A major increase in violence by the Islamic State (IS) group saw more than 1,000 attacks and nearly 3,000 deaths worldwide in the past three months, analysis firm IHS Jane’s said yesterday.
The figures show a 42 percent jump in daily attacks by the militant group, averaging 11.8 per day from July to last month, up from 8.3 per day between April and June. The figures suggest that air strikes by the US-led coalition have had only a limited impact on the group.
The London-based analysis firm recorded 1,086 IS attacks, causing a total of 2,978 civilian and government fatalities — a huge 65.3 percent increase in the average daily killings by the group compared with the previous three months, and an 81 percent jump from the previous year.
Photo: EPA
IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre uses open sources to compile their database, and said IS likely carried out far more attacks that could not be verified.
“While the airstrikes and wider coalition efforts have put the group under significant pressure, it is seemingly still some way from being sufficiently weakened to allow the recapture of territory, let alone be defeated,” said Matthew Henman, the center’s manager.
Russia’s increased involvement in Syria in recent weeks is likely to further strengthen IS, since there is a “clear indication” that Moscow is more interested in defending the Syrian regime than defeating IS, he said.
“Already over the past week the Islamic State has made gains in areas of Aleppo governorate due to the targeting of rival opposition groups and this is likely to continue,” Henman said. “Civilian deaths in Russian airstrikes also give the Islamic State a powerful propaganda tool.”
The figures reflect the inclusion of Nigeria’s brutal Boko Haram militant group, which declared allegiance to IS in March.
Renamed Wilayat Gharb Afriqiyah, the group’s attacks were the deadliest of any IS affiliate.
The new figures also reflect changes in the type of combat over the summer in Iraq and Syria, which still account for the vast majority of IS activity.
After capturing some key areas — including Ramadi, Iraq, and Palmyra, Syria — the group focused on defending them from government forces and rival insurgent groups.
This meant an increase in “frequent, low-level, close-quarters engagements,” rather than the previous focus on mass-casualty attacks used to seize territory.
In related news, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov yesterday said that Iran, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates should be part of talks to solve the crisis in Syria, Russian news agencies reported.
Russia does not see the point in providing support for Syria without Iran’s participation, he said.
However, German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Berlin that Russia’s involvement in Syria has made finding a solution to the Syrian conflict more complex.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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