Resurgence of ISIS post al-Baghdadi

The Pentagon watchdog reported that the US withdrawal from Iraq could mean further resurgence of the terror group. A US drone shot Iranian General Qassem Soleimani at the Baghdad International Airport. In response, Iraq’s parliament passed a nonbinding resolution to have all US forces withdrawn from the country. Despite this tension, US-Iraqi military operations against ISIS resumed a week after Soleimani was killed. Despite the success behind the Syria raid taking down al-Baghdadi, both US Central Command and the Defense Intelligence Agency say that there has been “no immediate degradation in ISIS’ capabilities”. Without further pressure from US and coalition forces, it is likely that ISIS will continue their global acts of terror. 

On February 5th, 2020 the Pentagon reported that the killing of former ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had little to no impact on the daily operations of the terror organization. On February 6th, 2020 ISIS claimed they had conducted a stabbing in the Maldives where three were injured. In early December, 2019, President Trump had argued that Emanuel Macron and the rest of the EU were not doing enough to help US and coalition forces to help fight against ISIS forces in Syria. The terror organization has also been wreaking havoc in parts of Africa. In Chad, a suicide bomber killed nine civilians and in Nigeria, aid workers were held hostage by armed insurgents for more than three weeks. Attacks claimed by ISIS are up 20% after the raid that killed al-Baghdadi. As their confidence grows, it will likely fall on the US to combat further growth of the organization on a global scale. With Russian and Chinese interests in Africa, it isn’t outside the realm of possibility that Putin or Ping would help fight back against ISIS.