For Islamic state, all sides are targets
The United States and its liberal democratic allies may be facing off with authoritarian powers Russia, Iran and China as wars in Ukraine and Gaza inflame global rivalries. But to Islamic State, they’re all enemies of the Muslim faith that should be annihilated.
Friday’s assault on a concert hall outside Moscow that killed at least 133 people, the worst terrorist attack in Russia in decades, drove home that point. Two months ago, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the deadliest strike in Iran in decades, a bombing in the city of Kerman that killed more than 80 people.
Major Islamic State attacks in the West peaked in 2017, though Islamic State militants claimed lethal stabbings and shootings in Belgium, France and Austria since then. “Great-power competition is alive and well, but it matters not at all to Islamic State," said Colin Clarke, director of research at the Soufan Group, a consultancy that focuses on terrorist threats.
“While we see big divisions between Beijing, Moscow and Washington, they look at us all as a target. This is a transnational threat." Islamic State’s official news outlet, Amaq, claimed the Moscow attack, saying that it is part of a wider “war between the Islamic State and countries fighting Islam." The carnage in Moscow, terrorism analysts say, demonstrates the group’s ability to reconstitute itself as a potent global network capable of activating supporters worldwide.
Islamic State’s violence in Russia “tracks with the recent surge in plots foiled throughout the West and its renewed focus on external operations," said Lucas Webber, co-founder of Militant Wire, an independent outlet that tracks global militancy. European security agencies prevented several planned Islamic State attacks in
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