UN warns of IS offensive despite loss of several leaders

On Tuesday, the UN warned of important gains that the “jihadist” group “Islamic State” (IS) has made in several countries, especially on the African continent, despite the fact that it has lost numerous leaders in the course of anti-terrorist operations.

Vladimir Voronkov, head of the organization’s antiterrorist cabinet, presented a report to the Security Council on Tuesday on the status of the “jihadist” group and assured that despite its “territorial defeats” and “loss of leadership”, it remains a major global challenge.

Last February, then-IS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi was killed in a US operation in Syria, and several of the group’s commanders have been shot down or captured in recent months in several countries.

However, according to the report, in the first half of 2022, the threat posed by IS and its allies “continued to grow,” similar to what has happened in recent years.

According to Voronkov, IS’s “decentralized structure” has allowed it to continue to operate normally, organize attacks and receive funding.

Despite its military defeat in Syria and Iraq, the group is estimated to be mobilizing between six and 10,000 fighters in the two countries, who can move across the common border with relative ease.

The main concern of the speaker is the promotion of ISIS in various parts of Africa, especially in the west of the continent and in the Sahel region, as well as in countries such as Uganda, Mozambique and several coastal states of the Gulf of Guinea, which so far few have registered the presence of members of the “jihadist” organization .

Another major hotbed of tension is in Afghanistan, where the presence of an IS branch in the country has expanded to the east and northeast of the territory since the Taliban took power in August 2021, despite a decrease in the number of attacks.

Another issue of concern at the UN is the organization’s growing use of unmanned aerial systems (drones) to detect and attack targets with a high degree of accuracy.

According to the UN, IS uses shell companies to acquire this equipment and immediately adapt it for offensive use, in many cases assembling “drones” from spare parts so as not to arouse suspicion.