Thread by @DefenseNigeria

ISWAP/Boko Haram are at their lowest ebb ever. There are isolated attacks here and there, but behind these attacks there is a different story. These terrorist groups are transforming themselves into criminal enterprises because they are failing at what they really want to be,

a true Islamic state with territory to administer. By every measure (except headlines), the group have lost ground, not only in physical territory, but also in their ability to recruit fighters.

But terrorists are still doing what they've always done very well, that is..

..control the news or make headlines with abductions for money. At least appear to control events. At this point it almost doesn't matter. The Nigerian military is growing exponentially faster as they decline. However there will never be a shortage of soft defenceless targets.

There’s a reason terror is called the "weapon of the weak". It remains the last front in the larger war that also takes in battlefield propaganda, a war they are also begining to lose.