WASHINGTON: Daesh remains a global threat despite losing the once vast territory it held in Syria and Iraq, US officials said in warning about persistent violence from underground cells and an expansion of militants into new areas.
Ambassador James Jeffrey, the State Department envoy to the international coalition fighting Daesh, told reporters that thousands of the extremist organization’s members are scattered around Syria and Iraq, where officials see a “persistent, resilient, rural terrorist level of violence” in that country.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) ousted Daesh militants from the last piece of their self-declared caliphate earlier this year. But “the Daesh brand lives on around the world,” State Department counterterrorism coordinator Nathan Sales said as he joined Jeffrey to provide an update on the fight against the organization
“Daesh branches and networks now span the African continent from east to west and north to south,” Sales said. “They’ve increased the lethality of their attacks, they’ve expanded into new areas, and they’ve repeatedly targeted US interests.”
“We have 2,500 Daesh fighters that we want Europe to take ... We have thousands of Daesh fighters that we want Europe to take and let’s see if they take them. And if they don’t take them, we’ll probably have to release them to Europe.”
Donald Trump, US President
“Across the coalition, we need to prosecute Daesh leaders, fighters, financiers, and facilitators for the crimes they’ve committed,” Sales said.
US President Donald Trump echoed that message outside the White House on Thursday, saying, “We have 2,500 Daesh fighters that we want Europe to take ... We have thousands of Daesh fighters that we want Europe to take and let’s see if they take them. And if they don’t take them, we’ll probably have to release them to Europe.”
