UN and British Officials Warn of Continued Threats Posed by the Islamic State

According to an advanced copy of a UN report to be issued by Secretary General António Guterres, the Islamic State will continue to be a threat to the international community despite its military defeats in Iraq and Syria. The report observes the group “has substantially evolved into a covert network” and “is in a phase of transition, adaptation, and consolidation.” And in spite of multiple reports of his death, the report suggests that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is alive, noting that he remains in control of the group it estimates numbers between 14,000 to 18,000 militants in Iraq and Syria. And at a press briefing in London on Tuesday, British Security Minister Ben Wallace referred to the Islamic State as an “enduring threat” that has not been eliminated. This commentary corroborates recent observations made by U.S. officials on threats that the Islamic State continues to pose. As reported in the January 29 SRU, in testimony to the Senate Intelligence Community that same day Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats stated, “[The Islamic State] will continue to be a threat to the United States, and we’re going to have to continue to keep our eyes on that…as the realization that this terrorism threat is going to continue for some time.” Read the articles at the Anadolu Agency and Fox News.