Think-tank moment,
ISIS Re-Establishes Historical Sanctuary in Iraq
By: Brandon Wallace
Key Takeaway: ISIS’s post-Caliphate insurgency in Iraq is accelerating faster than efforts to prevent it by the U.S. Anti-ISIS Coalition. ISIS is re-establishing capable insurgent networks in multiple historical strongholds and linking them together, setting the conditions for future offensive operations against the Government of Iraq. The U.S. and its partners should not view the current relative security in Baghdad as confirmation of the defeat of ISIS. The U.S. Anti-ISIS Coalition’s strategy to enable Iraq to “independently manage†an insurgency through intelligence support and other building partner capacity efforts will likely fail to prevent ISIS from regaining momentum based on its current trajectory in Iraq.
1) ISIS has established and strengthened a durable support zone in the vicinity of Hawija in Kirkuk Province since September 2017
The System: Hawija is a historical stronghold for ISIS and its predecessor al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) with a sympathetic population of Sunni Arabs. The Hamrin Mountains near Hawija enable north-south transit from Ninewa Province to Diyala Province. The mountains also provide durable sanctuary from airstrikes and ground clearing operations.
Read more at: http://iswresearch.blogspot.com/2019/03/isis-re-establishes-historic-sanctuary.html
These international and indeed, national think-tanks have some great reads... one could do a run down of all of them.
Brookings, Hudson, CFR and on down the line. Seems like a lot of technical detail too. Maybe some would find it of interest.
The bottomlline though is true and has made the news, a bit of an ISIS resurgence of presence in Iraq.
