UPDATE 11/19: Updated information again points in another direction in regards to the Syrian passport. German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere has stated that the passport may have been planted in order to implicate refugees and “make people feel unsafe.”
Here is a chart of the web of connections among the Paris attackers.
According to a top EU official, every attacker currently identified in the investigation of the Paris attacks was a European Union national. The Syrian passport that was found near one of the attack sites is most likely a fake.
Federica Mogherini, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice President of the European Commission stated:
“Let me underline, the profile of the terrorists so far identified tells us this is an internal threat. It is all EU citizens so far. This can change with the hours, but so far it is quite clear it is an issue of internal domestic security.”
Two foreign passports were found near the attack sites. The Syrian passport called into question the status of accepting Syrian refugees. Many politicians in Europe and the United States even called for a halt to refugee resettlement. Panic started when the Greek government said that someone using the passport was among refugees that passed through Greek islands. According to ThinkProgress, Governors from Alabama, Michigan, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Massachusetts, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and South Carolina all say their states will not allow refugees to resettle in their states.
Other countries are taking the same stand. Poland is backing out on an agreement they had to take in several thousand Syrian refugees and allies of Germany are concerned about their open-door policy.
Different information has been reported on the Syrian passport. A U.S. Intelligence official reported that the passport did not “contain the correct numbers for a legitimate Syrian passport and the picture did not match the name” leading them to determine it was a fake. According to The Independent, a man in Serbia was detained after he was found carrying a passport matching the same details (but with a different picture) as the one found in the Paris attacks. This most likely means that both passports were purchased from the same forger.
The Egyptian passport found at the scene did not belong to one of the attackers, but rather to a critically wounded victim.
Almost all of the identified terrorists have been tied to France and Belgium.
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