Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Crackdown on resurgence of threat could be crucial chapter
THESE UK air strikes on IS in Iraq and Syria may mark a significant shift in the story of Islamic State in the region.
They show a re-energising in efforts by the coalition to hold back and seriously thwart attempts by the network to rise up again.
EX-US President Donald Trump had emboldened the militancy by announcing troop withdrawals from Syria and neighbouring Iraq.
But US President Joe Biden appears to be taking an IS resurgence seriously and backed by UK warplanes the Us-led coalition is re-emphasising the drive to stop it.
In July 2017 myself and Mirror photographer Rowan Griffiths stood at the “ground zero” ruins of the al-nuri Mosque as the last dying remnants of IS were being driven from Mosul.
It was from here that in 2014 Abu Bakr al-baghdadi had announced his caliphate and here that his men blew up the mosque as they fled.
As we stood amid the ruins it was hard to imagine it being rebuilt.
But out of the ashes of the caliphate’s destroyed birthplace a £50m Unesco project is having it rebuilt brick by brick from the 5,600 tonnes of rubble that lie where it stood.
With help from the Iraqi government and the UAE it will also rebuild two Christian churches nearby.
But the latest news about IS in Iraq is even more significant as the network is suffering from a catastrophic blow to its leadership – the US has revealed its leader Muhammed al-mawla informed on jihadists to elbow his way to the top.
Newly released papers in the US show how in 2008 during prison interviews al-mawla gave up his so-called jihadi brothers to US troops.
A treasure trove of intelligence he coughed up, including which cafes they ate in, will have resulted in the deaths by drone of many.
But the information he leaked will put him in serious jeopardy with IS.
It could mark him as a “dead man walking”. And it could also mark the moment the coalition properly decided to turn the tables on IS.