There is the case of a Syrian passport found at the site of one of the attacks and it has been said to have been in the possession of a man by the name of Ahmad Al Mohammad and that it was registered by Greek authorities and being from an individual who declared himself to be a refugee. However, it is not yet one hundred per cent certain whether this was a genuine passport or that the person who used it to travel to Europe actually took part in the Paris attacks.
Investigators in France have identified several of the attackers and these include the alleged mastermind or chief planner Abdelhamid Abaaoud, (believed to be 27 or 28 years old) who was born and raised in Belgium. His parents emigrated from Morocco.
Then there is 26-year-old Salah Abdesalam, who was born in France and believed to be living in Belgium.
The third attacker to be identified is 20-year-old Bilal Hadfi who is French and was also resident in Belgium. Hadfi was born to Morrocan parents.
The fourth attacker to be identified is 28-year-old Samy Amimour, born and bred in France, to Algerian immigrants. He spent some time in Syria and in 2014, a major French daily interviewed his father Azzeddine as he tried to get his son back from IS in Syria.
29-year-old Omar Ismael Mostefai has also been identified as one of the Paris attackers. He was born and raised in France, and is thought to have parents who immigrated from Algeria.
The last of the Paris attackers to have been publicly identified is 31-year-old Ibrahim Abdeslam, said to be Salah’s older brother. Like his brother, he was a French citizen and lived in Belgium.
Announcements by more than half of America’s governors that they will not host Syrian refugees should be seen in this context. While, this has already been roundly criticized by US President Barack Obama, the fact remains that many people have lost sight of the fact that the refugees were themselves among the biggest victims of the IS in Syria and were fleeing their atrocities.
At least 4 attackers were listen in a terrorism database: US
Reuters adds: At least four of the Paris attackers were listed in a central counter-terrorism database maintained by the US intelligence community, five US officials said.
At least one and possibly more of the attackers was also on a more selective US “no fly list”, three of the officials said, though they would not provide a specific number.
The officials said that four of the attackers who have been publicly named by France were listed before the attacks in TIDE, a central, highly classified database of raw information maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), a division of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. They did not name those who were listed in TIDE.
A paper issued by NCTC last year reported that as of December 2013, TIDE contained “about 1.1 million persons,” many including “multiple minor spelling variations of their names”.
A separate US government unit, the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC), run by an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, maintains several unclassified databases, including a master list of suspects called the Terrorist Screening Database and two smaller lists, the “select list” and “no fly” list.
These lists are more selective versions of TIDE, and classified intelligence data has been deleted from them. Airlines flying in the United States must submit lists of passengers to TSC in advance of departures so they can be screened.
Terrorist Screening Center spokesman Dave Joly said the agency does not publicly confirm or deny if a person is on their watchlists because doing so “would significantly impair the government’s ability to investigate and counteract terrorism, and protect transportation security.”
