More nuggets from latest @DoD_IG report on #ISIS
@CJTFOIR says ISIS has been relaying mostly on small arms, IEDs & mortars for attacks in #Iraq #Syria but that attacks in Diyala, Salah ad Din were “more audacious" & showed "extensive pre-operational planning & preparation"
US-backed forces warned of a better prepared, more brazen #ISIS earlier this year, one source telling @VOANews that the terror groups fighters "are spread like cancer"
voanews.com/middle-east/da…
Like, the US-backed forces, US counterterrorism officials assessed #ISIS had "made incremental, localized improvements to their operating capacity in primarily eastern #Syria..."
voanews.com/middle-east/re…
But per the @DoD_IG, @DefenseIntel says #ISIS is only capable of operating in small cells and "does not have the capability it once had to “target Sunni tribes writ-large"
#ISIS core also “most likely” unable to direct terror attacks outside #Iraq #Syria, @DefenseIntel tells @DoD_IG
Ongoing concerns about #Turkey & #ISIS
@US_EUCOM tells @DoD_IG Turkey continues to be a “major facilitation hub” for ISIS even as Turkish forces bolstered security along the country's border w/#Syria #Iraq
#Turkey's action "impacted #ISIS’s ability to smuggle fighters, funds and supplies" but the challenge of securing the borders "likely ensures" ISIS will continue to move fighters, followers, families back & forth, per @US_EUCOM
.@CJTFOIR blames increase of #ISIS attacks during Ramadan on an "“opportunistic exploitation of a confluence of factors," including #COVID19, arguing there was no notable increase in [ISIS] capability" per latest @DoD_IG report
.@DefenseIntel estimates #ISIS still has $50 million to $300 million in reserves... In contrast, latest @UN report-based on member state intelligence-estimates ISIS's cash reserves are dwindling, though still substantial
Note on #ISIS attacks in #Diyala - @DefenseIntel assesses "ISIS was able to maintain a high rate of attacks in Diyala province this quarter due to US force consolidation, security forces’ preoccupation w/managing w/COVID19, and other security-related crises" per @DoD_IG
Per @DoD_IG, #Iran-linked #PMF "have outsized influence relative to the ISF [#Iraq|i Security Forces]" in #Diyala, where #ISIS has carried out a high proportion of its attacks
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