Despite the international prominence it enjoyed years ago due to the vast territory it controlled, the fortune it amassed through the oil trade, the crimes it committed in areas under its control, and the bloody attacks carried out around the world, the Islamic State (IS) is far from disappearing and remains operational in Syria. Although its range of action is significantly smaller than in the past, it would be a serious mistake not to pay attention to an organization that has amply demonstrated its capacity to kill and resist.
High-sounding declarations are often premature. In some parts of the world, they are also dangerous. Thus, when in February 2019 Donald Trump, still in his first term as President of the United States, declared a “100%” victory over the Islamist organization, many people doubted the disappearance of a movement that had managed to control some 90,000 square kilometers and extend its influence from the Middle East to countries like Libya and Nigeria. In fact, ISIS has never stopped its actions, and the two American soldiers and a translator killed on the 13th in an ambush in the Syrian desert justify the skepticism aroused by Trump’s remarks.
The Syrian civil war officially ended a year ago with the fall of Damascus to the opposition and the flight of dictator Bashar al-Assad, who has since taken refuge in Moscow. But that does not mean that the country is peaceful. The deep social, political and geographic divide created during the war, with multiple factions fighting within a myriad of shifting coalitions and warring groups, is far from overcome. The coming to power of Ahmed al Shara, who headed a local branch of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, for whose leader Washington offered $10 million and who is now enjoying a honeymoon with the Trump administration, did not achieve the desired stability.
This is where ISIS remains active, with thousands of militants who have adapted to the new situation and moved from controlling a specific territory to being clandestine insurgents. It is now a question of causing a lot of damage with few means. And they succeed. Syria’s new government has decided to take the threat seriously, given the added fear that IS could deliver a spectacular blow, whether through major attacks or rescue operations for its imprisoned militants. This is why international collaboration is necessary to neutralize this threat not only for Syria but also for the entire West. Despite its territorial defeat six years ago, IS remains active and is reorganizing. A fact in which there is no room for triumphant declarations but for effective action. Otherwise, Syria will remain a hotbed of instability in an already unstable enough region.
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