a country more than three times the size of Spain — will require support from big allies such as the U.S. and France. So far, however, the response from those allies has been underwhelming.    MIGRATION AGAIN TOPS THE AGENDA The Greek government announced tough new migration rules on Wednesday as it struggles to cope with a surge in arrivals from Libya on Crete at the height of the tourist season. “An emergency situation requires emergency measures and therefore the Greek government has taken the decision to inform the European Commission that … it is proceeding to suspend the processing of asylum applications, initially for three months, for those arriving in Greece from North Africa by sea,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told lawmakers. Some 9,000 people have arrived in Crete from Libya since the start of the year, most of them in recent weeks, already almost double the number for the whole of 2024. Some 9,000 people have arrived in Crete from Libya since the start of the year, most of them in recent weeks, already almost double the number for the whole of 2024. | Yannis Kolesidis/EPA In late June Greece deployed two warships in a bid to curb the recent surge of migrant arrivals. Senior government officials doubted their effectiveness, however, warning that naval patrols may encourage migrants to pitch themselves into the water to seek rescue. Sure enough, in the last week alone over 2,000 migrants came ashore in Crete. The Greek government is also taking criticism from both the opposition and its own officials for having abandoned the Libya file in recent years. Overall there has been a 7 percent rise in irregular crossings in the central Mediterranean in the first part of the year, almost entirely from Libya, compared to an overall 20 percent drop on all the other main routes. The Greek crackdown has also triggered fears in Italy that more migrants will be pushed into Italian waters. “We are concerned about the situation in Libya and the recent increase in irregular departures,” a European Commission spokesperson said before last week’s EU visit to the country. Being concerned is one thing, finding a solution quite another. Diplomats described last week’s diplomatic mission as an attempt to determine what solutions could be feasible. EU cash, after all, would likely play some role. The EU struck a highly controversial deal with Tunisia in 2023 in which it paid the authorities to stem migrations, but diplomats doubt such a model could be replicated in a country as destabilized by rival militias as Libya. RUSSIANS AT THE GATE A recent display of Russian weapons in Benghazi during a military parade showed the Kremlin’s growing proximity to Haftar.   Russia wants a stronghold in the Mediterranean, especially after the new authorities in Syria terminated Moscow’s lease at the Port of Tartus after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. Italy’s Tajani issues regular warnings that Libya is the most likely destination for a replacement naval base. According to a report by the Agenzia Nova news agency, Moscow also wants to install missile systems at a military base in Sebha in southern Libya, which is controlled by Haftar, and to point the rockets at Europe.  Many analysts and diplomats are skeptical that Moscow is already at the stage of pointing rockets at Europe from Libya. But even without the missiles, Russia can already use a handful of military bases in Libya for logistics, “which theoretically could hit Europe,” said Arturo Varvelli, a senior policy fellow for the European Council on Foreign Relations. So far, Russia has mainly used Libyan bases to run its operations in the rest of Africa, operating mainly through the Africa Corps, backed by Russia’s defense ministry. The Greek government announced tough new migration rules on Wednesday as it struggles to cope with a surge in arrivals from Libya on Crete at the height of the tourist season. | Yannis Kolesidis/EPA There are also growing fears among southern European officials that Russia could soon be able to harness migration from Libya in a rerun of the hybrid war it launched on the EU’s eastern front, when it forced Middle Eastern refugees over the Belarusian border into Poland. Still, not everything is going Russia’s way. One of the diplomats said the costs of the war in Ukraine were depriving the Africa Corps of the funding it needed to pay Libyan militias, creating tensions with its proxies and Haftar. “I don’t see the Russians taking over” the migrant smuggling business, said Karim Mezran, a resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, but “I see the Russians telling the people: Now I’m the new ruler and you just follow my orders.”  A QUEST FOR ALLIES Despite the gravity of these threats from Libya, Italy and Greece are struggling to convince their allies to step up. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni discussed Libya with French President Emmanuel Macron at a three-hour meeting in Rome on June 4. Libya “is of course a topic of key relevance for both Italy and France,” said an Italian official with direct knowledge of the talks between Paris and Rome, stressing “common concerns, especially on security — as regards also Russia’s increasing presence there — and migration.” The Italian official, however, acknowledged that there are “nuances” between the two countries’ positions “on the possible political solutions.” Libya is increasingly being added to the agenda of more diplomatic talking shops, but in practical terms little is happening. While Italy desperately wants buy-in from military heavyweight France, the subject simply isn’t as vital to Paris as it is to Rome, and even exposes France’s recent failures in Mali and Niger. “For Italy, the question of Libya is more central in the short term than for France,” said Virginie Collombier, a professor at Luiss University in Rome and an expert on Libya. “Politically, the French government has little interest in crying wolf on Russia because it highlights the failures of the French government,” she said, noting that France has gradually withdrawn from African countries in the Sahel region while Russia has upped its presence. And with the U.S. increasingly looking to the Pacific, there is scant hope that Washington will invest much political capital in stabilizing the country. Most tellingly, the most recent NATO declaration, signed June 25 in The Hague, doesn’t even mention Africa. “No one wanted divisive issues [included] as NATO now has a very minimalist agenda,” said Alessandro Marrone, head of the defense, security and space program at the Rome-based Istituto Affari Internazionali think tank.  That’s a bitter pill for the Italians. Rome has “now to face this reality,” Marrone added. Laura Kayali contributed reporting.

LONDON — Iran’s attempts to murder and kidnap people on U.K. soil should be treated as attacks against Britain, the government has been warned. Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) — tasked with oversight of Britain’s intelligence agencies and which has access to top-level classified briefings — on Thursday published its long-awaited report into the threat Iran poses to Britain. It warned that the Islamic republic has become a “full spectrum” threat across assassinations, espionage, cyber-attacks and nuclear weapons. It lambasts the previous Conservative government’s policy on Iran for being too focused on “crisis management” over Iran’s nuclear program, to the exclusion of the threats to those who live in Britain. The inquiry — which concluded before the October 2023 attacks by Hamas in Israel — was delayed by last summer’s general election. But Kevan Jones, the ISC chair, told POLITICO the events in the following months have shown that the threat from Tehran “is still there, it’s live.” Officials told the committee in 2023 that while China and Russia are “Premier League” threats to Britain, Iran was “top of the Championship,” with the two other world powers running hundreds of thousands of intelligence officers compared to Iran’s tens of thousands.  One intelligence official added: “What Iran has, is a risk appetite which is very ‘pokey’ indeed.” ATTACKS ON BRITISH SOIL Between 2022 and 2024 there are believed to have been at least 20 Iranian-backed plots on British soil, often involving attempts to either kill or kidnap Iranian dissidents or critics of the state who have made the U.K. their home. Iran often uses proxies such as British-based criminals to carry out these attacks. The ISC was told by government counter-terrorism officials that the attack on individuals in the U.K. is now “the greatest level of threat we currently face from Iran,” with the report noting that this risk has seen a “stark” rise since 2016, when British intelligence deemed that Iran would only look to do this in “extreme circumstances.” Since the committee took evidence, two Romanians have been charged after an Iranian journalist was stabbed outside his home in London. Separately, three Iranian men have appeared in court charged with plotting violence against journalists under instruction from Iran’s intelligence agencies. Jeremy Wright, the committee’s deputy chair, told POLITICO that although Iran does not view these as direct attacks on Britain “the U.K. government needs to make it clear to the Iranians, that is exactly how we will regard it.” “People are entitled to walk safely on British streets regardless of where they come from,” and that attempts to kill and kidnap increases the risk for U.K. citizens to be hurt in the process. “We think it needs to be met with an appropriate response at a government-to-government level,” he added. WORKING WITH THE ENEMY Iran’s emergence as a top-level threat to Britain has seen it deepen its relationship with the other “big four” of threats to UK security — Russia, China and North Korea. The ISC’s report noted that a shared concern about the United States has seen Iran become the main partner of Russia in the Middle East, and that it appears that the two country’s intelligence agencies are sharing intelligence which could increase the threat to the U.K.. It added that Iran’s relationship with China is more economic, with China becoming Iran’s biggest trade and economic partner and representing 36 percent of Iran’s exports. The ISC’s chair told POLITICO that military support for Russia and economic ties to China are a concern, but said Iran’s relationship with North Korea was “more concerning” on both nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. North Korea has performed detonations in at least six nuclear tests — most recently in 2017 — and is actively working to develop warheads that it can place on intercontinental ballistic missiles. Its support for Russia and Iran has raised international concerns that these states can help Kim Jong Un’s dictatorship get to that point. John Bolton, the former U.S. National Security advisor told the committee in 2023: “This connection between North Korea and Iran, which we do not fully know about or understand is something that should be in our minds at all times.” Beyond global superpowers, the report noted that Iran — just as it does with attacks on British soil — uses proxies abroad. In the Middle East it uses a network of complex relationships with militant and terrorist groups in order to give it a deniable means of attacking British armed forces and those of its allies.