November 21, 2014 -- Updated 1554 GMT (2354 HKT)
French authorities backed off a claim that a 22-year-old man was
connected to beheadings in a recent ISIS video, a day after publicly
identifying him. FULL STORY
|
MOTHER RESCUES DAUGHTER FROM ISIS
French authorities back off claim against man in ISIS beheadings video
November 20, 2014 -- Updated 2113 GMT (0513 HKT)
French minister names alleged ISIS member
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- French authorities on Wednesday identified Mickael Dos Santos
- They said he was one of two men connected to an ISIS beheadings video
- On Thursday, the prosecutor's office backed off the claim
- The case is still under investigation, official says
A spokeswoman for the
Paris prosecutor's office on Thursday distanced the agency from a news
release put forth by her office that identified Mickael Dos Santos as
the second French national believed to be an ISIS terrorist.
"We stated yesterday on
precise and concurring clues about his identity. We never talked about
formal identity. The investigation is still ongoing," spokeswoman Agnès
Thibault-Lecuivre told CNN's Laura Akhoun. She declined further comment.
Dos Santos, according to
the prosecutor's office, remains wanted on a October 2013 warrant as
part of an investigation into French citizens who had gone to Syria to
fight with ISIS.
The propaganda video, released on November 16, shows an ISIS member believed to be Frenchman Maxime Hauchard.
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The announcement leaves
just Maxime Hauchard, who authorities said Monday was in the video,
released over the weekend, that depicts in graphic detail the beheadings
of men whom ISIS militants claim were Syrian government pilots.
It also shows the
aftermath of another beheading in which the victim in not clearly
recognizable, but that the U.S. government says was American aid worker Peter Kassig.
Public Prosecutor
Francois Molins described Hauchard -- who went to Syria in 2013 and
visited Mauritania the previous year -- as a "self-radicalized" jihadist
who traveled to the region under the guise of a humanitarian mission.
He was known to French security services as far back as 2011, the
prosecutor said.
ISIS foreign fighters prompt concern
The ranks of ISIS -- the
extremist group calling itself the Islamic State that's taken over vast
swaths of Syria and Iraq -- have swelled with volunteers coming from
outside the region, including from the West.
Intelligence estimates
indicate that more than 100 of the foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria
have come from the United States. Hundreds more arrived from Europe,
including more than 900 French citizens that country's government
believes are involved in the jihad there. This influx has spurred
concerns that some of these fighters could bring the fight back home,
perhaps with attacks inside Western nations.
Those worries have been
heightened by the group's brutal tactics against foe and civilians
alike, such as raping, enslaving and selling Iraqi women belonging to
the Yazidi religious minority. Last week, a United Nations panel stated
what many consider obvious: ISIS has committed war crimes and crimes
against humanity in Syria.
The West is fighting
back, with many countries -- including France -- allying with Iraq to
conduct airstrikes targeting ISIS in that country. The United States has
also led airstrikes going after the group in Syria.
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NATO jets scrambled more than 400 times this year for Russian intercepts
November 21, 2014 -- Updated 1653 GMT (0053 HKT)
A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor, top, escorts a Russian Air Force Tu-95 bomber off the coast of Alaska during 2011.
HIDE CAPTION
U.S. and Russian military aircraft
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- That's a 50% increase in Russian air activity over last year, secretary general says
- Russian planes are not following air traffic control norms, Jens Stoltenberg says
- "This pattern is risky and unjustified," he says
- Stoltenberg, who's on a trip to the Baltics, says NATO isn't idle as Russian activity increases
That's a 50% increase in
Russian air activity over last year and the kind of activity that
harkens back to the days of the Cold War, NATO Secretary General Jens
Stoltenberg said during a visit to NATO member Estonia on Thursday.
"This pattern is risky
and unjustified. So NATO remains vigilant. We are here. And we are ready
to defend all allies against any threat," he said at Amari Airbase in
Estonia, where U.S., German and Estonian troops were gathered.
Stoltenberg said few of
the Russian flights had actually violated the airspace of NATO nations,
but he said the way the Russian planes operate threatens civilian
aviation in the region.
Unusual Russian flights concern NATO
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"They are not filing
their air flight plans. They are not turning on the transponders. And
they are not communicating with the civilian air traffic control," he
said.
"We are calling on Russia
to conduct their military air activities in a responsible way and
respecting international norms for this kind of air activity,"
Stoltenberg said.
In a report earlier this
month, the European Leadership Network listed more than 40 "close
military encounters between Russia and the West" that took place in the
eight months from March to October of this year.
Three of those, including
a near collision between a Russian military plane and a Swedish
passenger aircraft carrying 132 people, were classified as "high-risk"
incidents that could have led to direct military confrontation between
Russia and the West, according to the report, titled "Dangerous Brinksmanship."
Russia also has said it will expand its military flights,
with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu saying this month that Russian
military aircraft would be flying along U.S. coasts and even into the
Gulf of Mexico.
"We have to maintain
(Russia's) military presence in the western Atlantic and eastern
Pacific, as well as the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico," including
sending bombers "as part of the drills," Shoigu said.
Stoltenberg, continuing
his Baltic trip in NATO ally Lithuania on Friday, said the alliance is
not standing idle as Russian activity increases.
Visiting the Karmelava
Airspace Control Center, he said NATO's air policing mission in the
region "has been significantly strengthened in the recent months."
"And we have also
deployed more ships in the Baltic Sea. And since the start of this year,
NATO allies have conducted over 200 exercises," Stoltenberg said
CNN's Richard Allen Greene, Greg Botelho and Faith Karimi contributed to this report.
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