Why Belgium is more vulnerable to terrorist attacks than its European neighbors

Brussels was rocked Tuesday by a series of terrorist bombings at transportation hubs that killed at least 34 people. But, following the Paris terror attacks last November, security experts had warned that Europe would be particularly vulnerable to additional assaults from the Islamic State and other terrorist groups, as the civil war in Syria rages and the subsequent refugee crisis continues to bring waves of undocumented people across borders and into Europe.

But "few countries have been more vulnerable than Belgium," The New York Times reports. Indeed, the small country wedged among Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and France has been increasingly used by terrorist groups for recruiting and support networks. And, compared to its neighbors, Belgium has produced a disproportionate number of jihadists who go on to fight for ISIS.

"At this point, Belgium is, per capita, by far the European nation contributing the most to the foreign element in the Syrian War," said Belgian Arabist and author Pieter van Ostaeyen. Such extremists are able to live in and be protected by Brussel's insular Muslim community in Molenbeek, one of 19 municipalities in the capital.

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In fact, Molenbeek has been linked to radicals behind several terrorist attacks, including the 2004 Madrid train bombings, the Jewish Museum attack in Brussels in May 2014, and the Paris attacks in November 2015. The last surviving suspected Paris attacker, Salah Abdeslam, was captured on March 18 in a Molenbeek hideout after a four-month manhunt.

One of the major soft spots for Belgium is its fractured security. Brussels, which is a relatively small city of 1.2 million, has six different police departments. By comparison, New York City, home to 8 million people, has one united police department. That Molenbeek is seemingly immune to counterterrorism efforts is both a "social and political failure," experts have said.