Operation Vigilant Guardian
Operation Vigilant Guardian was a Belgian army operation following the January 2015 Île-de-France attacks and the dismantling of a terrorist cell in Verviers having foiled attacks imminent, to deal with the terrorist threat and protect the "points" sensitive territory. The operation was put in place 16 January 2015 and ended on 1 April 2021. The operation, originally codenamed Homeland, was significantly strengthened during the year 2015, after the attacks of 13 November, notably through the implementation of absolute emergency in the Brussels area from 21 to 26 November 2015 and after the attacks of 22  March 2016 in Brussels. The deployment of soldiers in the streets in Belgium was an unprecedented event since World War II and a number of violent events in the 1980s. Objectives. This military operation, in collaboration with the police, decided by the Belgian government, aims to secure "sensitive" locations to deal with the terrorist threat in crowded public places (stations, shopping centers, squares), places of worship, transportation (subways, trains, stations, airports), government institutions (European institutions, embassies, parliaments), schools, universities, hospitals, ports, nuclear power plants, and international borders. Forces engaged. At the beginning of the operation only 150 military members were  mobilized, the number of personnel has steadily increased to reach the figure of 1,828 soldiers mobilized by October 2016. Transaction costs. For the year 2015 (beginning of the operation Saturday, January 17, 2015), the cost of deployment of the military in street amounted to 17.15 million euros. In 2016, only for the first trismestre, the cost was 12.01 million. For the second quarter, specifically from 1 st April to 2 July, the amount is expected to reach 22.05 million euros, according to government estimates. The rising costs of Operation Vigilant Guardian is explained, according to the Interior Ministry, the fact  that the number of personnel has increased steadily since 2015. Incidents. June 20, 2017, a man enters the enclosure of the Brussels Central Station and tries to perpetrate a terrorist attack. The perpetrator, called Osama Z, will be killed by soldiers mobilized as part of Operation Vigilant Guardian, thwarting an attack. This neutralization, in addition to saving aspect, reports of an exceptional nature, this is the first time since the Second World War that a soldier kills someone on the Belgian territory. On 26 August 2017, a man was shot in the center of Brussels on the Boulevard Émile Jacqmain , after attacking a military patrol with a knife, wounding one of the soldiers. The federal prosecutor called the attack terrorist aggression. It is claimed the next day by Daesh. A few days after the attack on 28 August 2017, the General Staff of the army Marc Thys, announced that the military will continue their patrols on the street, at least until 2020. Foreign equivalent. The Vigilant Guardian transaction is directly inspired by the French military operation called Operation Sentinel implementation in the hexagon after the wave of attacks that hit France in January 2015.