WASHINGTON – The Islamic State (IS) is running out of places to go following its defeat in Marawi in Mindanao.
Brett McGurk, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the global coalition to defeat the militant group, gave this assessment at the conclusion of the annual Chiefs of Defense Conference attended by more than 70 countries including the Philippines to discuss mutual security challenges and foster security cooperation.
The meeting in Fort Belvoir, a US Army base in Virginia, focused on countering violent extremist organizations around the globe.
McGurk said foreign fighter inflows into Syria and Iraq have nearly stopped and those still there are unable to get out.
“We believe we’ve cut their revenue down to the lowest level ever and their outside sources of finance are now entirely severed,” he said.
The receding footprint of IS in Syria and Iraq is evident in its own propaganda, he said.
“About a year ago they started to stop saying come to Syria. At the time they said go to Libya. Then they stopped saying go to Libya; they said go to the Philippines. Now they can’t go to the Philippines. So they’re running out of places to go.”
Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said with recruitment drying up, an IS strategy now is to send small bands and attempt to leverage local insurgencies.
“I would probably avoid characterizing it as a major shift of ISIS. I think that what ISIS is absolutely trying to do is leverage local insurgencies now to rebrand themselves. They are trying to maintain relevance,” he said, using Daesh’s other acronym.
“There’s been an effort for ISIS to gain traction, although the recent success by the Philippines has certainly set that effort back,” he added.