Another win for President Trump!
Tuesday was a landmark day in the war against the Islamic State, as both the ISIS capital of Raqqa in Syria and its Philippine stronghold of Marawi were liberated.
Analysts caution that ISIS has not been destroyed, but with these twin defeats, it has been broken down from a terror state back into a terrorist organization.
The value of ISIS’ former status as a terror state was enormous.
Islamic State recruiting pitches were filled with boasts about its prowess as a conqueror of territory, from easily routing the Iraqi military at Mosul to carving a bloody swath across Syria. The Islamic State declared a “caliphate,” or Islamic nation. Its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was the “caliph.” Other terrorist gangs swore vows of fealty to Baghdadi on that basis. His continued survival is a matter of debate, but if he no longer holds a caliphate, he can hardly claim to be a conquering caliph anymore.
As Al Aan reporter Jenan Moussa pointed out, the Islamic State dreamed of invading Rome at the height of its power.
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Somewhat overshadowed by the liberation of Raqqa was the eviction of Islamic State militants from the Philippine city of Marawi after a siege that dragged on much longer than Philippine officials originally predicted.
The city was overrun by jihadis in May when Philippine troops tried to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, leader of Abu Sayyaf, a terrorist gang that became part of the Islamic State’s coalition in the Philippines. Another ISIS lieutenant, Omar Maute, came to Hapilon’s rescue, and the battle escalated until terrorist forces occupied the city of Marawi.
On Monday, Filipino soldiers posted photos (EPA via Daily Mail) of themselves posing with the corpses of Hapilon and Maute, who were both killed during the final offensive to retake Marawi:
As in Raqqa, victorious troops paraded through the streets to celebrate Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of victory over ISIS forces:
Duterte described the slain Hapilon as leader of the ISIS project to establish a new “caliphate” in Southeast Asia to replace the one they lost in Iraq and Syria. “I promise you this will never happen again,” he told his troops.
Officials of the Philippine military hastened to add that pockets of resistance still remain, characterizing the fight against them as a “mopping operation.” A few dozen militants are still holed up in the city, holding an estimated 20 hostages.
Duterte’s declaration of victory seems more premature than the one issued by SDF forces in Raqqa – even some of his own military officers described his address to the troops as “symbolic” – but it looks like the Islamic State’s momentum in the Philippines has been blunted, and its plan to build a new caliphate around Marawi thwarted.
The defeat of ISIS in both cities has not eliminated the threat of the Islamic State or the danger that something like it will take advantage of post-war chaos. Raqqa, Marawi, and other cities recaptured from these militants have been bombed into rubble. Civilian casualties were high, a fact that will be ruthlessly exploited by Islamist propagandists.
