Ten Years After the Bataclan Attacks: France Remains Alert to Persistent Threats

Thu Nov 13 2025 06:12:14 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

On the tenth anniversary of the Bataclan attack, new developments highlight the continuing jihadist threat in France. A recent arrest linked to the attacks has reignited concerns about domestic terrorism and the radicalization of youth in the country.

As France commemorates the tenth anniversary of the Bataclan attacks, authorities remain vigilant against the persistent jihadist threat. The arrest of a former girlfriend of the only surviving attacker has brought the focus back on the risks of radicalization. Experts warn that the current landscape is shaped by home-grown terrorism and social networks fostering extremism.

Just as France marks the 10th anniversary of the Bataclan massacres, another reminder has come of the permanence of the jihadist threat.

A former girlfriend of the only jihadist to survive the November 2015 attacks has been arrested on suspicion of plotting her own violent act.

The woman - a 27 year-old French convert to Islam named as Maëva B - began a letter-writing relationship with Salah Abdeslam, 36, who is serving a life sentence in jail near the Belgian border following his conviction in 2022.

When prison guards discovered that Abdeslam had been using a USB key containing jihadist propaganda, they traced its origin to face-to-face meetings that the prisoner had with Maëva B.

Detectives then looked into Maëva B's own computer and telephone, where they found evidence she may have been planning a jihadist attack, and on Monday she was placed under judicial investigation along with two alleged associates.

With France commemorating 10 years since the worst attack in its modern history, the arrest has focused minds on the enemy that never went away.

Overall 130 people were killed, 90 in the Bataclan, and more than 400 treated in hospital. The word Bataclan has since become a byword in France for extreme Islamist attacks, in much the same way that 9/11 did in the US.

Though there have been other attacks since, like the Nice lorry massacre of July 2016 and the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty in October 2020, the scale and organization of 13 November 2015 set it apart.

Ten years on, much has changed. The disappearance of the Islamic State (IS) group as a major force in Syria and Iraq means that the wherewithal to conceive, plan and carry out complex terrorist projects is greatly diminished.

However, experts warn of what they term 'ambient jihadism', which denotes a more decentralized form of extremism fueled by social networks and communications rather than hierarchically organized groups.

This resurgence foreshadows ever-present risks as extremists capitalize on political instability and social unrest within France, pushing a narrative of division and anger. As the Eiffel Tower lights up in honor of the victims, the discussions on how best to combat this evolving threat continue to be at the forefront of national dialogue.