It’s been almost seven years since ISIS lost the last bit of land it held in Syria, yet the two terrorist attacks that occurred on different continents last weekend demonstrate the threat the group continues to pose.
Last Saturday, an apparent ISIS fighter ambushed U.S. personnel in Palmyra, Syria, killing two U.S. Iowa National Guardsmen and an American civilian interpreter. One day later, two individuals who are believed to have been trained and radicalized by the Islamic State carried out an anti-semitic attack killing sixteen people and injuring more at a Hanukkah celebration in Australia.
The two attacks show that ISIS still poses a threat, both to people in Iraq and Syria, but also all over the world. The threat remains active, especially during the holiday season.
ISIS threat continues despite many attacks thwarted
German law enforcement and counterterrorism officials arrested five men last week who are accused of planning to drive a car into a Christmas market in Bavaria, Germany. Their ties to ISIS are unclear, but they were reportedly “Islamist-motivated.”
Similarly, Polish authorities arrested a teenage university student last month who is suspected of planning an attack on a Christmas market in the country, authorities announced this week. The individual, who allegedly only identified as Mateusz W., sought to connect with the Islamic State.
Last year, a man drove an SUV into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing six people and leaving more than 300 others injured.
“This holiday season, the National Counterterrorism Center is working vigilantly with interagency partners to counter any potential terrorist threats of violence, rapidly sharing intelligence with law enforcement at all levels to spotlight ongoing and new dangers and ensure Americans are kept safe from terrorist extremists,” National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent said last week on social media.
U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday, “ISIS has inspired at least 11 plots or attacks against targets in the United States over the past year.”
American law enforcement thwarted an ISIS-inspired attack that would have taken place on Halloween this year. The subjects, three Americans from Michigan, had multiple AR-15 rifles, tactical gear, and a detailed plan to carry out an attack on American soil, according to the charging documents.
On New Year’s last year, a lone man drove through a crowded street in New Orleans, killing 14 people. U.S. authorities found an ISIS flag in the perpetrator’s vehicle.
New ISIS tactics cause higher death tolls
ISIS looks very different from it did a decade ago, when the self-proclaimed Islamic State held vast amounts of territory in Iraq and Syria, often carrying out attacks and beheadings that they shared on social media proudly. At its peak, the group was estimated to have more than 40,000 foreign fighters from 120 countries. They ruled over millions of people.
Instead, the Islamic State uses social media and other messaging applications to communicate, spread propaganda, and recruit new members to carry out lone wolf attacks.
“The new terrorist tactic that we’re seeing more and more is moving away from very deliberate cellular attacks that we can infiltrate easily [while] they communicate into an inspirational methodology where you have key members putting out media putting out how-to guides to reach out and to touch individuals inside the United States,” Kent said during last week’s Worldwide Threats hearing in front of the House Homeland Security Committee.
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The attack last weekend in Australia has raised attention from observers due to conflicting reports about whether the two shooters, a father and son, received “military-style training” during a recent trip to the Philippines, which has been an area where the Islamic State has a branch.
“What we see with external operations versus inspired operations, the death tolls are much higher because these are militants, operatives that are trained professionally,” Lucas Webber, a senior threat intelligence analyst at Tech Against Terrorism, told the Washington Examiner.
Webber said it’s “obvious” to him, based on the video of the Australian attack, which included the killings of a 10-year-old girl named Matilda and an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, that the shooters had military training.
If accurate, the development would be significant as it would be the first ISIS external operation in 2025, Webber said, as opposed to attacks they’ve inspired but not directly orchestrated.
