ISIS possibly making a comeback in Iraq

Mustafa Kamel                               

Four years ago, Iraq announced the defeat of the terrorist ISIS organization.

However, the years that followed witnessed more bloody attacks by the terrorist organization.

These attacks left hundreds of people dead and thousands of others injured.

This is giving rise to fears from an ISIS reawakening.

ISIS has also controlled a village in the eastern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, for the first time since 2017, reinforcing fears from its possible return to the Iraqi scene.

This comes as the international coalition against ISIS wraps up its operations in Iraq, according to the Iraqi government.

The coalition has also withdrawn its troops from Iraq, the government said.

Serious threat

ISIS continues to pose a serious threat to the Iraqi people.

Elements affiliated to the terrorist group carry out attacks in different parts of Iraq

These attacks include ones on Iraqi army checkpoints, law-enforcement officials and pro-government militias.

The group also stages attacks on civilians. It kidnaps ordinary people and attacks infrastructure and other facilities.

The fact is that ISIS maintains a large clandestine presence in Iraq and Syria.

It poses a constant threat to both countries, especially in the area on their shared border.

ISIS is now in control of more Iraqi and Syrian territories, according to a report by the United Nations.

It says the organization continues to possess over 10,000 active fighters in the two neighboring countries.

ISIS cells launched hundreds of attacks in the center and northern part of Iraq.

It reached the heart of Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on numerous occasions.

In staging attacks, the organization uses multiple tricks to get away with its crimes, including through a guerrilla warfare-like modus operandi.

In the past two months, ISIS focused its operations on three main areas in the northeastern belt of Baghdad.

It also focused on areas in the Kirkuk and Nineveh provinces, taking advantage of the security vacuum there, and raising sectarian and nationalist sensitivities in the region.