JI H AD I S T AN D E T H N O - N AT I ON A L I S T T E RRORI S M The ‘Islamic State’ in Syria and Iraq continues to pose a threat Since the end of 2015, the ‘Islamic State’ has been a prime focus of the FIS’s situation radar. Despite having regressed to being a traditional terrorist organisation operating underground, at the end of 2018 the ‘Islamic State’ in Syria was still holding individual settlements in the middle Euphrates valley, not far from the Iraqi border. The last of its territories were lost in the first few months of 2019. Many of the remaining foreign fighters and jihadist travellers are located in this area. There are still ‘Islamic State’ fighters and supporters active on Syrian and Iraqi territory. Despite numerous losses and fighters being captured or fleeing, numbers have stabilised since the end of 2017 due to local recruitment. Syrians and especially Iraqis are increasingly taking up leadership positions again. The ‘Islamic State’ operates in clandestine decentralised cells in towns and villages, but mobile groups also hide out in desert areas, which are hard to control. Over the last few years, large numbers of leaders and fighters have gone underground in Syria and Iraq or for example in Turkey. Terrorist attacks are still being 48 S I T UAT I O N R E PORT 2 0 1 9 | F I S