ISIS seeking a comeback

    Despite the US President Donald Trump's claim that the so called Islamic State has been defeated, the militant group has been remain a threat around the world. After loosing all of its former territory in Iraq and Syria the IS has turned to insurgency tactics with more than 1200 attacks launched in the first 10 months of 2018. the group is estimated to have up to 30.000 fighters scattered across West Asia and North Africa. Its leader Abu Bakr AL-Baghdadi and several top deputies are believed to be alive.

    The IS has a cell in eastern Afghanistan, which conduct attacks on security forces and civillians. The UN says civilian casualties reached a record high in the first half of 2018, with 52% attributed to the IS.

    The Sinai based affiliate of the IS is capable of mounting major attacks such as the 2015 bombing of a Russian plane that killed 224 people. Affiliate is active in southern desert, tied to terror attacks in Berlin in 2016 and Manchester in 2017. The group is bolstered by foreign volunteers who left Syria and Iraq.

    Muslim insurgents in the Mindanao region have pledged allegiance to the IS, which responsibility for the Jan 27, 2019 bombing of the Jolo island cathedral. The IS in Greater Sahara has staged attacks in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. It is also suspected of the 2017 ambush in Niger which killed four US and four Nigerian soldiers.