Why the Pentagon Is Warning That ISIS Attacks Could Double This Year

Attacks claimed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria this year are on the rise and on track to double last year’s count, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, indicating a resurgence of the terrorist group a decade after it wrought destruction and death across the region.

The group, also known as ISIS, took responsibility for 153 attacks in Iraq and Syria in the first half of this year, according to a report by the military’s Central Command, despite continued operations targeting the organization’s operatives by a U.S.-led coalition and partner forces in both countries. In all of last year, ISIS claimed 121 attacks in Iraq and Syria, a defense official said.

The group, a Sunni Muslim organization that traces its roots to Al Qaeda, exploited the power vacuum that emerged after Syria’s civil war broke out to conquer large areas. Notorious for kidnappings, sexual enslavement and public executions, ISIS took its largest prize when it seized Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, before being beaten back in 2014.

Though the last fragment of ISIS’s self-declared caliphate in the Middle Eastern region was liberated with U.S. military support five years ago, the group has morphed into a decentralized collection of cells and affiliates around the world. The U.S. military has since maintained a presence in Syria and Iraq.

ISIS in Iraq and Syria: Attacks on the Rise

The U.S.-led coalition has conducted nearly 200 missions against ISIS since January, the military said, coordinating with Kurdish-led forces in Syria and the military in Iraq. In all, the report said, U.S.-led forces have killed 44 ISIS operatives and detained 166 others.