Actions, measures, or military operations specifically designed to combat, prevent, or respond to terrorism or terrorist attacks.
From counter- + terror. Terror comes from Latin terrere 'to frighten.' This term gained prominence in modern usage, especially after the 1970s, as nations formalized anti-terrorism strategies.
Counterterror units like Germany's GSG 9 or Britain's SAS developed techniques that actually became so famous (Operation Entebbe rescue, for example) that they influenced how we see action movies!
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