A French newspaper says France changed its military strategy last year and started airstrikes in Syria because of concerns months before the attacks on Paris that ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud was plotting to target a concert and take hostages, reports CBS News.
The report in Friday's Le Parisien, citing French and Belgian intelligence material and police recordings, lists repeated occasions when authorities allegedly failed to catch Abaaoud, even though he had been considered a major threat by several European intelligence services before the November 13th attacks.
Abaaoud was killed in a police raid five days after the attack by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) suicide bombers. Most of the 130 killed in the attacks were hostages in the Bataclan concert hall.
The French president's office and interior ministry, which oversees intelligence services, did not respond to requests for comment.
Survivors and families of victims on Friday are marking six months since the attacks, which shook the nation and prompted a state of emergency that is still in place.