ISIS revival in Iraq must be prevented, says UN envoy
The UN envoy for Iraq called on Tuesday for “wide-based international support” to prevent ISIS militants from regaining a foothold in the country.
The UN envoy for Iraq called on Tuesday for “wide-based international support” to prevent ISIS militants from regaining a foothold in the country.
Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert also told the Security Council that if the issue of thousands of returning ISIS militants and their families from Syria to Iraq is not managed properly “we risk creating a new breeding ground for the next generation of terrorists.”
She stressed that this “is not just an Iraqi problem” because there are non-Iraqi fighters as well, and she implicitly criticized some unnamed countries that are maintaining a “strategic distance” from their own nationals.
ISIS, which seized Iraqi cities and declared a proto-state in a large swathe of territory it took control of in Syria and Iraq in 2014, was formally declared defeated in Iraq in 2017 following a three-year bloody battle that left tens of thousands dead and Iraqi cities in ruins.
