UN chief: Threat to peace from Islamic State rising
UNITED NATIONS — SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres says in a new report that the threat to international peace and security from the Islamic State extremist group is rising, pointing to an “alarming” expansion of its affiliates in Africa and its focus on a comeback in its former selfdeclared “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq.
The report to the U.N. Security Council, which was circulated Tuesday, said IS and other terrorist groups have taken advantage of “the disruption, grievances and development setbacks” caused by the COVID19 pandemic, both on the ground and online.
While lockdowns in nonconflict areas suppressed terrorist activity, in conflict areas where pandemic restrictions have less impact the threat from IS, also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh, “has already increased,” Guterres said.
“As pandemicrelated restrictions gradually ease, there is an elevated nearterm threat of Daeshinspired attacks outside conflict zones by lone actors or small groups that have been radicalized, incited and possibly directly remotely online,” he said.
The U.N. chief said this exemplifies a wider and evolving risk from the accelerated use of digital technologies during the pandemic, and the potential for “new and emerging technologies to be used for terrorist purposes.”
In assessing the Islamic State’s threat, Guterres said its leader, Amir Muhammad Sa’id AbdalRahman alMawla, “remains reluctant to communicate directly with supporters,” and “the group’s command and control over its global affiliates has loosened, even though it continues to provide guidance and some financial support.”
He said the autonomy of regional affiliates has strengthened, especially in West Africa and the Sahel, East and Central Africa, Afghanistan and South Asia. This evolution will be an important factor in Daesh’s future global impact, he quoted unidentified U.N. member states as saying.
Member states also assess that the extremist group “will continue to prioritize regrouping and seeking resurgence” in Iraq and Syria as its core area of operations, he said.
The 16page report, prepared by a Security Council counterterrorism committee and by experts monitoring sanctions on the Islamic State, said the group remains active in wide swaths of Syria, where it is seeking to rebuild its combat capabilities and expand its insurgency.
The secretarygeneral said the most striking development in the first half of 2021 has been the expansion of IS in Africa, where terrorist groups have inflicted the largest number of casualties.
He said some of the most effective IS affiliates are spreading their influence and activities from Mali into Burkina Faso and Niger, from Nigeria into Niger, Chad and Cameroon, and from Mozambique into Tanzania.
Guterres said U.N. member states have already warned “that Daesh could regain the ability to orchestrate international attacks if either its core or one of its regional affiliates became strong enough.”