PARIS (AP) — French prosecutors said Tuesday they have opened an investigation alleging terrorist conspiracy and attempted murder after several prisons were targeted in incidents that included gunfire and arson.
Top officials described the attacks as a response to renewed government efforts to fight drug trafficking.
Overnight Monday to Tuesday, an automatic weapon was fired at the main entrance of a prison in the southern port city of Toulon. No one was injured. In other places, cars have been set on fire outside prisons.
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X that “attempts have been made to intimidate staff in several prisons." He added that measures against drug trafficking “will massively disrupt the criminal networks.”
French anti-terror prosecutors said in a statement they have opened a probe into the series of incidents alleging terrorist conspiracy, attempted murder in relation with a terrorist undertaking, and damage and destruction committed by an organized group. They said the domestic intelligence agency DGSI would be involved.
Prosecutors noted the “unprecedented context” of the actions, the targets chosen and the concerted nature of the offences committed in at least nine places across France. They also pointed to the goal of “seriously disturbing public order through intimidation” as claimed on social media by a group called Defense des prisonniers français” (Defense of French Prisoners).
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on X he has instructed authorities and police to step up security measures to protect prison staff and facilities.
Prison staff union UFAP-UNSA Justice said some staff vehicles were set on fire outside prisons in Villepinte and Nanterre in the Paris region as well as the southern towns of Aix-en-Provence and Valence. It said an attempted arson attack at a prison-related facility in Marseille was also reported.
Wilfried Fonck, the union's national secretary, said on BFM television that “we see it’s something that is coordinated, organized and that seeks to terrorize prisons’ staff.”
French authorities in recent months have stepped up efforts against drug trafficking with a focus on cocaine, which the interior minister has described as a “tsunami” flooding the country.
Demand for cocaine has reached an all-time high, with 1.1 million people in France using it at least once in 2023, Retailleau said.
In all, 47 tons of cocaine were seized in 2024, more than double the previous year’s total.
FILE - France's Justice minister Gerald Darmanin looks on as he leaves the weekly cabinet meeting, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Israel’s air force struck near Syria's presidential palace early Friday after warning Syrian authorities not to march toward villages inhabited by members of a minority sect in southern Syria.
The strike came after days of clashes between pro-Syrian government gunmen and fighters who belong to the Druze minority sect near the capital, Damascus. The clashes left dozens of people dead or wounded.
Friday's strike was Israel's second on Syria this week, and attacking an area close to the presidential palace appears to send a strong warning to Syria's new leadership that is mostly made up of Islamist groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
On Thursday, Syria's Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri harshly criticized Syria’s government for what he called an “unjustified genocidal attack” on the minority community.
Early Friday, the Druze religious leadership said the community is part of Syria and refuses to break away from the country, adding that the role of the state should be activated in the southern province of Sweida and authorities should be in control of the Sweida-Damascus highway.
“We confirm our commitment to a country that includes all Syrians, a nation that is free of strife,” the statement said.
In the Damascus suburb of Jaramana, where fighting occurred earlier this week, security forces deployed inside the area along with local Druze gunmen, and at a later stage heavy weapons will be handed over to authorities. As part of the deal, forces from the defense ministry will deploy around Jaramana without going inside.
The Israeli army said that fighter jets struck adjacent to the area of the Palace of President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Damascus. Its statement gave no further details.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strike was a message to Syrian leaders. “This is a clear message to the Syrian regime. We will not allow the deployment of forces south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community," said the joint statement.
Pro-government Syrian media outlets said the strike hit close to the People’s Palace on a hill overlooking the city.
Over the past two days the Israeli military said it had evacuated Syrian Druze who were wounded in the fighting.
The Israeli army said in a statement Friday that a soldier was killed and three were lightly injured in an accident in the Golan Heights. An army statement added that the soldiers were evacuated to receive medical treatment at the hospital and that the circumstances of the incident are being investigated.
The clashes broke out around midnight Monday after an audio clip circulated on social media of a man criticizing Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. The audio was attributed to a Druze cleric. But cleric Marwan Kiwan said in a video posted on social media that he was not responsible for the audio, which angered many Sunni Muslims.
Syria’s Information Ministry said 11 members of the country’s security forces were killed in two separate attacks, while Britain-based war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 56 people in Sahnaya and the Druze-majority Damascus suburb of Jaramana were killed in clashes, among them local gunmen and security forces.
The Druze religious sect is a minority group that began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria, largely in the southern Sweida province and some suburbs of Damascus.
Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981.
This story has been corrected to fix the quotes from the Israeli prime minister and defense minister and the name of the Syrian president.
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Syrian boys take pictures with their mobile phones of the bodies of former Shanaya's town mayor Houssam Warawar and his son Haidar, who were killed in the town of Sahnaya, south of Damascus, Syria, Thursday, May 1, 2025, a day after clashes erupted between members of the minority Druze sect and pro-government fighters. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Syria's security forces gather, after reaching a deal with Druze gunmen to deploy around Jaramana, a Damascus suburb that saw fighting earlier this week, in Damascus, Syria, early Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
A Druze gunman, left, speaks with Syrian security forces who reached a deal with Druze gunmen to deploy around the southern Damascus suburb of Jaramana that has witnessed fighting earlier this week in Damascus, Syria, early Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Syria's security forces stand on their vehicle, after reaching a deal with Druze gunmen to deploy around Jaramana, a Damascus suburb that saw fighting earlier this week, in Damascus, Syria, early Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Syria's security forces are deployed at a highway where they found bodies of Syrian Druze fighters who were in a convoy heading from the southern Sweida province towards the capital, at al-Sor al-Kobra village near the Sweida town, southern Syria, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
