World focus: ISIS is down but it is not out yet

Above: A screen grab of a video released by ISIS on Jan 20, 2015, showing Japanese hostages Kenji Goto (left) and Haruna Yukawa (right) with an ISIS militant. ISIS threatened to kill the two Japanese men unless Tokyo paid a US$200 million (S$270 mill
A man with his daughter walking towards Iraqi special forces soldiers during a battle in Iraq in 2017.PHOTO: REUTERS
Above: A screen grab of a video released by ISIS on Jan 20, 2015, showing Japanese hostages Kenji Goto (left) and Haruna Yukawa (right) with an ISIS militant. ISIS threatened to kill the two Japanese men unless Tokyo paid a US$200 million (S$270 mill
A screen grab of a video published by ISIS in 2015 of smoke billowing from the Baal Shamin temple in Syria that the group reportedly destroyed. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Above: A screen grab of a video released by ISIS on Jan 20, 2015, showing Japanese hostages Kenji Goto (left) and Haruna Yukawa (right) with an ISIS militant. ISIS threatened to kill the two Japanese men unless Tokyo paid a US$200 million (S$270 mill
A member loyal to ISIS waving the terror group’s flag in Raqqa, Syria, in June 2014, when the caliphate was declared.PHOTO: REUTERS
Above: A screen grab of a video released by ISIS on Jan 20, 2015, showing Japanese hostages Kenji Goto (left) and Haruna Yukawa (right) with an ISIS militant. ISIS threatened to kill the two Japanese men unless Tokyo paid a US$200 million (S$270 mill
A screen grab of a video released by ISIS on Jan 20, 2015, showing Japanese hostages Kenji Goto (left) and Haruna Yukawa (right) with an ISIS militant. ISIS threatened to kill the two Japanese men unless Tokyo paid a US$200 million (S$270 million) ransom to compensate for pledging aid to support the campaign against ISIS. The two men were reportedly beheaded later that month. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

The 'caliphate' is no more as the proto-state declared by ISIS has been reduced to a mere scrap of land in the Syrian town of Baghuz. But while the group is down, it is not yet out for the count. Arvind Jayaram tracks its rise and fall, and the threat it still poses.

Published: 
Feb 26, 2019, 5:00 am SGT
arvindj@sph.com.sg

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria's (ISIS) self-proclaimed "caliphate" in the Middle East is on the verge of collapse, but the threat posed by the terror group, known for its depravity and cruelty, still persists.

The group began as a faction that splintered from Al-Qaeda in the chaos after the United States invasion of Iraq and was originally known as the Islamic State in Iraq. But ISIS rapidly surpassed its predecessor to emerge as the world's deadliest terror threat, with loyal support from extremists around the world.

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STRAITS TIMES GRAPHICS
ISIS' shrinking territory
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 26, 2019, with the headline 'ISIS is down but it is not out yet'. Print Edition | Subscribe
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