Author Topic: The Islamic State’s Global Long Game and Resurgence in Syria Poses an Evolved Threat to the West  (Read 252 times)

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Offline rangerrebew

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The Islamic State’s Global Long Game and Resurgence in Syria Poses an Evolved Threat to the West
Jan 9, 2025 - ISW Press
 

The Islamic State’s Global Long Game and Resurgence in Syria Poses an Evolved Threat to the West

Authors: Liam Karr and Brian Carter

Key Takeaway: The Islamic State has evolved and expanded globally since the territorial defeat of IS in Iraq and Syria in 2019, enabling the organization to continue to orchestrate and inspire attacks on the West. IS Turkey Province and the Afghanistan-based IS Khorasan Province are pivotal nodes in IS’s external attack network and have repeatedly demonstrated the capability to coordinate attacks outside of their primary areas of operation. IS has taken advantage of weak states and poor governance in Africa to establish growing affiliates that control territory, support the IS global network, and bolster IS propaganda narratives. IS in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is now resurging in Syria after a years-long campaign to reconstitute itself. Recent shifts in the international counterterrorism posture in Syria and Africa risk creating security vacuums that IS can exploit to strengthen further. IS's growing strength will inspire more lone wolf attackers and lead to more external attack plots against the West.

The Islamic State has evolved and expanded globally since the territorial defeat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria in 2019, enabling the organization to continue to orchestrate and inspire attacks on the West. ISIS lost control of 95 percent of the territory that it seized between 2014 and 2017 and lost control of its final territories in Iraq and Syria in 2017 and 2019, respectively.[1] IS has continued to expand across the globe since 2019, however. IS claimed its first attacks in the DRC and Mozambique in 2019 under the newly-founded IS Central Africa Province (ISCAP).[2] IS also recognized smaller and less active provinces in India, Pakistan, and Turkey in 2019.[3] IS eventually recognized IS-Mozambique as a distinct province separate from the Democratic Republic of the Congo–based ISCAP in 2022.[4] IS also formally recognized IS Sahel Province as distinct from the Nigeria-based Islamic State West Africa Province in 2022.[5]

IS has substantially restructured its General Directorate of Provinces—formerly known as the Administration of Distant Provinces until 2020—since the fall of its territorial statelet in the Middle East.[6] The directorate provides operational guidance and coordinates funding to all of IS’s global affiliates, plays a central role in external attack operations, and oversees internal administrative high-level affairs within provinces.[7] IS created regional offices (Maktab)to oversee this support across its various provincial affiliates and its traditional core territories in Iraq and Syria around 2019.[8] This decentralized system helps coordinate financing, directives, and other support between the group’s personnel in local theaters, the global IS network, and central IS leadership despite IS’s weakened position in the Middle East.[9]

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/islamic-state%E2%80%99s-global-long-game-and-resurgence-syria-poses-evolved-threat-west
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Offline mountaineer

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Logan Ratick
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CENTCOM “conducted a precision airstrike in Northwest Syria targeting and killing Muhammad Salah al-Za'bir, a senior operative in the terrorist organization Hurras al-Din (HaD), an Al-Qaeda affiliate.”
7:44 PM · Jan 30, 2025
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U.S. Central Command
@CENTCOM
CENTCOM Forces Kill Senior Operative of Terror Group Hurras al-Din, an Al-Qaeda Affiliate

On Jan. 30, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Forces conducted a precision airstrike in Northwest Syria targeting and killing Muhammad Salah al-Za'bir, a senior operative in the terrorist organization Hurras al-Din (HaD), an Al-Qaeda affiliate.

The airstrike is part of CENTCOM's ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against civilians and military personnel from the U.S., our allies, and our partners throughout the region and beyond.

"CENTCOM will continue to hunt and kill or capture terrorists, and defend our homeland, against groups that plot to attack US and allied personnel," said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander, U.S. Central Command.
7:15 PM · Jan 30, 2025

Why is "abbreviation" such a long word?