Broadcast news today continues to be dominated by Friday night’s terrorist attacks in Paris as more details emerge. Outlets report that as ISIL claim responsibility for the attacks, the French Prime Minister has confirmed that French air strikes over Syria will continue.
It has also been confirmed that the Home Secretary Theresa May will chair today’s COBR meeting to further discuss the UK’s response to the attacks.
Paris attacks
There is continued and widespread reporting of the events in Paris on Friday night, which left at least 129 people dead. Reporting suggests that two of the gunmen were among tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who have entered Europe through Greece.
Elsewhere, the Observer says that security at Britain's entry points has been dramatically tightened, as the Prime Minister warned that the Paris attacks showed how ISIL was "evolving". The Independent on Sunday reports that following the attacks in Paris, Scotland Yard and intelligence agencies are urgently reviewing their tactics to deal with the same kind of simultaneous attacks in London.
The Sunday Express, Daily Star Sunday, Sunday Mirror, Mail on Sunday, and Sunday Telegraph all report that Special Forces have been deployed on UK streets to monitor stations, shopping centres and key public places, amid fears the UK could be the next target. The Sunday Mail suggests that ex-soldiers of different ages have been drafted in as ‘walkers’ to cast an eye over crowds and look out for suspicious activity. The MOD does not comment on Special Forces.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, former SAS officer Colonel Tim Collins says that following the attacks in Paris, the UK will be looking to share intelligence with the French and NATO allies but our surest means will be exchanging intelligence with the Saudis, Jordanians and UAE, who are our most certain intelligence allies.
Many of the papers consider the need for British action in Syria to counter ISIL; the Sunday Telegraph, Con Coughlin argues that if the Prime Minister is serious about standing shoulder to shoulder with France and our other allies then he must give priority to extending air strikes over Syria. He suggests that with proper leadership and coordination with allies, strikes could yet be the most effective way of preventing further atrocities from being carried out, whether on the streets of Paris or London.
Abu Nabil strike
The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Mirror, the Sun and Independent on Sunday all report that American officials have confirmed that USAF F15 strikes over Libya, launched from RAF Lakenheath, have killed ISIL leader Abu Nabil.
A statement from the US Department of Defense on the successful strike operation can be found here.
Mohammed Emwazi – ‘Jihadi John’
The Sunday Express reports that US and UK intelligence forces were able to pinpoint and track the movements of Mohammed Emwazi in Raqqa because he was the only British jihadi allowed to wear Western clothes. The article suggests that Emwazi’s tell-tale baseball cap allowed a Syrian agent in Raqqa to pass his location to an SAS team based on the edge of the city, who further relayed the intelligence to US Special Forces Command in Baghdad, who gave the ‘kill order’.
Prime Minister David Cameron made a statement about the US airstrike in Syria on Friday 13th November – you can read and listen to it here.
Eviction
The Mail on Sunday reports that wife and children of an RAF officer who had an affair are being forced to leave their Service family home. Mrs Walker has been given three months to vacate the property; however she has called on the MOD to let her stay until next summer. The MOD’s position is as follows:
We are committed to the welfare of Service personnel and their families. However, when occupants cease to be entitled to Service Family Accommodation they, are required to vacate the property to ensure it is available for the next entitled Service family.
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