Attacks in four countries spanning three continents, all on one day. There is no evidence that Friday's series of attacks were coordinated but what is known is that they were all Islamist terrorism. Coming so close together on the same day, they underscored the far-reaching tentacles of Daesh (the self-proclaimed IS) and groups that espouse its evil. And they all happened in Ramadan, the month Muslims extol the virtues of peace and forgiveness. The gory day began with a dawn raid on an African Union base in Somalia by Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shebab militants which killed as many as 50 people. Then, one person was beheaded Daesh-style, at a gas factory in southeastern France, followed by an attempt to cause a major explosion. That grisly attack was followed by the deaths of at least 38 people gunned down at a beach resort in Tunisia and 26 killed in a suicide bombing in Kuwait. What was clear is that this was a particularly bloody day and further proof of terrorism spilling out of war-torn regions like Iraq, Syria and Yemen to far different places, on beaches and in mosques where people do not expect to fear for their lives. The confluence of events added up to an unprecedented day for terrorism. While what happened Friday is rare, it is at the same time, quickly becoming the norm. This was the second major attack on tourists in Tunisia since March when militants killed 22 people, mainly foreigners, at Bardo Museum in Tunis. The terror attacks on Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket in and around Paris in January killed 17 people. And while this was the first attack on a mosque to take place in Kuwait, Daesh has carried out similar recent attacks in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Unfortunately, gone are the days of the grand Al-Qaeda large-scale plots where the cell was big, the authorities could disrupt it, arrest people and prosecute. Now we are seeing an increase in the volume of terrorism because the plots sometimes actually are on a smaller scale which makes them harder to protect and harder to monitor. Dealing with what's happening requires going back to the root causes, which means tackling the ideology and fighting the brainwashing. Attacking terrorists from the air, land and sea has short-term benefits. It stops terrorism dead in its tracks, but usually only temporarily, before another blind-sided strike. Which is why, after the Tunisian beach attack, one of the first things the Tunisian government did, besides ordering a security clampdown and calling up army reservists, was to target about 80 mosques accused of "spreading venom" and ordering them to close within a week. From the pulpit, as well as the home, is where much of the indoctrination and inculcation of would-be terrorists starts. In the immediate wake of a terrorist attack, fighting fire with fire is absolutely understandable and should be undertaken, but the seeds of a new generation must be grown in the right direction, facing the sun. As past incidents illustrate only too well, it is virtually impossible to pick up on real threats from among the thousands of people that the security services need to monitor. All the governments put together cannot monitor everybody all the time. For the countries hit on Friday, and in fact all countries, these are sobering times. No country is immune from terrorist attacks. But the attacks should never weaken the commitment of the people targeted to carry on normally with their lives, even in the face of forces that care nothing whatsoever for the fundamental importance of human life.
