Joint naval patrol

On June 5, 2017, top US and Australian officials warned battle-hardened and angry foreign fighters may return to Southeast Asia from the Middle East and take up arms in their own countries. The warning follows the terror attacks in London, which were claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, and amid a growing jihadist threat in the Philippines. IS fighters will “come back with battlefield skills, they’ll come back with hardened ideology, they’ll come back angry, frustrated, and we need to be very aware of that,” Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne said. She was speaking at the start of an Australia-US ministerial summit also attended by Pentagon chief Jim Mattis, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his Australian counterpart Julie Bishop.

On the other hand in the Philippines, hundreds of civilians are trapped by fighting between the military and Islamist militants who have overrun the city of Marawi on the restive southern region of Mindanao.

At this point, we can connect the dots why Daesh (ISIS) sees the Philippines as its projected hub. In fact,  US President Donald Trump has instructed the Pentagon to “annihilate” IS in a bid to prevent escaped foreign fighters from returning home as they lose ground in Iraq and Syria. Yes, they are losing ground in Iraq and Syria. And the Philippines including other Southeast Asian nations are becoming its target audience as a caliphate.

The global terrorist threat is ever evolving, we’ve seen brutal attacks in a number of European cities, we’ve thwarted attacks here in Australia, and so we want to discuss with you the links back into the Middle East mirroring to what is happening in the Philippines.

Phl, Indonesia and Malaysia have already formed a joint patrol in Southern Mindanao especially the Sulu Sea. This is a good move by the AFP along with military counterparts to encircle then kill as many jihadists in place as possible rather than letting them exit a city. – Maria Jumela E. Decena, Silang, Cavite