ISIS between defeat and return: This is how the organization took advantage of American-Iranian conflict in Iraq

Despite the defeat suffered by the terrorist organization ISIS in early 2019, by losing its last strongholds in eastern Syria, and killing its former leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in October 2019, the terrorist organization still enjoys a significant advantage over its beginnings in 2014, especially in the number, which was estimated at 10,000 armed at the time, and reached nearly 20,000 in Syria and Iraq.

Exploiting differences to expand

During a report prepared by the American "Insider" website, on the field situation of "ISIS", it pointed out that the terrorist organization has become stronger than it was in its beginnings in 2014 in terms of number, as the number of fighters at the present time is greater than it was previously when it was declared founding.

This comes in addition to having millions of dollars at its disposal, stressing that the current tensions between Washington and Tehran are beneficial to the organization, as the recent skirmishes between the two countries in Iraq diverted attention from ISIS and its fighters and the terrorist operations that it launched daily.

In turn, Masroor Barzani, Prime Minister of Iraqi Kurdistan, stressed that the confrontation between the two countries will have a negative impact on the war against terrorism and ISIS, which should be a priority for all of us, explaining that although ISIS has lost many of its leaders and capable men, it remains the same.

A report by the Inspector General of the US Department of Defense revealed that the killing of al-Baghdadi, the former ISIS leader in October 2019, did not stop the terrorist operations, nor did it lead to an immediate deterioration of its capabilities, but it remained coherent, while a United Nations report suggested that ISIS owns nearly $ 100 million at its disposal.

The US Department of Defense announced last summer that the terrorist organization had approximately 12 to 18,000 militants, and when ISIS announced in 2014 the establishment of its state, after seizing a large group of lands in parts of Iraq and Syria, it was estimated that the number of fighters at that time stood at 10,000.

On the other hand, observers stressed that, although the organization is strongly present and still poses a threat, the operations that it will implement will be regional in nature, and will not think in the near term to carry out operations in America and the old continent, where David Sterman, a political analyst for the site Insider said that ISIS is still present in Syria and Iraq, and its long history of flexibility and recovery after the defeats indicates that it could pose a greater threat in Iraq and Syria.

International cooperation to eliminate it

Although some officials have suggested that the year 2020 in Iraq will be completely devoid of the ISIS presence, after eight military campaigns in the name of the "will of victory", the last of which was before the beginning of the new year; officials note that the military leadership ended a few days ago, in the first phase of a series of new military campaigns to search for the militants of the organization in remote areas, which bore the name "Iraq heroes", stressing that it will continue for the coming months.

On the other hand, "Barzani" confirmed that it was agreed with Britain to work closely in the framework of combating ISIS despite carrying out terrorist operations on a daily basis, indicating that it is difficult to completely defeat it without the causes of its emergence, especially the economic and social problems in Iraq.

During a meeting with Mark Sidwell, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and National Security Adviser in Britain, on the sidelines of the Munich conference for security held in Germany, Sunday, February 16, 2020, Barzani clarified in a statement that the two sides agreed to cooperate closely in the war against ISIS to ease regional tensions, in addition to discussing ways to strengthen relations between Britain and the Kurdistan region and the situations in Iraq and the region.