On November 13, 2025, France paused to remember one of the darkest chapters in its modern history. French President Emmanuel Macron led the nation in commemorating the 10th anniversary of the coordinated terrorist attacks that shook Paris in 2015, laying wreaths at each of the sites where 130 people lost their lives and more than 400 were injured. The solemn ceremonies, attended by victims’ families and survivors, were a poignant reminder of the enduring scars left by that night—and of the ongoing threat France continues to face.
The day began with President Macron standing outside the Stade de France, the site where the first bombs exploded on that fateful night, as reported by Euronews. He was joined by families of the victims, including Sophie Dias, who offered an emotional tribute to her father—the first person killed in the attacks. Macron’s journey through Paris that day took him from the cafés of the 10th and 11th arrondissements, where gunmen opened fire on unsuspecting patrons, to the Bataclan concert hall, the scene of the deadliest violence, where 90 concertgoers perished during a performance by The Eagles of Death Metal.
Commemorations were not limited to wreath-laying. The nation observed moments of silence, and a new memorial garden, the Jardin du 13 Novembre 2015, was inaugurated in central Paris. As night fell, the Eiffel Tower was illuminated in the blue, white, and red of the French flag—a beacon of solidarity and remembrance shining over the city.
Yet, as France remembered, it was also reminded that the threat which erupted so violently a decade ago has not disappeared. According to BBC, just days before the anniversary, French authorities arrested a 27-year-old woman, Maëva B, a French convert to Islam and former girlfriend of Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the 2015 attack team. Investigators discovered she had been in contact with Abdeslam, who is serving a life sentence following his 2022 conviction, and found evidence suggesting she may have been plotting her own violent act. Prison guards had uncovered a USB key containing jihadist propaganda during her meetings with Abdeslam, prompting a broader investigation that led to her arrest and that of two alleged associates.
This unsettling development cast a shadow over the commemorations, underscoring the persistence and evolution of the jihadist threat in France. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez stated that six terrorist plots had been thwarted in France during 2025 alone, and the national threat level remains high. “Unfortunately, no one can guarantee the end of attacks,” President Macron said at the inauguration of the new memorial garden. “But we can guarantee that for those who take up arms against France, the response will be uncompromising.”
The events of November 13, 2015, unfolded in a nightmarish sequence. Three suicide bombers detonated their explosives outside the Stade de France during a football match, while other attackers targeted bars and cafés in central Paris with Kalashnikov rifles. The most horrific violence erupted at the Bataclan, where gunmen stormed the auditorium, took hostages, and then detonated their own explosives as police moved in. In total, 130 lives were lost, and the trauma rippled far beyond those directly injured—countless others have struggled with psychological wounds ever since.
The attackers were mostly young men of North African descent, recruited in Belgium and France, who trained in Islamic State (IS) territory in the Middle East before slipping back into Europe among a tide of migrants. As BBC noted, they relied on a web of supporters for shelter, transport, and finances. The sheer scale and coordination of the attacks set them apart from subsequent incidents, such as the Nice lorry massacre in 2016 or the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty in 2020.
Since 2015, the landscape of terrorism in France has shifted. The collapse of IS as a territorial force in Syria and Iraq has diminished the group’s ability to orchestrate complex, large-scale plots. Intelligence services, according to Middle East expert Gilles Kepel (as quoted in Le Figaro and BBC), have become more adept at monitoring online radicalization and intercepting would-be attackers before their plans can mature. “They now have access to IT resources… which allow them to detect a lot of individual initiatives, often not very sophisticated ones... and stop them before they hatch,” Kepel explained.
But the nature of the threat has also changed. Kepel describes the current danger as “ambient jihadism”—a phenomenon that is increasingly homegrown, fueled by social networks and personal relationships rather than direct orders from foreign masterminds. Events like the ongoing Gaza-Israel conflict in 2025, he argues, have a “traumatic effect” on many citizens and are “exploited by the entrepreneurs of anger.” France’s own political turbulence—marked by a divided parliament and a presidency perceived by some as weakened—may further erode the national consensus and create fertile ground for extremism. “If what separates us becomes more important than what unites us as French people and fractures the national consensus, then there will open a chasm beneath our feet and violence will have fewer and fewer restraints,” Kepel warned.
Media coverage in France has been filled with accounts from survivors, many of whom spoke about how their lives were irreversibly altered by the events of 2015. The word “Bataclan” has become a symbol for the horror of Islamist terrorism in France, much as “9/11” has in the United States. The commemorations, while somber, also served as a testament to the resilience of the French people and their determination not to be defined by fear.
In a surprising twist, Salah Abdeslam has indicated through his lawyer that he would be willing to participate in a process of “restorative justice”—a practice where victims and perpetrators meet to discuss the impact of a crime. While some families of victims have entertained the idea, others are fiercely opposed. Laurent Sourisseau, known as Riss and himself a survivor of the Charlie Hebdo attack earlier in 2015, rejected the notion outright. “Restorative justice exists for other types of crime—common crimes,” he said. “But terrorism is not a common crime. Salah Abdeslam wants to make us think his crime was like any other. But it was not.”
As France marked the 10th anniversary of the Paris attacks, the ceremonies were both a tribute to those lost and a reminder of the vigilance still required. The new memorial garden, the illuminated Eiffel Tower, and the moments of collective silence offered comfort and unity. But the threat, as events this month have shown, remains real and complex—demanding not just remembrance, but continued resolve.
