This article published by Observer Research Foundation discusses how “[e]ven as ISIS as a group today is severely depleted, the threat perception remains constant.”
“[T]actically and strategically, ISIS is a mere shadow of what it was,” the author writes. After all, the terror group once “had control of the geography between Syria and Iraq, bigger than the landmass of the United Kingdom.” But “ideologically, it remains a potent force”:
“Pro-ISIS propaganda online remains in wide circulation, and other groups that align with it such as those in parts of Africa and Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) in Afghanistan continue to operate as local insurgencies and terror ecosystems using ISIS for its brand equity in an effort to attract attention, recruitment, and finance.”
The group’s ‘caliphate’ has long collapsed and “counterterror operations against ISIS in Syria, largely led by the US, have seen incredible success in the recent past.” Reportedly, “[t]he US has also moved away from an over-reliance on drone strikes as a mainstay of its counterterror thinking” and is instead using “special operations troops”:
“This method, while increasing risk of American fatalities on the ground exponentially, decreases the chances of civilian casualties, an issue that has repeatedly plagued and undermined US counter-terror operations in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan alike over the past two decades.”
Read the full article here.
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