UN: Islamic State still has thousands of fighters in Syria/Iraq
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – United Nations experts warned this week that there are still between 5,000 and 7,000 Islamic State terrorists in Syria and Iraq, and that the terror group presents a serious threat in Afghanistan as well, the Associated Press reports.
Islamic State (Daesh in Arabic) is a self-declared caliphate which seized large sections of Syria and Iraq in 2014; the group was declared to have been defeated after three years of international counter terrorism operations. Tens of thousands of people have been killed as a result of Islamic State terrorism, AP reports.
On Monday, a panel of UN experts told the Security Council that the threat from Islamic State is ongoing, and is “mostly high in conflict zones and low in non-conflict areas,” AP reports.
“The group has adapted its strategy, embedding itself with local populations, and has exercised caution in choosing battles that are likely to result in limited losses, while rebuilding and recruiting from camps in the northeast of the Syrian Arab Republic and from vulnerable communities, including in neighboring countries,” the UN experts said. “The overall situation is dynamic,” the experts noted.
The experts said that some 11,000 suspected Islamic State militants, including 3,500 Iraqis and 2,000 from almost 70 other countries, are in detention at jails run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces: the SDF has played a major role in fighting against Islamic State.