JIHADIST AND ETHNO-NATIONALIST TERRORISM AND VIOLENT EXTREMISM | SITUATION SI T UAT I O N The threat remains at a heightened level The terrorist threat in Europe and Switzerland comes primarily from the jihadist movement and its two main actors, ‘Islamic State’ and al-Qaeda. ‘Islamic State’ and the individuals and small groups controlled or inspired by it continue to be the dominant threat. The threat posed by al-Qaeda persists. The regional affiliates of both terrorist organisations pose a threat to Western and thus also Swiss interests primarily in their respective main areas of operation. however, it came under increasing military pressure and suffered numerous defeats in its core territory in Syria and Iraq. Having lost its two major centres, Mosul in summer 2017 and Raqqa in autumn 2017, it also lost the bulk of its remaining territories within the space of a few months. Since the end of 2017, its statelike structures, including its openly operating military units, have been annihilated. A large proportion of its leaders and fighters have been killed in battle. Thousands of local fighters have deserted. Some of these have surrendered. However, some of the leaders and fighters have gone underground in their lost territories or have retreated to neighbouring countries, from where they continue to operate in clandestine cells and networks. A few fighters have joined other jihadist groups in the Levant. In Syria and Iraq, a large proportion of the jihad travellers have been killed or been picked up by The caliphate loses its territory In 2014 and 2015, ‘Islamic State’ transformed itself from a local Sunni jihadist group established in Syria and Iraq under the ideological umbrella of core al-Qaeda into the dominant jihadist terrorist organisation and movement worldwide. During the course of 2017, TURKEY Jarablus Azaz Al Bab Aleppo Tall al Abyad Manbij Mosul es Hamah Tartus SYRIA Hawijah Deir az-Zor Palmyra As Sulaymaniyah Kirkuk Bayji Homs Qaryatayn IRAN Arbil r at Mediterr. Sea Tikrit Abu Kamal Al Qaim LEBANON Al Hadithah Samarra Baqubah Hit DAMASCUS IRAQ BAGHDAD es Dara Al Fallujah Ar Ramadi hrat Eup Ar Rutbah ISRAEL Tall Afar Tigris Ar Raqqah Sinjar ph Tabqah Dahuk Al Qamishli Al Hasakah Eu Idlib Latakia Kobane Karbala JORDAN Tig ris An Najaf ‘Islamic State’ February 2018 32 SI TUATIO N R E P O RT 2018 | F I S Territory Lost from February 2017 to February 2018 200 km Al Kut