Despite suffering significant losses of territory, senior leadership and fighters in the three-year fight that culminated in its 2017 defeat in Iraq and Syria, the ISIS terrorist group has regrouped and is attempting to expand its influence.
Despite suffering significant losses of territory, senior leadership and fighters in the three-year fight that culminated in its 2017 defeat in Iraq and Syria, the ISIS terrorist group, also known as Da’esh, has regrouped and is attempting to expand its influence.
According to a recent United Nations report, the threat is particularly acute in Africa, as Da’esh works to entrench itself across the Central, Southern and Western reaches of the continent.
The terrorist group is forming regional hubs and creating areas of instability across Africa. Some 20 African countries have already experienced such activity, and more than 20 others are being used for logistics as well as for mobilizing funds and other resources, said Martin Ewi, former head of the African Union Commission’s counter-terrorism program and currently Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies. He warned that Africa is not only a center of Da’esh activity but could also be the future Da’esh caliphate.
What’s more, Da’esh, or ISIS, is particularly keen to establish itself in countries with plentiful natural resources like the DRC and exploit these resources to finance its nefarious activities.
