Jihadists threaten France with an army of drones. Terrorists intend to disrupt the Paris Olympics with a strike from the sky

The Islamic State (IS) group has urged its supporters to carry out drone attacks during the Summer Olympics in France. Experts fr om the American company named Recorded Future, which specializes in threat intelligence, drew attention to this. According to their observations, the jihadists distributed “manuals” on converting private drones into combat ones.

The findings of American experts were published by The National, based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Experts from Recorded Future said there was a “moderately high” chance of a drone attack using improvised explosive devices during the Summer Olympics, which start in France next month.

According to these estimates, danger looms over both the Olympic Games in France and the European Football Championship, which begins on June 14 in Germany. The need to increase vigilance arises in light of the Afghan Khorasan group's clear attempts to project a threat far beyond its traditional “habitat.”

There are around 3 million drones in France, many of which are privately owned. On the eve of the Olympic Games, law enforcement agencies are trying to do their best to lim it their movement. At the military base in Vélizy-Villacoublay, located 13 km fr om Paris, the authorities have already established a special coordination headquarters that should prevent unauthorized flights of unmanned aircraft. Anti-drone guns and cameras will be put at the disposal of the police, gendarmerie and military. Law enforcement officials will need to determine the status of drones during the Olympics. All targets identified as “unfriendly” are subject to urgent elimination.

Separately, the French government has drafted a secret order that gives the national intelligence agencies the ability to increase intelligence collection by 20%, including eavesdropping, geolocation, discreet computer data extraction, and image and sound capture. Le Monde reported about it back in April, noting that the measures will be in effect for the duration of the Olympic Games. As the newspaper noted, French security forces believed that they should have freedom of action by default during a sporting event, but supervisory authorities sought to lim it the scope and means of data collection. As a result, the order became a compromise between the intelligence services and supervisory structures.