In the aftermath of its defeat in the Middle East region, terrorist ISIS group might take the Philippines as its new stronghold and platform to launch its terrorist attacks against innocent people. This conclusion is mainly based upon analyzing a news report published by the English Sunday Express in which it stated that a number of ISIS’s militants, after being forced to flee from Iraq and Syria, moved towards the Philippines. Meanwhile, Philippine military sources announced that the terror group had placed around 200 fighters in Mindanao, with the intent of establishing its claimed new caliphate in (last) February.
Previously in 2018, Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism, out of its due task to monitor all the activities of the terrorist groups and organizations all over the world, sounded the alarm and warned that the Philippines might be the ideal destination for ISIS to head to, especially after it was remarkably noted that a large number of ISIS’s followers in Malaysia and Indonesia had left their countries to settle in Mindanao island.
Two days ago, a terrorist attack targeted a Catholic church in Jolo island, where Muslim militants are active, according to the New York Times. According to the same newspaper, “Jolo Island has long been troubled by the presence of Abu Sayyaf militants, who are blacklisted by the United States and the Philippines as a terrorist organization because of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings.”
If we carefully examine this previous piece of information in light of the point that terrorist Abu Sayyafswore oath to ISIS, we will reach the conclusion that ISIS is trying to settle in the Philippines as its new stronghold.
In November 28, 2017, the Rand Corporation also sounded the bell on that point, warning that the situation is very critical in the Philippines these days:
The Philippines is likely to remain a ripe target due to its large Muslim population, the presence of pre-existing radical Islamist violent and non-violent fringe movements, the permissiveness of its formal and informal financial systems, weak local institutions, and a leader in Duterte who is heading an administration that has overseen a crisis in Marawi that has resulted in dozens of civilians killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.
In light of all of these facts, Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism warns that this terrorist group might re-organize itself in this part of the world, thus starts to threaten the innocent and spreads corruption in the earth, calling thereby on the international forces to gather and unite their powers to eliminatethis considerable dangerthreatening the entire world.