With ISIS down but not out, continued vigilance is key, UN Security Council told

Despite ISIS’s territorial defeat in Syria, the terrorist group, also known as Da’esh “continues to aspire to global relevance”, the United Nations top counter-terrorism officials warned the Security Council.

“It capitalizes on its affiliates and inspired attacks and has an estimated residual wealth of up to three hundred million dollars at its disposal”, said Vladimir Voronkov Under-Secretary-General, Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), in his briefing on the threat ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) poses to international peace and security.

Moreover, “acute concerns” remain over foreign terrorist fighters, returnees and relocators, he continued, noting that from the “initial estimate” of 40,000, between 24,000 and 30,000 have survived.

And Member States also must contend with the threat posed by ‘frustrated travelers,’ or ISIS sympathizers – the number of whom is hard to estimate.

While acknowledging ISIS’s defeat in Syria as “a watershed” that ended the “dystopia of the so-called ‘caliphate’”,  Voronkov said that the fall of Baghuz “was not a fatal blow” as the group “continues to evolve into a covert network.

“This follows the same pattern we have seen in Iraq since 2017, where ISIS insurgency activity reportedly designed to prevent normalization and reconstruction efforts continue”, maintained the counter-terrorism chief.

Turning to Africa, he noted “a striking increase in ISIS and Al-Qaida-linked recruitment and violence” in the continent’s West, pointing out that “the Islamic State’s West Africa Province is now one of the strongest ISIS affiliates” with some 4,000 fighters that also “calls for vigilance”.

In Europe radicalization in prisons and those released from prison “remain major concerns” that compound the risk of “homegrown terrorism” at time when ISIS is having trouble sending fighters to the continent, according to  Voronkov.

And despite military pressure, hundreds of thousands of ISIS fighters in Asia continue to pose a threat.

He recounted two worrying developments in South-East Asia, namely women playing a more active role in attacks and the explicit targeting of places of worship, “which may indicate a new trend”.

The counter-terrorism chief drew the Council’s attention to the thousands of suspected ISIS fighters and their families currently detained in Iraq and Syria, many of whom are “stranded in overcrowded camps, in dire conditions, generating acute and humanitarian concerns”.

Noting that there are “as many as 70,000 people in Al-Hawl camp in Syria alone, including women and children” with potential links to UN-listed terrorist groups, he cited the report as saying that “Member States have the primary responsibility for their own nationals” and urged against Statelessness.

Stating that “the current lull” in ISIS attacks “may only be temporary”,  Voronkov upheld the importance of remaining vigilant “to mitigate the risk posed by the evolution of ISIS…deny it new recruits and prevent its resurgence’.

“It is essential that Member States keep a comprehensive and long-term perspective in this fight”, he spelled out, adding that “urgent political leadership and a principled approached, based on international law” is needed.