ISIS sleeper cells re-emerging in Iraq

Mustafa Kamel

Iraq’s security gaps give the chance for ISIS cells and remnants to keep present.

The same cells and organization pits use these gaps to resume their operations, especially in Diyala and Kirkuk.

ISIS cells carried out some operations in these two provinces, using explosive devices.

In carrying out these operations, the same cells try to reassert their existence and send a message to their supporters about this existence.

Security vulnerabilities

ISIS has returned to threaten the security and stability of Iraq, capitalizing on serious security fragilities in the aforementioned two provinces.

Two attacks occurred in the two provinces. One of these attacks took place in Kirkuk on December 16, 2022. It happened on the outskirts of the province when an explosive device went off, leaving eight policemen dead, including an officer.

The same attack injured over 12 other people.

The second attack took place on April 10, when elements of the terrorist organization attacked a village in Diyala.

The attack left six civilians dead and nine others injured.

These attacks come amid successive warnings that the reasons that led to the emergence of ISIS inside Iraq still exist.

Some people also warn that these reasons can be exploited by the organization and its cells at any moment to return to the scene.

These reasons, these people say, include political grievances, societal rifts, and sectarianism.

These problems, the same people say, have taken root and increased as a result of failure to solve the crisis of the displaced and the detainees and the absence of solutions to the al-Hawl Camp which houses the wives and children of ISIS fighters.

Iraq also continues to suffer from an indefatigable economic crisis. Remedies to the crisis have so far been limited to security means.

Imaginary ascent

Terrorism is one of the most complex challenges facing successive governments in Iraq after 2003, despite the fact that Iraq ended fighting the fiercest war in its modern history by retaking the last cities overrun by the terrorist organization in 2014.

Months after Baghdad declared victory over ISIS, the organization’s cells regrouped and launched attacks, but with specific strategies and less severe methods.

Security and intelligence reports revealed the importance of supporting Iraq’s technical and logistical effort and modernizing its military mentality by adopting plans based on information and modern technologies to monitor and suppress the movement of terrorists in their strongholds.