<i>&gt; They are hardly terrorist enemy number one.</i><p>You might think that only because it doesn&#x27;t resonate in the English-speaking press, but that&#x27;s far from true. In reality, France is historically involved in any goings-on in Northern Africa, and is a fundamental partner to US and UK in Middle East policies. They were the main proponents for &quot;blowing up&quot; Lybia, while UK and Italy had built bridges with the regime and were preparing for an eventual transition. They started military operations in Syria only a few months ago, but mostly because they have troops continuously engaged in various African countries and have to keep an eye on their limited resources.<p>Across radicalised groups all over Africa, ME and Asia, France is still seen as an old-school, violent colonial power with an anti-muslim bent. You could be surprised if Spain or (to a lesser degree) Italy were targeted, but France easily makes the &quot;Top 5 Targets List&quot; of most violent nutjobs in that part of the world.