AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW Paris attacks (November 2015): -! Abdelhamid Abaaoud [Abaaoud was given a 20 year sentence in 385 absentia in connection with his involvement with Zerkani’s network], Chakib Akrouh [became associated with the extremist network related to Khalid Zerkani before travelling to Syria].386 -! Zerkani network: Fatima Aberkan [Convicted in July 2015 of involvement in Zerkani’s 387 recruitment network]; Soufiane Alilou [22-year-old Zerkani network recruit who travelled to 388 and from Syria five times before getting caught]; Abderrahmane Ameroud [Described as 389 “linked” to the Zerkani network, though the nature of the link is unclear]; Gelel Attar [Attar was given a five year sentence arising from the same investigation into the Zerkani network, and was 390 arrested in Morocco in January 2016]; Youssef Bouyabarem [An alleged Zerkani recruit who 391 tried and failed to join both al-Shabaab and IS]; Reda Kriket [convicted in absentia in July 2015 392 as part of the Zerkani network]; Yassine Lachriri [Sentenced in July 2015 in Brussels to 20 393 394 years and recruited by Zerkani]; Yoni Mayne [Attended Zerkani’s meetings and became more 395 radical in the process before travelling to Syria]; Ilias Mohammadi [An alleged member of the Zerkani network who returned from Syria to Belgium using false ID and was arrested with “a 396 significant amount of ammunition”; Sami Zarrouk [An IS fighter who attended Zerkani’s 397 meetings and was convicted in absentia alongside Zerkani in July 2015]. -! Other: Mohammed Khemir [A Sharia4Belgium member described as lieutenant to Jean-Louis 398 Denis, a leading member of Sharia4Belgium. Khemir travelled with Zerkani to take a French recruit travelling to Syria to the airport in Brussels]; Jean-Louis Denis [A leading member of 399 Sharia4Belgium, he attended the same meetings with Zerkani which included Khemir]. FATIMA ABERKAN Role : Member of the Zerkani network involved in the recruitment and logistics of sending young men to 400 fight for jihadist groups overseas. Bio : A 55-year-old who has been connected to extremist groups since at least 2007, Aberkan appears to have played a major role in recruiting young men to fight in Syria and has been dubbed the “mother of 401 Brussels jihad”. She is believed to have travelled to Syria in 2013 and 2014, making a number of trips ! ! 385 ‘Khalid Zerkani, Brussels’ jihadist preacher who ‘perverted a generation’’, France 24, 26 March 2016. 386 Drozdiak, N. and Matthias Verbergt, ‘Paris-Attack Suspect Traveled to Syria in 2013’, The Wall Street Journal, 15 January 2016. 387 ‘‘Papa Noel’—the militant recruiter in Brussels who groomed young men for violence’, Los Angeles Times, 28 March 2016; and ‘Brussels jihadists: Belgian recruiter Zerkani given longer term’, BBC News, 14 April 2016. 388 Van Vlierden, G., ‘Belgium knew in 2012 already that Paris suspects were plotting attacks’, Emmejihad, 26 January 2016. Van Vlierden, G., ‘The Zerkani Network: Belgium’s Most Dangerous Jihadist Group’, The Jamestown Foundation, 12 April 2016, available at: http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=45305&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=381#.VyhrCo-cHVI; ‘France charges main suspect in foiled attack plot’, The Times of Israel, 31 March 2016; and Mortimer, C., ‘Reda Kriket: Main suspect charged in connection with foiled Paris attack plot’, Independent, 30 March 2016, available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/reda-kriket-main-suspect-charged-in-connection-with-foiled-paris-attack-plot- a6959941.html. All last visited: 9 August 2016. 390 ‘Khalid Zerkani, Brussels’ jihadist preacher who ‘perverted a generation’’, France 24, 26 March 2016. 391 Van Vlierden, G., ‘Belgium knew in 2012 already that Paris suspects were plotting attacks’, Emmejihad, 26 January 2016. 392 ‘France charges main suspect in foiled attack plot’, The Times of Israel, 31 March 2016; and ‘Thwarted Paris plot linked to deadly Brussels ISIS cell’, CBS News, 25 March 2016. 393 ‘Un djihadiste belge échangé par la Turquie contre des otages de l’État islamique’, Le Soir, 10 March 2016 394 Dalton, M., ‘Investigators Home In on Scope of Terror Network Behind Brussels, Paris Attacks’, The Wall Street Journal, 4 April 2016. 395 ibid. 396 Van Vlierden, G., ‘Belgium knew in 2012 already that Paris suspects were plotting attacks’, Emmejihad, 26 January 2016. 397 Dalton, M., ‘Investigators Home In on Scope of Terror Network Behind Brussels, Paris Attacks’, The Wall Street Journal, 4 April 2016. 398 Sharia4Belgium, headed by Fouad Belkacem, are a Belgian Islamist group that have been prolific in their recruitment of fighters involved in the conflict in Syria and Iraq. It is estimated that 80 fighters are ‘clearly linked’ with Sharia4Belgian. Most of their recruitment is believed to have taken place between 2012 and 2014. Many of these recruits became incorporated into the brigade associated with Amr al-Absi (see Van Vlierden, G., ‘The Zerkani Network: Belgium’s Most Dangerous Jihadist Group’, The Jamestown Foundation, 12 April 2016; see also profile ‘Amr al-Absi’). 399Van Vlierden, G., ‘The Zerkani Network: Belgium’s Most Dangerous Jihadist Group’, The Jamestown Foundation, 12 April 2016 400ibid. 401 Van Vlierden, G., ‘PROFILE: PARIS ATTACK RINGLEADER ABDELHAMID ABAAOUD’, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, 15 December 2015. ! ! 35 !