UN: ISIS is funding attacks, al-Qaida is resilient
UNITED NATIONS -- The Islamic State extremist group is still capable of sending funds to supporters and motivating attacks in Europe and elsewhere despite military pressure and falling revenue -- and al-Qaida remains resilient especially in West Africa, East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, U.N. experts said in a report circulated Thursday.
The experts monitoring sanctions against the extremist groups said competition between the Islamic State and al-Qaida continues, but "shifting alliances" among fighters "and cooperation on the tactical level in several regions also allow them to move between various groups."
The report said the extremist threat continues to rise in Southeast Asia, where IS wants to establish a foothold. It said recent events in the southern Philippines, where the city of Marawi has been under siege by IS-linked militants for more than two months, is evidence of this.
The experts said in the report to the U.N. Security Council that "the core" of the Islamic State extremist group is adapting to military pressure in Iraq and Syria by delegating decision-making responsibility to local commanders and switching to encrypted communications.
