The Deadly Combination of Coronavirus and Terrorism
Groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda attempting to take advantage of pandemic to harm Western interests
It has hit soft targets around the world, attacking and killing at nightmarish rates.
Meanwhile, ISIS has called for more attacks in the West during the pandemic, telling followers this is a good chance to "regroup and plan new operations.”
“Even as the United States confronts the COVID-19 pandemic, [the Trump Administration] is taking steps to guard against the danger posed by ISIS, al-Qaeida, and other terrorist groups,” the State Department official explained. “We are encouraging our partners and allies in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and other multilateral counter-terrorism groups to maintain their vital
international cooperation to the greatest extent possible in the current environment.”
But some have highlighted the difficulties of operating in the prevailing conditions.“There is already pressure within the West to complete the pivot away from fighting the jihadis and COVID-19 certainly doesn't alleviate that," said the FDD's Joscelyn. "If anything, it contributes to it. ISIS even pointed to the fact that Western governments don't want to send troops into faraway lands affected by the virus.”
Nevertheless, the pathogen does not discriminate and thus terrorists are also susceptible to the contagion.
“Jihadist are being instructed to be prudent, cautious and take seriously the impact of coronavirus, looking to the model of the Prophet Muhammad,” said the INSS's Schweitzer."Muhammad was an early progenitor of restricting travel and quarantining in cases of infectious disease, teaching not to enter a land under plague. “Salafists aren't immune to problems of pandemics," Schweitzer emphasized, "and one shouldn't expect a [big rise] in terrorist activities except the ones that are happening anyway in Africa and the Middle East. The public is the main target of these types of attacks, and if they are not out in the streets, at malls and on airplanes, then there are few targets to strike.”
This is compared to 12 worldwide terrorist attacks in February, including four against Western targets. Four of the assaults were perpetrated by known jihadist groups.