The war in Gaza could radicalise people, intelligence chiefs fear (Image: Getty)
Britain could face a new “reckoning” with terrorists radicalised by war in the Middle East, the head of MI6 has warned.
Intelligence chief Sir Richard Moore, in a speech in Paris, admitted the “menace of terrorism has not gone away”.
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And Sir Richard said the war in Gaza and the “terrible loss of innocent life in the Middle East” could lead to more people being inspired to commit atrocities across Europe.
He said: “The menace of terrorism has not gone away: after retreating in Syria and Iran, Islamic State is again expanding its reach, inflicting deadly attacks in both Iran and Russia.
Security chiefs fear people could be radicalised by videos and reports of events in the Middle East (Image: Getty)
“The Taliban, the hosts of Al Qaeda, once again rule Afghanistan.
“And we have yet to have a full reckoning with the radicalising impact of the fighting and terrible loss of innocent life in the Middle East, after the horrors of October 7.”
Asylum seeker Ahmed Ali was jailed for life in May after stabbing a pensioner to death in Hartlepool town centre as “revenge” for “the people of Gaza”.
During Alid’s trial, the court heard that his housemates had observed him watching coverage of the Hamas attack on 7 October and that he had begun carrying a knife.
Sir Richard’s warning comes after the Director General of MI5, Ken McCallum confirmed his organisation is monitoring for signs people are being radicalised online by videos and reports of events in the Middle East.
Mr McCallum revealed a resurgent ISIS and Al-Qaeda are once again plotting atrocities in the UK from abroad.
The domestic intelligence chief warned “organised groups have the numbers and the know-how to carry out, or inspire, horrendous mass casualty attacks”.
MI5 and counter-terrorism police have foiled 43 terror plots since 2017.
Britain’s top intelligence officer pointed to the ISKP – an Islamic State offshoot in Afghanistan - atrocities in Moscow, where 145 people were slaughtered, and the Kerman bombings in Iran, where 103 people were killed, as a “brutal demonstration of its capability”.
He said: “In both Islamist extremist and extreme right-wing terrorism, lone individuals, indoctrinated online, continue to make up most of the threats. In dark corners of the internet, talk is cheap; sorting the real plotters from armchair extremists is an exacting task.
“I’ll finish here with the terrorist trend that concerns me most: the worsening threat from Al-Qaeda and in particular from Islamic State.
“Today’s Islamic State is not the force it was a decade ago. But after a few years of being pinned well back, they’ve resumed efforts to export terrorism.
“The ISKP attack in Moscow was a brutal demonstration of its capability. We and many European partners are detecting IS-connected activity in our homelands, which we are moving early to disrupt.
“And Al-Qaeda has sought to capitalise on conflict in the Middle East, calling for violent action.
“To illustrate, over the last month more than a third of our top priority investigations have had some form of connection, of varying strengths, to organised overseas terrorist groups.
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“Organised groups have the numbers and the know-how to carry out, or inspire, horrendous mass casualty attacks.”
Security chiefs are also monitoring Britons hoping to travel to join terrorist groups around the World. He said: “There has been a bit of an up-swing in attempts to travel outbound from the UK towards terrorist connections overseas, not solely to Afghanistan.
“It is quite hard to count. It tends to be lumpy – you don’t always have a smooth flow. I can recall a number of recent cases and current cases where we are seeking to prevent outbound travel by those in search of gaining terrorist capability overseas.”
Mr McCallum said MI5 was "powerfully alive to the risk that events in the Middle East directly trigger terrorist action in the UK", and while the "ripples from conflict in that region will not necessarily arrive at our shores in a straightforward fashion, they will be filtered through the lens of online media and mixed with existing views and grievances in unpredictable ways".
In his speech in Paris on Friday, Sir Richard, known as "C", admitted he'd never known the World be so dangerous.
The intelligence chief slammed Vladimir Putin’s “dangerous and beyond irresponsible” nuclear sabre-rattling.
And he admitted the knock-on effects of Russia winning the war in Ukraine “could hardly be more serious”, adding that the Kremlin “will not stop there”.
Outlining the threats facing the West, Britain’s top spy said: “In 37 years in the intelligence profession, I’ve never seen the World in a more dangerous state.
“And the impact on Europe – our shared European home – could hardly be more serious. If Putin is allowed to succeed in reducing Ukraine to a vassal state, he will not stop there.
“The cost of supporting Ukraine is well known, but the cost of not doing so would be infinitely higher.
“We have recently uncovered a staggeringly reckless campaign of Russian sabotage in Europe, even as Putin and his acolytes resort to nuclear sabre-rattling; to sow fear about the consequences of aiding Ukraine and challenge Western resolve in so doing.”
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned Western military support for Ukraine would lead to nuclear war.
Moscow last week used an intercontinental ballistic missile to strike a target in Dnipro, and the tyrant has threatened to strike the Ukrainian capital - Kyiv - with Oreshnik missiles.
Putin has also claimed Britain would be at war with Russia if London allows Kyiv to fire British long-range Storm Shadow missiles into the Kursk region.
Moscow has pummelled Ukraine’s energy grid in revenge for Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with long range missiles, Storm Shadow, American ATACMS and Russian Scalps.
Russian defence minister, Andrei Belousov, arrived in North Korea on Friday and hailed “expanding” ties with Pyongyang.
The US and its allies have said North Korea has sent more than 10,000 soldiers to Russia, with some of those troops already fighting on the frontline.
Sir Richard warned Vladimir Putin: “Together, Europe and North America have many times Russia’s GDP and defence budget.
“75 years after its foundation, we have a larger and stronger Nato than when Putin invaded Ukraine. Our allies in northern and eastern Europe are sharing their expertise from their long and bitter experience as Russia’s neighbours.
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“We know that we all need to do more. That’s why the British Government has committed to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence.
“Putin put Russia in hock to Tehran, Beijing and Pyongyang. I do not doubt the transactional consequence of that arrangement and the succour it brings to Russia. But it is a transaction: there is no real trust or respect, so its roots are shallow. There are limits.”
And the head of MI6 insisted the West’s “collective strengths will outmatch and outlast Putin’s morally bankrupt axis of aggression”.