On the night of Nov 13 a year ago, the Syeds, a Muslim family of five, were watching football on TV at home in the French capital of Paris when they heard gunshots.

The nearby Bataclan theatre was under attack by ISIS extremists and, soon, police and terrified concertgoers were running past the Syeds’ home.

The family opened their doors and, together with their neighbours, gave what help they could to the injured in the courtyard of their building.

… Recognising that ISIS’ goal is to divide society and create ethnic and religious conflict is the first step to any strategy, said roundtable panellist Kumar Ramakrishna, head of policy studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

“The likes of ISIS are very sectarian. Their operations and attacks are designed to create conflict and divide society so that they will polarise it, turn society against each other and then they will find opportunities to recruit,” he said.