U.N. Undersecretary-General for Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov said on Thursday that the Islamic State (ISIS) remains a serious threat, with a “particularly worrying” show of growing strength in Africa’s conflict zones.
Voronkov said ISIS, which he preferred to call by the Arabic name Daesh, is using “new and emerging technologies” such as surveillance drones and online financial instruments to remain a potent threat, even after its defeat in Iraq and Syria five years ago and the death of its founder, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a raid ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2019.
Voronkov and the head of the U.N. Security Council’s counterterrorism directorate, Weixiong Chen, made paradoxical points that letting ISIS fighters return to their home countries is spreading the Islamic State’s toxic Islamist ideology and creating terrorist threats everywhere those battlefield-seasoned operatives settle down – but also, keeping ISIS fighters locked up in Iraqi…
