MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : THE WORLD OF PANDEMIA – UN: ISIS may pose a major and long-term global threat

 

Hiwa Shilani  February 13 2021   12:31  – ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) warned the UN Security Council in New York that the threat to world peace posed by Islamic State is escalating again despite the fall of the group’s so-called “caliphate” in both Iraq and Syria.

UNOCT Under-Secretary Vladimir Voronkov said during the meeting, “Despite the competing priorities imposed by the pandemic, it is important for United Nations members to remain focused and united in the face of terrorism.”

He explained in his virtual statement that while the Islamic State has not thought to have developed a targeted strategy to exploit the pandemic, its efforts to regroup and revive its activities have recently gained further momentum. He indicated that the terrorist organization has retained the ability to move and operate, including infiltration across fragile borders.

Voronkov warned that about 10,000 fighters, the majority of them in Iraq, are seeking to ignite a prolonged insurgency which would constitute “a major and long-term global threat.”

Islamic State militants launched a series of attacks on Friday night that killed five security force members in the disputed province of Kirkuk.

The UN official continued, explaining, “They are organized into small cells hiding in the desert and remote areas, moving across the borders between the two countries, and carrying out attacks.”

Voronkov also drew attention to the difficult conditions of women associated with the Islamic State and their children, most of which are held in the sprawling al-Hol displacement camp in Syria. Among them, according to the UN, are roughly 8,000 children from 60 countries other than Iraq, noting that 90 percent of them are under 12 years old.

Editing by John J. Catherine