Paris

The events in France in the last 53 hours or so, which have now ended with the deaths of three of the five suspects by the weapons of GIGN or whichever of the many French police units were involved in the huge operation, demonstrate three things in my opinion.

1. The terrorist threats from IS & al-Qaeda has now changed; no longer massive attacks conducted by multiple people, but small cells of two or three (even one) person conducting small-attacks against their perceived enemies are now the norm. It's arguably a bigger threat as its much harder to stop one lone fanatic than it is twenty, even if they're known to the security services.
2. These fanatics are no match for a dedicated, resourceful counter-terrorist force. These situations always tend to end with dead terrorists and sadly a few dead hostages.
3. These fanatics are also cowards; true warriors in the name of religion would try and go after the actual armed forces.

They aren't going to read this, but to the terrorists responsible for the murders of at least 17 people: have a good time in hell.