Source: The Daily Beast
PARIS—The terrorists have new toys, and they’re letting the world know. As Iraqi troops backed by U.S. warplanes and special forces keep pushing intoMosul, the so-called Islamic State is fighting back with its own air force: commercially available drones carrying small explosive payloads.
The “asymmetry” in firepower is so enormous that, at first glance, it seems almost ludicrous. But the concern of counterterror experts is not that one drone carrying one little grenade can do much damage. It’s that multiple drones hitting simultaneously can be used to disrupt and demoralize the enemies of ISIS, and not only on the battlefield, but in the cities of Europe, and perhaps even in the United States.
Georgetown University’s Bruce Hoffmann, author of Inside Terrorism, sketches a very grim scenario: “Picture Paris on November 13, 2015”—the night when people were slaughtered at a rock concert and in sidewalk cafés—“with drone attacks superimposed on top of it. Authorities would have been completely overwhelmed. This elevates our greatest fear, which is simultaneous urban attacks—now with swarming on top of them.”