The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS)’s claim of responsibility for the deadly bombings in Brussels on this year was a harrowing reminder of the group’s reach and ambitions throughout not just the Middle East, but Europe and beyond.
The claim of responsibility was published by ISIS’ official news agency on Tuesday. The fighters targeted Brussels’ Zaventem airport and a metro station in the city due to Belgium’s “participating in the coalition against the Islamic State,” the statement said, according to news reports.
The Brussels attack illustrates once again the intensity of the Islamic State’s desire to carry out attacks on civilians far beyond the ground under its control. When it first emerged, seizing large areas in Iraq and Syria in 2013 and 2014, ISIS set itself apart from other international jihadist groups, such as al-Qaeda, which never controlled territory even remotely on the same scale.
But today, it appears to have two robust prongs — both a proto-state in lands that it has captured in Iraq and Syria; and also an emergent international network, comparable to that of al-Qaeda.
And as the group loses ground in Iraq and Syria, it appears ever more bent on launching deadly attacks outside its areas of control. Over the last month, ISIS has claimed bombings in the Baghdad area and the cities of Damascus and Homs in Syria, launched an armed assault on a town in Tunisia, and has been linked to a suicide bombing in a central district of Istanbul. Together, these assaults have killed hundreds of people.
To carry out these attacks and more, ISIS has recruited a sizeable number of European-born fighters, among its estimated 11,000 foreign recruits, according to the International Center for the Study of Radicalization in London. ISIS has recruited more people per capita from Belgium than from any other European country.