A 41-year-old Syrian man launched an attack in the city of Essen in western Germany on Saturday night, injuring 31 German citizens, including eight children. Two of these children, ages 2 and 4, are in critical condition. Video footage from the scene shows the Syrian man wearing a keffiyeh and armed with a long machete.
He set fire to one residential building, got into his gray Opel van, drove a few hundred yards, and set another residential building on fire. In footage captured before the arrival of security and firefighting forces, citizens are seen placing ladders, which were too short, against the building's exterior wall in an effort to get people out of the burning buildings. Parents, screaming hysterically for help, were desperately trying to rescue their children by pulling them out of windows.
Ten minutes later, the suspect returned to his van, drove a short distance, and crashed into the windows of two shops. At this point, he exited the vehicle wielding a large machete and attempted to threaten those around him, but bystanders managed to keep their distance by throwing objects at him and using iron rods and wooden sticks.
The police captured the suspect, but have not yet disclosed the motive for the attack. One line of investigation suggests that the Syrian was enraged by his wife leaving him, prompting a destructive spree, although this does not explain the attack on the additional building, the shop crashes, and the use of a machete. Some media outlets reported it as a terrorist attack, with journalists noting that he wore a keffiyeh on his head.
Two helicopters evacuated the injured from the Essen attack, including five who were seriously wounded, to a nearby hospital. In both cases, the suspect used a gas canister to set the buildings ablaze. He ignited fires in the wooden staircases, trapping the building's residents with no means of escape.
Despite the horrific attempt at mass murder and the critical condition of two toddlers (lung damage in children from smoke inhalation is extremely lethal), the German media, preoccupied throughout the weekend with harsh condemnations of Nasrallah's elimination (including from Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock), attempted to downplay the incident, push it to the back of the news, and conceal the fact that the perpetrator was a Syrian national.
This attack is part of a wave of terrorist assaults on German citizens by Muslim immigrants, which has resulted in the murder of four citizens, including an on-duty police officer. This surge in terror has prompted authorities to adopt a firmer stance against Islamist elements in the country and a more aggressive policy against immigration, including the redeployment of police forces at the country's borders.
The violence by Muslim immigrants in Germany has also strengthened the far-right in the country, as seen in elections held this month in three federal states, and in polls for the federal elections to be held next year. In neighboring Austria, where federal elections are being held today, the right wing is also expected to win, primarily due to dissatisfaction with immigration policies and citizens' personal security concerns.