US focussed on regional, global defeat of Daesh, says Washington envoy

Children gesture as US troops patrol in their military vehicles on the roads of the Syrian town of Al-Jawadiyah and meet the inhabitants, in the northeastern Hasakah province, near the border with Turkey, on Dec. 17, 2020. (AFP)

• John Godfrey says the number of Daesh branches and networks outside Iraq and Syria that are orchestrating attacks is increasing
• He says threats from Iran-aligned militia groups have complicated the security picture in Iraq

LONDON: Daesh remains active in Iraq and Syria, where it is focussed on regaining territorial control, John Godfrey, acting US envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh and acting coordinator for counterterrorism, said on Thursday.
Speaking during a press briefing attended by Arab News, Godfrey said the number of Daesh branches and networks outside Iraq and Syria that are orchestrating attacks is increasing.
Godfrey concluded a trip to the Iraqi Kurdistan region and northeast Syria last week. He then joined US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh ministerial meeting in the Italian capital, Rome, on Monday.
“It was very important to see the situation on the ground ahead of the ministerial meeting in Rome, which is the first one that we had held in a couple of years thanks to the challenges of COVID-19,” he said. 
“While the anti-ISIS coalition has achieved extraordinary success in the fight against ISIS, including ending ISIS as a fraudulent territorial caliphate, it is clear that we still have more work to do,” he added, referring to an alternative acronym for Daesh.
He said that Daesh remains active in northern Iraq, exploiting the spaces between areas controlled by federal Iraqi security forces and those controlled by Kurdistan Regional Government security forces. 
“Those seams afford some limited space in which ISIS is able to operate. While the attacks in Iraq have so far been less lethal this year than last year, the terrible twin suicide bombings in Baghdad in January were a stark reminder that Daesh continues to aspire to conduct large scale attacks in Iraq.”
Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack that hit a busy commercial market, killing at least 32 people and wounding at least 110 others on Jan. 22. 
Godfrey said that threats from Iran-aligned militia groups have complicated the security picture in Iraq, endangering the lives of Iraqi citizens and threatening coalition forces and facilities.
He said he visited Al-Hol camp, the largest camp for displaced persons in Syria, as well as a detention center for Daesh fighters in Al-Hasaka. Godfrey told reporters that the vast majority of the displaced population were children, adding that the detainees in northeast Syria are placing a major strain on local resources and capabilities. The acting envoy said that some of the residents of the displaced persons camps constitute a security threat in the region and beyond. 
“The US continues to urge countries of origin to repatriate, rehabilitate, reintegrate and to prosecute as appropriate foreign terrorist fighters and associated family members. We also continue to urge countries to contribute to efforts to responsibly house those individuals in northeast Syria,” he told reporters.
He also said that poverty, inequality and perceived injustice continue to drive many young people to join terrorist groups, including Daesh, in both Iraq and Syria.
“The combination of a severe drought and a weak harvest that will be about half of what is normal have created a significant economic downturn that impacts the revenues of local partners, and also contributes to unemployment. And I heard that Daesh is actively seeking to exploit that economic situation to try to reconstitute its presence in areas hardest hit by the economic downturn.”
He praised the success of the Rome meeting, announcing that the coalition anticipates meeting its stabilization pledge drive target for 2021, which is $670 million. 
To date, they have garnered pledges of more than $500 million. 
He added that it was the most well-attended ministerial meeting in the coalition’s history in terms of the number of participating foreign ministers, which “was a clear statement about the seriousness with which the international community views the ISIS threat and the continuing commitment to defeat ISIS.”
Godfrey added that the meeting also discussed expanding the coalition’s focus on Daesh in Africa, where the threat has significantly increased. 
On the US airstrikes targeting operational and weapons storage facilities belonging to Iran-backed militias at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, Godfrey said Washington stood by those strikes as they were part of the coalition’s mandate to defeat Daesh, and because coalition forces are present at the request of the Iraqi government, they bear some responsibility in ensuring their security.
“While we have certainly seen an increase in activity by the branches and networks around the world, ISIS remains very keenly focused as an organization on Iraq and Syria, precisely because that was where the so-called physical caliphate was located, and continues to be very focused on trying to regain control of physical territory in that space.”
However, he added that the number of Daesh branches and networks outside of Iraq and Syria that are active and engaged in conducting attacks has increased, and that is something the coalition is focused on. He reaffirmed that the anti-Daesh coalition has a stated goal of achieving the enduring global defeat of the terror group. 
“The coalition continues to support partner forces with high-level advising, intelligence sharing, air support and equipment,” he added.