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Dealing with the terrorist threat and protect the sensitive "points" on land
Date
12 January 2015 (2015-01-12) – present
Opération Sentinelle is an ongoing French military operation with 10,000 soldiers and 4,700 police and gendarmes deployed[1] since the aftermath of the January 2015 Île-de-France attacks, with the objective of protecting the deemed sensitive "points" of the territory from terrorism. It was reinforced during the November 2015 Paris attacks, and is part of a state of emergency in France due to continued terror threats and attacks,[2][3] until the state of emergency ended on 1 November 2017.[4] On 13 October 2023, France raised its security alert to the highest level, and the day after it deployed 7,000 soldiers following the Arras school stabbing.[5]
Other European countries have also deployed soldiers to protect certain areas due to terror threats or attacks, including in Belgium,[6]Italy,[7] and the United Kingdom.[8]
Attacks against soldiers
On at least six occasions, soldiers involved in the nationwide operation have themselves been targeted.[3]
Soldiers deployed under Opération Sentinelle on 3 February 2017 blocked the assailant in the Louvre machete attack from entering the museum, where he claims to have intended to deface art with spray paint as a symbolic attack on France; he attacked the patrolling soldiers with a machete.[9]
In the March 2017 Île-de-France attacks, two Opération Sentinelle soldiers at Orly Airport killed a man who said "I am here to die for Allah"[10] while he beat to the floor another member of their team, a soldier from whom the attacker intended to steal her assault rifle.
On 9 August 2017 in the Levallois-Perret attack, six soldiers of the 35th Infantry Regiment[11] participating in Opération Sentinelle were intentionally wounded by an automobile whose driver fled.[12] The military were unable to make an armed response in time.[13]
