U.S., Australia Face New Threats as ISIS Fighters Return Home in the Face of Islamic Caliphate's Defeat
After being targeted by 2,300 airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State (ISIS) is weakening and is headed for defeat in the Middle East. But the caliphate's collapse brings with it a whole new range of problems — the biggest of which is the increased rate of returning foreign fighters.
This was the bleak scenario painted by defense officials at the start of a U.S.–Australian ministerial summit Monday in Sydney. As ISIS loses ground in Iraq and Syria, the officials warned that extremist fighters are likely to return home to Australia and the U.S.
Analysts are afraid governments in these countries will inevitably have a tougher time containing the threats posed by violent and homicidal fighters who are driven and more easily manipulated to attack home. The warning followed amid a growing extremist threat in the Philippines.
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ISIS fighters will "come back with battlefield skills, they'll come back with hardened ideology, they'll come back angry, frustrated and we need to be very aware of that," Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne told participants that included Pentagon chief Jim Mattis and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Payne mentioned that their authorities have prevented 12 terror attacks on Australian soil since 2014 and more than 60 terrorists have been charged. "The global terrorist threat is ever evolving, we've seen brutal attacks in a number of European cities, we've thwarted attacks here in Australia, and so we want to discuss with you the links back into the Middle East," she said.
U.S. President Donald Trump ordered Pentagon to "annihilate" ISIS to prevent foreign fighters from returning home as they reel from their defeat in the Middle East. This means U.S. troops will have to encircle ISIS strongholds and confine their killings in those places to prevent them from escaping and bringing their military expertise back to the home countries.
