M. whereas the US holds the al-Annad military air base in Yemen near the southern city of al-Houta, where Americans have commanded drone strikes against suspected members of the local Al-Qaeda branch; whereas the US drone strikes and the extrajudicial killing in Yemen since 2002 have contributed to the destabilisation of the situation in Yemen; whereas according to the latest report on Yemen issued by the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner For Human Rights (OHCHR) drone strikes kill more civilians than alleged terrorists / Al-Qaeda members; whereas according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism at least 424 people, including ei ...[+++]ght children, have now been killed in such missions since the start of operations in 2002;

J. whereas the US holds the al-Annad military air base in Yemen near the southern city of al-Houta, where Americans have commanded drone strikes against suspected members of the local Al-Qaeda branch; whereas this US air base was attacked with rockets by Al-Qaeda in December 2014 in retaliation for a US raid; whereas US troops were evacuated on 21 March 2015 after Al-Qaeda seized a nearby town;

N. whereas US President Obama has announced an open-ended campaign of airstrikes against ISIS militants in Syria in addition to those already being carried out in Iraq, and is actively building support for an international military coalition; whereas France is expected to join the military offensive in Iraq while the governments of several countries, notably Germany, have announced their intention to support Kurdish forces with arms deliveries; whereas the Assad regime has expressed its readiness to join the international effort aga ...[+++]inst ISIS, while asking to give its prior consent to any strikes, and has recently been conducting airstrikes against ISIS positions;

D. whereas Israeli airstrikes have hit multiple civilian sites, including the central Gaza mosque and an Islamic home for the disabled; whereas over 940 homes have reportedly been damaged or destroyed; whereas 17 000 Palestinians in northern Gaza have sought refuge in UN facilities after Israel issued warnings of forthcoming air strikes; whereas 400 000 people are currently without electricity due to the military strikes and the population is also suffering from water shortages, and whereas this is exacerbating the already extremely precarious situation created by the protracted Israeli and Egyptian blockade of the territory;

Following the terrorist attacks of 11 March 2004 in Spain, the European Council of 25 March 2004 again highlighted the crucial role of Eurojust in its Declaration on combating terrorism. It urged Member States to take any measures that remain necessary to fully implement the Eurojust Decision by June 2004 and called on them "to ensure that the optimum and most effective use is made of existing EU bodies, in particular Europol and Eurojust, to promote cooperation in the fight against terrorism" and that Eurojust "is used to the maximum extent" for this purpose.

By approving the first Watson report, which led the way on these issues of terrorism, and the important resolution adopted on 5 September last year, the European Parliament put itself in the vanguard of the international community in the fight against terrorism, and, specifically, it is of great significance that this happened on 5 September, before the 11th, a date on which international society seemed to discover the disease that had pervaded it.