- The war in the Middle East increases the threat of terrorism and organized crime in Europe.
- Europol expects more cyber attacks on energy infrastructure in the European Union.
- Groups linked to Iran can organize destabilizing activities on the territory of the European Union.
The European Police Office (Europol) warned on Thursday that war in the Middle East will have an immediate impact on EU security, in the form of increased threats from terrorism, violent extremism, cyber attacks and serious and organized crime. Referring to the spokesperson of the office, this was written by the Reuters agency, reports TASR.
Europol expects more cyber attacks on European energy infrastructure and an increase in online fraud using increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence. At the same time, the perpetrators will abuse the amount of information that appears on the Internet about the conflict.
Groups linked to Iran, which has been the target of US and Israeli airstrikes since the end of February and is retaliating in response, are they may attempt destabilizing activities in the European Unioni, Europol spokesman Jan Op Gen Oorth pointed out according to the Spanish agency EFE.
The so-called The Axis of Resistance, an informal network of anti-American and anti-Israeli Shiite militant groups in Iraq, Lebanon or Yemen, could undertake various actions, including intimidation, cybercrime or terrorist financing or terrorist attacks themselves.
“The level of the threat of terrorism and violent extremism in the territory of the EU is considered high,” the spokesman said, adding that it could increase further due to the actions of individuals or smaller groups acting on their own initiative. According to him, radicalization can also be accelerated by the spread of divisive content on the Internet.
