Potential attack on Iraq by 11,000 ISIS fighters training in Syria, Iranian official

Shafaq News/ 11,000 ISIS fighters who are being trained in Syria might attack Mosul, Iraq in the coming months, an Iranian official warned, on Tuesday.

Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of the Supreme Council for Coordination of the Three Authorities and Head of the Economic Committee of the Expediency Discernment Council in Iran stated in a speech that these members and their families have been trained over the past four years in an American camp in northern Syria.

In 2014, ISIS seized control of extensive areas in Iraq and Syria, with its leader at the time, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, proclaiming an Islamic caliphate that spanned territories inhabited by millions of people.

At its peak, ISIS controlled approximately a third of Syria and 40% of Iraq. However, by December 2017, it had lost 95 percent of its territory, including major cities like Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria.

Despite its territorial defeat in 2017, ISIS maintains a significant presence in Iraq through sleeper cells that engage in guerrilla warfare, assassinations, kidnappings, and extortion to destabilize the region. They blend into local populations, making them challenging to detect.