ISIS Threat Persists Even As Capital Slips from its Grasp

Smoke rises in Raqqa, Syria.

The end is near for the battle for Raqqa, the de facto capital of ISIS’s self-declared caliphate, but the terrorist group still has ways of raising funds and plenty of cash on hand — and still remains a threat near and far.

Although U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday announced they had liberated the city from ISIS control, some fighting remains.  Col. Ryan Dillon, the spokesman for the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, said that reports of complete victory are premature, but confirmed that “Raqqa is 90 percent cleared” of ISIS fighters and it is only a matter of time before the terrorist group is completely ousted from the city.

“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62

Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ Member.

Subscriber+

Categorized as:InternationalTagged with:

Related Articles

How Safe Would We Be Without Section 702?

SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW — A provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that has generated controversy around fears of the potential for abuse has proven to be crucial […] More

Search

Close