The United States is continuing its fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) Afghanistan branch by recently deploying its most-powerful, non-nuclear bomb on a network of underground tunnels which killed 36 members of the extremist group, according to the House Homeland Security’s Terror Threat Snapshot for the month of May.
Each month the committee, chaired by U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), releases a snapshot report detailing the growing threat America and its allies are facing from various extremist groups throughout the world.
“President Trump’s recent decisive action against ISIS in Syria shows that the United States will no longer turn a blind eye to terrorism or atrocities against innocent civilians,” McCaul said. “But as we near the alarming 200-mark for ISIS-linked plots against the West, there is a noticeable shift in the group’s directives. With the so-called ISIS ‘caliphate’ in the Middle East deteriorating, jihadists are increasingly told to stay where they are and carry out attacks at home.”
Key events detailed in the report included two deadly Palm Sunday attacks against Christian groups made by ISIS’ Sinai branch, which marked the deadliest single day of violence against Christians in the Middle East in decades; a successful attack and another foiled plot perpetrated by ISIS in France just days before the country’s national elections; and the apprehension of an ISIS sympathizer in Chicago as he attempted to travel to Turkey to join the extremist group.
The report also gave more information on last month’s bombing against a Syrian military airfield, which was believed to have been the takeoff point for a reported chemical weapons attack in southern Idlib, Syria.
“America is showing the world that we will no longer stand idly by while freedom is endangered, and we will continue to take the fight to those who wish us harm—at home and abroad,” McCaul said.