The United States military says ISIL (ISIS) is trying “to reconstitute” as the number of its attacks in Syria and Iraq is on track to double that of the previous year.
The armed group has already claimed 153 attacks in both countries in the first six months of 2024, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Wednesday.
“The increase in attacks indicates [ISIL] is attempting to reconstitute following several years of decreased capability,” it said.
It has been more than a decade since ISIL, then led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, advanced through swaths of Iraq and Syria with the goal of creating a self-declared “caliphate”. At its peak in 2014, its fighters controlled one-third of Iraq and Syria.
While the group lost its grip on the territory after campaigns by US-backed forces, some fighters remain in hiding, mainly in remote areas, from where they continue to carry out attacks. In 2019, US special forces killed al-Baghdadi in a raid in Idlib, northwestern Syria.
CENTCOM said along with Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) 196 missions were conducted that resulted in the deaths of 44 ISIL operatives, with 166 arrested between January and June this year.
A coalition of more than 80 countries led by the US was formed to fight ISIL, and CENTCOM said “the continued pursuit of the approximately 2,500 ISIS fighters at large across Iraq and Syria is a critical component to the enduring defeat” of the group.
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