TERRORISM
While the world watches Gaza, ISIS is gaining strength and momentum, building networks and preparing for strikes worldwide
With much of international attention gripped by the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, the Islamic State militant group has been steadily ramping up operations across continents and setting the stage for a resurgence of global mayhem.
This latent threat came to life on March 22, with ISIS claiming responsibility for a massacre that killed 144 people at a concert held at Crocus City Hall outside of Moscow. It marked the deadliest militant attack on Russian soil in two decades. Experts and officials warn the next operation could target virtually anyone, including U.S. citizens.
Just one day before the attack, U.S. Central Command chief General Michael Kurilla told lawmakers in Congress that “ISIS-Khorasan retains the capability and the will to attack U.S. and Western interests abroad in as little as six months with little to no warning.” More recently, the group has made threats to UEFA matches across Europe and the upcoming Paris Olympics.
The attack in Russia reclaimed international headlines for the jihadis who, at their peak just a decade ago, presided over a self-styled caliphate spanning the size of Portugal. However, the roots of ISIS’ attempted resurgence have been taking hold for some time.
The group’s so-called Khorasan province, known as ISIS-K or ISKP, has been particularly active in its base country of Afghanistan, using the Taliban-held nation to launch attacks at home and against neighboring Iran and Pakistan, despite efforts to stop them by all three governments. The militants also began expanding operations beyond the region, with Russia, Germany, Turkey and Tajikistan recently cracking down on alleged ISIS-K plots.
“The recent spike in ISIS-K’s activity in the region is not an overnight development,” Amira Jadoon, a professor at South Carolina’s Clemson University who has regularly engaged with the U.S. government on issues of counterterrorism, told Newsweek, “but rather something that ISIS-K has been planning through a multipronged approach since a few years.”
From France to China and Beyond
ISIS has never been shy about its international ambitions, but its Khorasan branch has been particularly vocal in conveying preparations to expand its campaign. In an article in the March edition of ISIS-K’s Voice of Khurasan magazine, published before the attack on Moscow, the group said that the “territory of Islam is never limited to Afghanistan, but it is much wider.”
“ The land of Islam is the one that the Muslims gained with their sacrifices, which covers th
