A "ruthless response" awaits those in the so-called Islamic State, French President Francois Hollande assured the public, as France suffers its second period of mourning in less than one year.
And so the cycle of perpetual war, without any real end game or strategy, continues.
Aside from inciting frenzy and terror among its intended targets, ISIS intends to foment the fear that a war exists between 'The West' and Islam.
Even more civilian casualties and hopeless displacement will almost certainly ensue as a result of western air strikes, as well as an exacerbated refugee problem.
In addition, ISIS' strategy not only involves barbarous acts of violence against western targets in a bid to attack what it regards is the "enemy of Islam", but it also intends to create an unbearable situation for Muslims living in Europe and other western states; so bad that they are left with no choice other than to join its reinstated Caliphate, and be dragged back hundreds of years to live in dire medieval conditions.
In one of the latest editions of its propaganda magazine, Dabiq (translated in to English, French, Russian and other languages), the Islamic State also brands Muslims fleeing to Europe from wars in the Middle East, in particular Syria and Iraq, as "sinners". "Voluntarily leaving Drul Islm (lands of Islam) for Drul –kufr (land of unbelievers) is a dangerous major sin, as it is a passage towards kufr (disbelief) and a gate towards one's children and grandchildren abandoning Islam for Christianity, atheism, or liberalism", it reads.
Last Friday's attacks may also represent the beginning of a battle, ongoing in the Middle East for well over a year, but which has now truly landed on European soil. The beheading of two Syrian journalists in the Turkish border city of Urfa just two weeks ago was one example of this. The Charlie Hebdo attacks, and the litany of threats against western targets, represent another.
Meanwhile, in the 11th Arrondissement in Paris yesterday, just hours after six carefully coordinated bomb blasts left at least 129 people dead and 99 in critical condition, there was little appetite for more war.
A far more profound calm permeated, despite the unflinching violence perpetrated against its denizens by the world's most violent and disproportionately potent militant group.
A police cordon around the Bataclan Concert Hall, the site of the highest death toll where nearly 100 people were killed after being taken hostage by members of Islamic State, protected the site. But absent was the heavy, tense army presence one might expect.
People milled in and out of coffee shops and sat around - albeit, apprehensively - discussing the previous night's callous attack. "I'm angry – of course, I'm angry; people are dead. But I’m angry about politics and the politicians – they go to war and don’t ask the people whether they agree with this policy or not, yet we pay the price", said Max, a coffee shop owner based around 200 meters from theatre.
Meanwhile Sharon Kheloui, 5 months pregnant, said she'll never forget the sight of blood and bodies when she looked out her window late Friday night. "We could see the people, because the light was so bright with the fire brigade".
One of the first victims to be removed from the scene was that of a "young girl", drenched in blood, and a young man draped in a white sheet; but "all I can remember was the blood all over their bodies", she shuddered.
"I'm afraid now; and why is it always near this area", she said referring to the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January which took place nearby.
Thankfully, fears of a major backlash against France's Muslim community have so far not come to pass; as was the concern among some commentators late Friday night. "It’s stupid to say Muslims are terrorists, but some people do this; it is a good way to manipulate to minds of people – but it just creates hate", says local shop owner, Francois Costa.
Co-founder of France’s far right Front National party, MEP Bruno Gollnisch, believes that the problem is to do with border control. He said the attacks were as a result "uncontrolled immigration" and warned this latest attack, celebrated as "miraculous" by IS, is just "the beginning of the problem”. He also called for an end to open border policy being pursued by the EU.
"It is too easy to say we have a responsibility to take in so many refugees from the Middle East", said Gollnisch. While he recognises that the west "should not have destroyed Iraq", he adds that "Mr Blair and Mr Bush have the responsibility" for that decision.
For Gollnisch, the solution to that issue, however, does not involve France: "let them fix it".
