Is international terrorism still threatening the world?

After the brutal attack on the Crocus Town Hall in the suburbs of Moscow some time ago, the world once again remembered Daesh (ISIS) terrorist organization. At the time, the name Daesh-Khorasan has emerged as one of the branches of this terrorist organization that the world remembers too well its atrocities.

Although news of ISIS crimes in Syria and Iraq has diminished since the collapse of its self-proclaimed caliphate and its defeat by the international anti-terrorism Coalition, the threat of terror has not disappeared from our world. The danger represented by terrorist organizations remains, and the Moscow attack is a new warning that brings this threat to the forefront, especially as many people expect that the crises facing the world will engender new cohorts of extremists even more vicious than Al-Qaeda and Daesh.

In this context, reference is made to the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the expected consequences for terrorist recruitment and ideological attraction emanating from organizations that have shifted their main activities from Syria and Iraq. Hence, Daesh-Khorasan operates in Afghanistan and is a group that wants to establish a new caliphate state, similar to what Al-Baghdadi attempted to establish in Iraq and Syria. One of their most famous acts was the bombing of Kabul airport on August 26, 2021.

The most important conclusion to draw from these organizations is that they are many facetiae of the same idea, differing in their brutality, bloodshed, specific goals and tactics, but united in their hostility towards humanity.

Nowadays, terrorism is not limited to Daesh-Khorasan. Terrorist groups affiliated with Al Qaeda and Daesh are spreading across West Africa and the Sahara Desert. There is also the Al Shabaab movement in Somalia, and many international warnings indicate that Sudan is becoming a haven for terrorism, due to the current conflict in the country, as it is located between the Horn of Africa and the coastal region where terrorist organizations are located.

Terrorist activities continue in Afghanistan, where Daesh-Khorasan and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan movement operate. The latter recently participated in bombings between the Pakistani army and the Taliban movement, which is accused by Islamabad of harboring hostile terrorist elements.

Most dangerous is the security chaos caused by the actions of the Sudanese army which uses militias under the name "Popular Resistance" or shadow battalions. Most of them are military formations under the command of the so-called Muslim Brotherhood of Sudan, which is trying to regain power by hiding behind the army. These are not mere speculations, but statements issued by Muslim Brotherhood leaders, who confirmed that they were not willing to negotiate solutions and would return to power "whether anyone wants it or not ". The army appears to be driven by a desire for personal vengeance and retribution, far removed from the interests of the millions of displaced refugees.

One of the reasons for the increase in terrorist activities in various parts of the world, including West Africa, is certainly the decline of interest in the fight against this plague and the intensification of international conflicts which have divided the big powers. Competition between great powers has largely contributed to the fact that the fight against terrorism has not been the center of attention and that armed groups have had the opportunity to reorganize.

Overall, the absence or decline of international cooperation, particularly in the fight against terrorism, serves the interests of terrorist organizations. This decline comes at a time when conditions favorable to the risk of radicalism, recruitment and ideological mobilization in conflicts are increasing in several regions and countries around the world.