New Orleans attack ‘sign of growing ISIS threat on West’s doorstep’

The January 1 vehicle attack in New Orleans that killed 15 people has been linked to the resurgent activities of ISIS across the globe.  

Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a pickup truck with the terror group’s flag in the back into revellers out on a busy street in the early hours of the new year. 

The Texan, 42, then left the rented Ford and fired a weapon at law enforcement before they shot him dead at the scene. 

Counter-extremism expert Dr Hans-Jakob Schindler told Metro that upheaval and war in the Middle East has strengthened ISIS’s hand, along with major social media companies failing to eradicate terror propaganda. 

One link between the Islamist extremists’ imagery and the atrocity in New Orleans’ French Quarter is the black and white flag displayed by Jabbar. 

Dr Schindler, a former terror analyst for the German government, said: ‘On the one hand, the New Orleans attack comes as no surprise; after two years of increased ISIS propaganda activity we have what I would describe as an ISIS-inspired attack in the US.

‘Where ISIS has directly guided an attack it usually claims responsibility in the immediate aftermath, which has not yet happened here, but this is definitely inspired by the terror group.

‘The ISIS poster in the back of the perpetrator’s truck mimics an ISIS poster from 2017 where they took responsibility for a range of vehicular attacks including in London, Berlin and the Middle East.

‘The poster showed a truck with an ISIS flag at the back driving over skulls.

‘The similarity is uncanny and is highly unlikely to be accidental.’ 

A few hours after the New Orleans attack, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, killing the driver and leaving seven others with minor injuries.

The vehicle, said by US media outlets to have been driven by Matthew Livelsberger, also an an Army veteran, was filled with fuel cannisters and firework-style mortars.

Dr Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), said: ‘I’ve not seen any direct connections between the two attacks, although the symbolism — with a Tesla Cybertruck being used in the Trump Hotel attack — is similar. They both took place on New Year’s Eve, which is the last opportunity for terrorists to make national and international headlines by targeting people gathering in large numbers before a slump in the new year. So it could be a horrific coincidence.  

‘The two attackers are veterans who are said to have gone to the same base, but then the American military is vast, with about 1.4 million active personnel, so I wouldn’t read too much into that.

‘There is also the fact that the first attacker posted a statement of intent online while the second one is not known to have done so.’ 

The FBI said an ISIS flag was ‘located’ in the vehicle used by Jabbar, who managed to bypass police barriers and speed into crowds out in Bourbon Street in the early hours.

Unnamed US officials briefed on the investigation cited a series of videos where he discussed killing his family after a divorce before changing his plans to join the terror group. 

Dr Schindler, who is based at the transatlantic think-tank’s Berlin office, told Metro that it is has become too easy for terror groups to reach across borders to people who might be susceptible to their hateful propaganda. 

‘Sadly, ISIS does not have to make a lot of effort any more,’ he said.  

‘Their propaganda is available on social media where individuals are perfectly placed to radicalise themselves without any direct help.

‘Similar to drugs, the algorithms of the platforms are programmed to keep users coming back for more, and this is the case with would-be terrorists.

‘Major social media companies have really relinquished their responsibilities over the last couple of years, and it’s been a disaster.  

‘Whether it’s ISIS, the far right or conspiracy theories, for some people at the end of that process there is violence.’ 

Ominously, the latest attacks come during what the CEP calls the ‘ISIS Redux’ in Syria, with an uptick of attacks on the group’s targets in the country and in Iraq over the past year.  

In research, Dr Schindler has warned that it is ‘crucial’ that the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime by insurgents in Syria is not allowed to increase the terror group’s ability to carry out deadly attacks across the globe.

‘There has been a slow-building resurgence of ISIS over the last couple of years, which started with the West’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and continued with peacekeeping forces beginning their withdrawal from West Africa the following year,’ he said.

‘ISIS also has a victory narrative from the collapse of Bashar Al Assad’s regime in Syria, and with the ongoing Middle East conflict, which they also use in their propaganda, it makes for a pretty potent mix.’ 

European security services continue to arrest ISIS supporters planning attacks, with the UK’s top terror officer, Vicki Evans, warning earlier this month of a ‘smouldering’ terror threat. 

Dr Schindler said: ‘Europol put out the data for 2023 a couple of weeks ago and there were 120 foiled attacks in Europe, with 14 of those being successful. On average, an arrest was made in Europe every three days in relation to Islamist terrorism.  

‘Based on the number of times that I have tracked attacks, arrests and foiled plots, 2024 should be worse.

‘We now need to be careful to ensure that Bashar al-Assad’s fall in Syria does not allow ISIS to gain more strength than it already has because 2024 was a record year for ISIS attacks inside Syria, which is why the number of US forces was doubled.’  

A major red flag identified by Dr Schindler is the presence of ISIS fighters or supporters held by Kurdish forces in territory that holds valuable gas and oil resources and might be the centre of offensive by the new Damascus government or Turkish-backed forces.  

‘There are 9,500 ISIS fighters and anywhere between 25,000 and 42,000 ISIS-related individuals held by the Kurds in camps and jails who could end up escaping,’ he said.  

‘Despite having the biggest land war raging in Europe since World War Two, we have a sizeable terror problem on our doorstep with these individuals potentially heading to the West to cause harm.

‘The United States has six months to a year longer because they have the Pacific and the Atlantic in the way, but it’s not a barrier that’s going to last forever. Unfortunately, I expect more of the same inside the United States.’ 

Special agents investigating the ‘horrific attack’ have been conducting search warrants in New Orleans and other states, the FBI said. 

The agency is treating the incident as terrorism, with President Joe Biden saying that ‘every resource’ will be made available to investigators.  

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