ISIS are planning ‘spectacular attacks’ from the desert despite no longer being a serious war-fighting force

Islamic State militants are planning ‘spectacular attacks’ from the desert as they morph into an insurgent force, a top US colonel claimed yesterday.

Colonel Ryan Dillon said the barbaric group no longer has an army nor the capability to launch major combat operations in Iraq and Syria following a series of devastating defeats.

But he said as a result they were moving into remote areas such as the desert where they can plot mass casualty attacks on civilians and local forces.

Col Dillon, the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, the Western coalition against IS said: ‘They are no longer a military threat. They no longer have an army that we saw present itself in 2014.’

Speaking during a briefing at the US embassy in London, he said they no longer have the ability to fight in a major combat operations.

He said there were some 3,000 IS fighters remaining in Iraq and Syria.

But these were ‘moving off into uninhibited areas, in areas where they are used to being familiar with, in the desert, in smaller cells, to transition back to how they began with insurgent like tactics and in efforts to conduct spectacular attacks throughout Iraq and Syria.’

‘We are going to make sure we adjust accordingly, whether that’s through training or intelligence sharing.’

He warned the defeat of IS in major towns and cities did not mark the end of the campaign.

He said: ‘It does not mark the end the end of ISIS.

‘We are looking at the enemy and seeing how he adapts and we will provide our partners the support that they need to deliver the lasting defeat to Daesh in Iraq and Syria.’

Source: Daily Mail