The Islamic State still poses a significant threat to Iraq and Syria

The Islamic State still poses a significant threat to Iraq and Syria

ISIS still poses a significant threat to Iraq and Syria and to the wider world.Providing a coalition operations update from Baghdad to reporters at the Pentagon via teleconference, British Army Maj. Gen. Chris Ghika said ISIS has “morphed into an underground network that we must root out and destroy.”

The enduring defeat of ISIS is OIR’s objective, the general said. Strong governance and effective stabilization are the long-term keys to security and prosperity, and the international community must do all it can to help, he added.

March 23 was the most recent significant ISIS defeat when the terrorists lost control of any physical territory in Baghuz, Syria, he noted.

“We must reflect on this great achievement by our partner forces and the coalition,” Ghika emphasized. “For five years, [ISIS’] reign of terror instilled unbounded fear into innocent Iraqis and Syrians. Today, it has been reduced to an underground organization, forced out of population centers and into hiding in caves and the mountains. Its aspirations for a global caliphate have been destroyed.”

“In northeastern Syria, political discussions are ongoing to ensure regional stability. Militarily, the United States will continue working with its partners to create conditions where ISIS cannot thrive again,” Ghika said. “Coalition partners are progressing steadily back up the Euphrates River valley to clear remnants of ISIS, following the take back of Baghuz“, he added.

On a humanitarian level, the general said, tens of thousands of internally displaced persons and refugees are in northeastern Syria. Local and international humanitarian organisations are managing the situation, he said, “but we must be mindful that there is a large concentration of radicalized individuals in these camps who will want to return to their homes in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. We need to assist with deradicalization and education to prevent a new generation of [ISIS] emerging when these people go home.”

Source: BM