The Islamic State’s new leaders are emerging from defeat with an adaptable mindset and ideological flexibility that will allow them to remain ensconced within the core ISIS territories of Iraq and Syria, especially by focusing on local alliances and outreach to other jihadist groups.
The rise of surprise ISIS attacks and the increasing number of raids on remote villages and barracks belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and tribal mobilization forces in the last four months claimed the lives of dozens of Iraqis. As a result of this realization, al-Kadhimi assembled a team to reconfigure the country’s counterterrorism strategy.
Throughout much of Iraq, residents and authorities consider these families potential enablers of renewed ISIS activities. Despite local officials’ and entities’ intensive efforts to reintegrate these families with their communities, security concerns, tribal and sectarian issues, and other formidable obstacles remain.
In 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) seized Mosul and later announced the establishment of a caliphate. While counterterrorism efforts initially focused on the group’s centers in Mosul and Raqqa, it is the areas adjacent to the Iraq-Syria borders that would prove to be the group’s last stand after major defeats.
