World on the brink of war against Islamic State

BELGIUM’S capital was put into lockdown yesterday over fears of an “imminent” Paris-style attack as the world took a step closer to all-out war against IS.

Members of the United Nations security council voted late on Friday night in favour of a French resolution giving legitimacy to military action to “eradicate” the murderous regime.

Prime Minister David Cameron immediately seized on the decision as “an important moment” and is now expected to use it as a launch pad to attack IS militants in Syria.

Despite the development, soldiers flooded the streets of Brussels in a bristling show of force yesterday.

Prime minister Charles Michel said the decision to lock down the city was taken “based on quite precise information about the risk of an attack like the one that happened in Paris” last week claiming 130 lives.

Authorities across Europe, the Middle East and the US are trying to determine how a network of primarily French and Belgian attackers with links to Islamic extremists in Syria plotted and carried out the deadliest violence in France in decades and how many may still be on the run.

A new potential link emerged yesterday in Turkey, where authorities said they detained a 26-year-old Belgian suspected of connections to Islamic extremists and possibly to the Paris attacks.

Tensions were high in the UK also as it’s believed British sleeper jihadists have been ordered by ISIS overlords to stop travelling to Syria, and instead wait for a “signal” to attack on home soil.

10 Most WantedClick START to see our list of the ten of the world’s most wanted terrorists.Salah AbdeslamSalah is now the most wanted man in Europe.He was seen driving a car that dropped his brother, Brahim, and another attacker off to massacre dozens of people at restaurants and bars in Paris.Abdeslam did not detonate his suicide vest and survived, being driven by two friends to Belgium, where he and disappeared.Authorities have now released images of what he would look like in a disguise.Abu Bakr al-BaghdadiThe rarely-seen 44-year-old head of IS is the most-wanted terrorist in the world with a£6.5 million bounty.Al-Baghdadi urged Muslims around the world to emigrate to his newly-created “Islamic State” in July.As well as masterminding the setting up of ISIS, his charge sheet includes allegations of repeatedly raping an American hostage.Abubakar ShekauTwisted scholar Shekau has overseen his organisation, Boko Haram, becoming one of the most feared terror movements in the world.The US have put a $7 million reward for information leading to the arrest of the man, who masterminded the mass kidnapping of 219 schoolgirls in April 2014.Some experts believe the group is deadlier than IS, who they share similar goals with.Ayman al-ZawahiriAn eye surgeon and the successor to Osama Bin Laden took over al Qaida in June 2011, the group linked to Friday’s attack in Mali.Zawahiri was already the group’s chief ideologue and believed by some to have been the “operational brains” behind the 9/11 attacks.He has been on the US’s Most Wanted list since and has a £16m bounty on his head.Omar HussainIt’s hard to believe former supermarket worker Hussain has made it on to the US’s ist of feared jihadists.In September, the former Morrison’s security guard wrote a blog moaning about ISIS fighters bad table manners in Syria.But authorities believe Hussain is one of IS’s “most prominent recruiters.”Hafiz SaeedIs former Taliban leader Hafiz Saeed Khan dead?The 42-year-old was anointed IS’s overlord in southern Asia in January.A US drone attack reportedly killed him in July.But ISIS disputed and there were reports he was seen at a rally in Lahore, Pakistan days later.Abu SalahIS’s ability to launch so many terror attacks comes from its riches.They command assets of more than one billion pounds, including vast oilfields.They also extort £5million a month from businesses.Abu Salah, their finance minister, writes the cheques.Aqsa MahmoodDubbed ‘the Scottish jihadi bride’, Mahmood, left her privileged life in Glasgow to join the Islamic State in 2013 after being radicalised online.Since then she has become a poster girl for ISIS, using social media to lure other westerners mainly women to the caliphate.Sally JonesMother-of-two was radicalised when she married Birmingham man Junaid Hussain.Hussain, one of ISIS’s most prominent members, is believed to have been killed in a drone attack.There are reports Jones has returned to the UK from Syria, to plot attacks, potentially in Glasgow.Samantha Lewthwaite‘White widow’ Lewthwaite is believed to have a senior role in Somali-based Al-Shabaab.The British jihadi is thought to have orchestrated attacks such as the slaughter of 148 people at a university in Kenya.She is the widow of one of the London 7/7 bombers.Prime Minister David Cameron who is seeking to bolster support for UK air strikes in Syria will visit Paris tomorrow for urgent talks with French president Francois Hollande.

A Number 10 spokesman said the Parisian talks “are expected to focus on counter-terrorism co-operation and the fight against IS in Syria and Iraq”.

With the world on a war footing, the hunt has also intensified for a handful of key figures described as the globe’s most wanted and feared people.

At the top of the list is Parisian terror attacker Salah Abdelslam currently the most wanted man in Europe.

Flyers displaying his face are posted in every town in France.

He is believed to have fled to Brussels after failing to detonate his suicide vest.

Intelligence experts believe such a weakness has potentially earmarked him as a target for his own IS chiefs, unless he can make amends via another bloody terror spectacle.

Other key targets include IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who is constantly searched for by CIA and MI6 agents in Syria.

The list of terrorists wanted dead or alive by authorities include a number of Brits including Glasgow jihadi bride Aqsa Mahmood and Sally Jones.

Police have been put on alert over a suspected Belgian terrorist linked to a suicide attack in Syria two years ago.

Former kick boxer Soufiane Mezroui, 23, is believed to be trying to return to Europe via Spain.

Police chiefs in Madrid have warned officers across the country to be on the lookout for Mezroui, who has been on the run since 2013 when a Belgian court issued a European Arrest Warrant against him.

He is said to have fled to Syria to join al Qaeda-linked group Jabhat al-Nusra after being brainwashed by radical Belgian salafist organisation Sharia4Belgium.Should the UK increase military operations in Syria after Paris attacks? – click here to read moreA new report by START, a consortium of specialist researchers based at the University of Maryland, published in the aftermath of the Paris attacks, says mass terrorist killings are on the rise.

Expert Erin Miller said: “There is a change in behaviour of these terror organisations.

“Attacks used to be focused on symbolic targets and carried out by a lots of different groups.

“But there is a new world order of terror dominated by groups such as IS and Boko Haram with an increased focus on the lethality of their attacks.”

The number of times more than a 100 people were killed by terror groups on a single day was at a record high last year.

The worrying statistics show 2014 was the worst for mass terrorism killings with 26 days where more than 100 people were slain.

Report author Erin Miller said: “Preliminary data from 2015 suggests that the unusual frequency of mass casualty terrorist attacks in 2014 has continued.”

Security expert Will Geddes, the Managing Director of International Corporation Protection, said: “The world is getting more dangerous.”The fightbackBRITISH air strikes in Iraq killed just 324 Islamic State fanatics in nine months.

Official figures show RAF raids in the country wiped out on average 36 IS fighters a month between November 2014 and July.

The raids have seen tens of millions spent on Tornados GR4s dropping Paveway bombs and Brimstone missiles in “precision” attacks. Reaper Drones have also been used to deliver deadly airstrikes of Hellfire missiles on IS, which could number up to 200,000 fighters, according to some estimates.

Last night defence expert Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Crawford said the public would be disappointed with the fightback against the barbaric terrorist group.

“On the one hand, these strikes will have caused a certain amount of disruption and loss of vital equipment,” said the former SNP defence advisor. “But, if there are 200,000 fighters then that number is but a pin prick against such a huge problem.”

The RAF spent £37million on bombing raids including more than 100 airstrikes in the first six months of its mission to smash IS.

They targeted more than 180 targets in Iraq under Operation, Shader, picking off terrorists deep inside IS territory. But while the costs are staggering, very few IS fighters have lost their lives, according to figures released by the MoD under Freedom of Information laws.

The most successful month was in January, when an estimated 50 militant jihadis were killed. Another 47 IS fighters died in November last year the first month RAF drone strikes began in Iraq. The revelations will bolster arguments that UK forces should launch a full-scale ground war in Syria to eradicate Islamic State, including putting British boots on the ground.

The United Nations Security Council backed more international military action against IS in Syria, hailed as an “important moment” by Prime Minister David Cameron.What you need to know about the UN Security Council’s resolution on IS – click here