Terror threat is still very real even as IS implodes
THE collapse of Islamic State is almost complete. Holding out in a square mile or so of land around a couple of Syrian villages, its fighters look finished. President Trump boasted too early last night when he told troops in Alaska, as he stopped over on the way back from his failed summit in Vietnam, that “we just took over 100% caliphate, that means the area of the land we’re just have 100% so that’s good”. But the fall of this warped, cruel movement is something to celebrate — a success in which Britain’s military and intelligence services have played a valuable part.
So is the threat of Islamic terror, which has haunted the west for two decades, finally in full retreat? Unfortunately not. Islamic State is no longer a territorial power, with the trappings of a state including a capital and an army, but that doesn’t mean we can relax. While IS has been losing ground, al Qaeda has been growing in strength. It has sustained a network of associate groups across countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen and parts of Africa — where French forces reportedly killed one of its leaders late last month. And it may be plotting new terrorist attacks in the west. Today we report that the US has put a $1 million bounty on the head of Osama bin Laden’s son, Hamza bin Laden, amid fears that he has taken over as the movement’s leader and is seeking revenge for his father’s death.
Last month the head of MI6 warned that al Qaeda has “managed to morph and reconstitute”. Fighters from Syria will move on and continue the conflict elsewhere. They will use “new technologies”, he said, arguing that the West must “make sure we are kind of ahead of them on all of them”. When someone so senior in our security services makes a rare public intervention like this, it’s a sign that he knows the threat is very serious indeed. Fighters attempting to return to the west after defeat in Syria only add to the dangers. There may be another attempt to mount a spectacular attack on a western target. So IS has lost ground. But this conflict shows no sign of ending.