ISIS threat growing after Paris attack

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Flowers and wreaths line the streets of Paris in the days after the terrorist attack

KATELYN MOORE, Staff Writer, Editor

Friday the 13th, 2015 is a day that will go down in history all over the world. At least 129 people were killed in Paris, France as ISIS terrorists attacked civilians. 40 more were lost in a double suicide bombing that occurred the day before in Beirut, Lebanon. Hundreds more were wounded.

France, in retaliation, dropped bombs in Syria in hopes to send a message to the terrorist group. For months Syria has been under attack from multiple countries prior to the attacks in France and Lebanon. In 2011, ISIS found a home in Syria during the beginning of the Syrian rebellion.

Because of the conditions in Syria, the US has seen many Syrian refugees attempt to come into the country. Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker made the decision to oppose the entrance of Syrian refugees into the state. Twenty-seven other state governors have said that Syrian refugees are not welcome in their states.

ISIS is an extremist Islamic terrorist group. This group radicalizes and recruits people over the internet from all over the world. They have existed since 2004, ever since the Bush Administration went to war in the middle east. ISIS began as an affiliate of al-Qaeda, but broke away from this group in 2013.

After the Bush Administration took down middle east dictator Saddam Hussein after 9/11, the world began to see multiple terrorist groups form in the middle east. The most prominent of those is now ISIS.

“Saddam Hussein was the lock on Pandora’s Box that kept the evil in,” said GHS history teacher Tim Kearns on the matter.

According to multiple news sources, ISIS claims to have 17 “soldiers” in the US and plans to attack the “heart” of America.

“The greatest threat are those in this country that are radicalized,” said Kearns, “though we must remain on alert to those who now enter the country.”