ISIS USING COVER OF PANDEMIC TO REBUILD FOR NEW OFFENSIVE

▶ Sources say group resurgent and capitalising on confusion and chaos to recruit and rearm

Western security sources are warning that ISIS is resurgent, using the coronavirus crisis to rebuild strength for a coming offensive.

The terrorist group is capitalising on the confusion and chaos caused by the pandemic to recruit and rearm.

With the US distracted by the crisis and in the process of reducing troop numbers from front lines in the region and Afghanistan, further pressure has been lifted allowing the fundamentalists to regroup. This month ISIS carried out a well-planned attack on Iraqi paramilitaries, killing at least 10. The sophisticated assault included a bomb planted in the path of reinforcements and the use of boats to outflank security forces.

“You cannot take your eye off the ball with these people because they have not gone away,” a western security source told The National. “They are resurgent. They’re not at their high point by any means but their trajectory is going up whereas a couple of years ago it was going down. Covid is certainly making things a bit difficult to keep a lid on Daesh.”

ISIS continues to exploit refugee camps for training, influence and radicalisation, in particular the 70,000 people in Al Hol camp in north-east Syria.

As well as honing their military tactics the militants are well funded and using significant numbers of women to co-ordinate their activities.

“They are enabling these attacks and the opportunity from Covid to recruit, train and get back on the front foot,” the security source said. “Daesh has evolved – it is now going back to traditional sleeper cells, gradually building up its strength. There is also no shortage of money.”

Since the pandemic struck, ISIS has engaged in direct firefights with Iraqi security forces rather than using roadside bombs and snipers.

“They’re bolder, more aggressive,” a western diplomat told International Crisis Group analysts for a report issued this month. “They use IEDs but more and more they engage in firefights ... and they kill.”

But Iraq’s Brig Gen Yahya Rasool played down reports that the group was resurgent. “You have some remnants of the organisation, cells, that try to carry out operations here and there, in desert areas like western Anbar or on plains, ravines and mountains – areas where the terrain is difficult, which are hard to totally control,” the Iraqi spokesman told ICG.

While ISIS is unlikely to reach its self-declared caliphate status of five years ago there is real concern over its resurgence. “It’s clear something is happening,” one western diplomat said.