Global fight against ISIS is a 'long-term game': UN official

ERBIL, Kurdistan - The global fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) remains a “long-term game” for which there are “no quick fixes”, the United Nation’s counter-terrorism chief warned on Wednesday, adding that between 6,000 and 10,000 fighters are still in Iraq and Syria. 

The global coalition on countering ISIS also issued a statement on Wednesday, reiterating its commitment to achieving the defeat of ISIS. The statement said that the coalition will “use all available tools in the pursuit of that goal and we will not relent until ISIS no longer constitutes a threat.”

Addressing a UN Security Council briefing, Vladimir Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism, called on member states to continue military counter-terrorism operations as well as other measures aimed at preventing the spread of terrorism, with all the tools at their disposal.  

Referring to Thursday’s US-led air raid which killed ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, marking the most significant recent attack on the terror group since ISIS was declared territorially defeated in 2019, Voronkov stressed the need to maintain the current momentum. He warned that ISIS possesses the capability to re-group and escalate its activities. 

Voronkov also recalled the attack on al-Sina’a prison, also known as Ghweran, in northeastern Syria on 20 January. More than two hundred ISIS fighters broke into the prison, while hundreds of the group’s members inside the detention facility rioted. For six days, ISIS militants within the prison and its surrounding areas clashed with the internationally-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) leading to tens of thousands of residents flee.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, fighting in and around the al-Sina’a prison resulted in the death of 181 people, including 124 ISIS militants, 50 Kurdish fighters and seven civilians.

The issue of repatriating foreign detainees held at the prisons largely controlled by the SDF was also touched upon during the session.

The US representative called on the repatriation of foreign fighters from the prison. The Russian Federation blamed the conditions in the Al-Hol and Roj camps, as well as the prisons, on the US, adding that the Syrian government is in a better position to address the security challenges in those areas. 

Weixiong Chen, Acting Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, expressed concern about the shift in ISIS operations to Africa and their exploitation of recent events in Afghanistan. The Russian representative also added that the US withdrawal from Afghanistan left modern weapons in the hands of ISIS, facilitating the increase in the group’s abilities. 

Many of those participating in the session voiced concern about the children caught up in the fight against terrorism, particularly those detained in Iraq and Syria over suspected links to ISIS.

A UN report published in May, found that the conditions facing children held in northeast Syria amounted to torture, and breached international law.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Sunday issued a statement urging the release of ISIS-linked children detained in the al-Sina'a prison in Hasaka, calling for an acceleration of rescue efforts and pleading with member states to repatriate their children.

The SDF on January 27 called on the international community to accelerate the repatriation efforts of their ISIS-affiliated nationals.