A foiled plot to attack a military base in southern France and decapitate the officer in charge has raised fresh concerns over the Islamic State (IS) group’s attempts to strike the French military on their own soil.

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When their IS group contact told them to “strike in France”, Ismael K., Antoine F., and Djebril A. set their sights on the Mediterranean military post Fort Bear, where one of them used to serve. Their plan was to kidnap the base chief and film his decapitation, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.

The trio, whose ages range between 17 and 23, used encrypted messaging systems and applications to organise their attack. They were arrested in a dawn raid on July 13th. Two judges are expected to decide on Friday whether to file charges and extend their detention.

" [They] have several things in common -- as well as their young age," noted the prosecutor, François Molins. "They have never been convicted, had been educated to baccalaureate level (which marks the end of high school) and were strongly radicalised, in particular because they watched IS videos."

The older member of the trio, Djebril A., had served at the base and allegedly suggested striking around the New Year period as the site was lightly defended at that time. He joined the navy in June 2013 as a signalman but was eventually discharged in January 2015 because of “troubles adapting to military service”, according to the prosecutor’s office.

French soldiers in their sights

The failed beheading plot highlights how the French military has become a target for self-styled jihadis. Several attacks have taken place against soldiers deployed across the country as part of the Vigipirate counter-terror operation. In May 2013, a soldier was seriously injured in a knife attack at a metropolitan railway station near Paris. Three soldiers standing guard at a Jewish community centre in Nice were attacked by a knife-wielding assailant in early 2015.

The series of knife attacks came after Mohamed Merah shot dead three soldiers and seriously injured another one in March 2012. The "Cannes-Torcy" cell, described by the Paris prosecutor as the most dangerous terror cell operating in France since the mid-1990s, was also said to be preparing attacks on military targets. The cell was dismantled by security forces in October 2012 after police found the fingerprints of its leader, Jérémie Louis-Sidney, on a grenade thrown at a Jewish business in Sarcelles.

"The French military has always been a target because it has been active for several years in so-called jihad territories: Sahel, Afghanistan, Somalia. It’s even more the case today because the French military is engaged in Iraq with the US-led coalition against the IS group", says Wassim Nasr, FRANCE 24’s expert on jihadi groups.

“The military is a prime target because striking or infiltrating an organisation in charge of protecting others would give a jihadi attack more impact,” Pierre Servent, a French army reserve colonel and expert on defence affairs, told AFP.

Ex-French paratroopers join IS group

FRANCE 24’s sister radio, RFI, revealed in January 2015 that around ten former French soldiers, including ex-paratroopers and members of the elite Légion étrangère (French Foreign Legion), had joined jihadist groups in Syria.

Their insider knowledge raises concerns that they could help an assailant to bypass security measures to commit a terrorist attack similar to the 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting in Texas.

"For now, attacks [against military targets] in France have remained low-key", says Nasr.

Anti-military plots were not designed by well-organised groups. Self-styled jihadis such as Merah targeted soldiers who were isolated at the moment of the attack. Experts on French military affairs fear that small units guarding sensitive sites may be easy targets for such jihadist attacks.

Some 7,000 troops have been deployed across the country in such units following the January 2015 attacks.

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