The war in the Middle East is witnessing US-backed forces trying to retake the cities of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. These cities are the two biggest cities under control of the Islamic State and, obviously, they are on the back foot. Mosul is the last major stronghold in Iraq for ISIS and, its loss comes as a major setback for the terrorist group.
President Donald Trump wants to expedite the American-led coalition's campaign that, in the opinion of both US and Iraqi officials, have managed to uproot the militants in Iraq and Syria. The officials are now working out strategies for smaller battles once the city is recaptured so that the militants will be forced to go underground.
Reaction from ISIS
According to New Zealand Herald, an ISIS spokesman has launched tirades against the United States, its president, and people and has said that the country is drowning. These were portions of the first official remarks that ISIS has made after Donald Trump took over as president. They have gone on to add that Americans have now become easy prey wherever they may be.
During his campaign, Trump had expressed confidence to defeat the terrorist group and, the ISIS statement has come one day after Trump was shown as the topper in a “kill-list" that was the work of a hacker group with links to ISIS. The list includes a total of 8,786 Americans and, the broad message is to eliminate them at any cost.
Of course, this is not the first time that the group has issued such a list.
Donald Trump must decide
The head of the ISIS outfit in Afghanistan wants to make leverage of the victory of Donald Trump because, in his opinion, that would be an ideal bait to rope in youths from the West. The jihadists look upon Trump as a propaganda tool that will bring in thousands of new fighters and, will also act as an impetus to carry out terror attacks across the world.
They are banking on the hate factor to pay dividends and hope that Trump’s attitude towards Muslims will make the job of recruiting new blood for ISIS easier.
ISIS has made its intentions clear and, it will be the responsibility of the Trump administration to work out counter measures and ensure that the evil designs of the terrorist group are brought to naught. They know that their days are numbered and steps must be taken to go in for the kill.
