THE WEST is dealing with a new “War on Terror” as bloodthirsty fanatics will exploit the chaos in the Middle East, experts have warned.
With the US and UK targeted on tackling Iran-backed extremists just like the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah – the shadow of much more savage teams is rising in the area.
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ISIS – the blood-curdling terrorists whose assaults sparked horror all over the world for years – are feared to be firing up for a return.
And safety experts advised The Sun that the Israel-Hamas battle means a terrorist assault on UK soil is “absolutely possible”.
They warned a bigger “war is coming”, which might imply a return to the times of War on Terror even worse than now we have seen earlier than.
Former US General Ben Hodges and safety knowledgeable Professor Anthony Glees spoke to The Sun about how the West must metal itself for the bloodshed which may be coming in the Middle East.
Professor Glees advised us Hamas’ brutal bloodbath on October 7 was the spark that lit the fuse on a new powderkeg – and warned the UK shouldn’t be ready.
And in the meantime, General Hodges mentioned: “The UK is in a pre war environment. That means war is coming.”
US, UK and allied forces have been launching daring operations to strike the Iran-backed militia teams in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
But in the background – it’s feared extra excessive teams, such because the savage ISIS, are gathering energy.
US General Joel Vowell – who leads America’s efforts overseas to squash ISIS – warned that the risk of a suspected assault has risen 200 per cent in the final three months.
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Vowell not too long ago warned the world that the continued battle in Gaza – and the melting pot of fanatical teams in the Middle East – has made ISIS a much bigger risk than it was earlier than.
He has headed the ten yr US-led coalition Operation Inherent Resolve in opposition to ISIS, which noticed Western troops stationed in Iraq and Syria – two hotbeds of the phobia group’s exercise.
In January he met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to speak about eradicating US troops from Iraq – however as an alternative issued a disturbing message.
The Middle East knowledgeable defined that ISIS cells have been rallying their forces in the background, “in Syria and Iraq in the final 60 days in specific”.
The ‘spark’ of Israel’s battle with Hamas
Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist extremist motion, launched a brutal assault on Israel’s border in the early hours of October 7 2023 dubbed Israel’s “9/11” – killing over 1200 individuals.
Extremist Islamist teams together with the Houthis and Hezbollah have aimed assaults on the US and the UK, citing assist of Israel – as a result of of their battle in opposition to Hamas.
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Glees advised The Sun that the Western world now faces threats “from all sides”, and that the battle in opposition to Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah shouldn’t detract from efforts to guard ourselves from older terrorist threats like ISIS.
“I absolutely think we are being assailed from all sides. That makes us vulnerable. And when you’re vulnerable, you get bullied and attacked.”
The safety knowledgeable additionally advised The Sun that he “absolutely” thinks it is doable that we may very well be taking a look at a new wave of a terrorist risk like these seen during the last 20 years.
The raging risk of terror teams like Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah may very well be mixed with assaults by organisations like ISIS on UK soil.
When the free democracies of the West, notably America, after they’re engaged in combating one enemy, the opposite enemies come out of their holes and likewise try to have a go at them
Professor Anthony Glees
General Hodges mentioned: “The UK is in a pre war environment. That means war is coming.”
Met Police commissioner Mark Rowley warned this time final yr that Britain that the UK has tens of hundreds of potential terrorists hiding in plain sight.
Sir Rowley warned that they had been on the safety companies radar, and would wish only a “spark” to behave on their extremist beliefs.
Glees advised The Sun that the occasions of October 7 and the following battle has “provided that spark”.
He mentioned: “I think what has happened since the seventh of October, has, in a sense, provided a spark.”
Glees “absolutely” thinks the risk of a terror assault on British soil has been elevated.
He warned that whereas now we have a nuclear deterrent, which may very well be used to keep at bay sure enemies, it received’t forestall extra standard assaults like people who may come from a terrorist organisation like ISIS.
“I feel we’re in a really tough place as a result of the entire of our defence and defending our values has been constructed round our nuclear deterrent.
“And, you know, it’s good that we have it. However, the nuclear deterrent deters from nuclear attack. It doesn’t deter from conventional attack. It doesn’t deter from terrorism.”
Speaking of Britain’s forces, and capabilities for defence, Glees advised the Sun that sources must be funnelled into counter terror police in addition to the armed forces.
“And I think wherever you look because it’s not just about our armed forces. It’s also about our police forces,” he mentioned.
“I feel we have higher in dealing with terrorism. I feel our counter terrorist cops, they’re the most effective cops now we have in the UK.
“So we have discovered the teachings from the previous. The drawback is that the continued battle in Gaza… what has occurred because the seventh of October, has, in a way, supplied a spark.
“And that’s why people like me are very apprehensive of how this might develop.”
Who is ISIS and why are they resurfacing?
ISIS, also called the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, is a murderous terrorist community that formally shaped in 2004.
The group, recognized for its barbaric public executions and beheadings, was initially half of al-Qaeda – the terrorists accountable for 9/11 which sparked the decades-long international War on Terror.
They took benefit of instability in Iraq and Syria after 2000 to rule with an iron fist.
After an injection of American troops into Iraq in 2007, ISIS misplaced some of its energy grip in the area.
But it started to reemerge in 2011 and by 2014 the US had shaped Operation Inherent Resolve.
The mission concerned placing American boots on the bottom in Iraq and Syria – in addition to different areas in the Middle East.
In 2014, ISIS was probably the most highly effective, best-equipped and wealthiest Islamic extremist group the world had ever seen.
By 2015 it had branches working in not less than eight different international locations.
That October, their Egypt community bombed a Russian aircraft and killed over 220 individuals.
In November 2015, 130 had been murdered and over 300 injured throughout one of their most brutal assaults on the West in Paris.
And in June 2016, a gunman who pledged himself to the murderous organisation killed not less than 48 individuals at a nightclub in Florida.
By December 2017, ISIS had misplaced 95 per cent of it’s stolen territory.
But its core ideologies, which included a burning hatred for the Western approach of life, continued to encourage numerous terrorist assaults all over the world.
While American fight in Iraq was formally axed in December 2021, 2,500 troops had been left stationed there to work as advisers and trainers for Iraqi safety forces attempting to fend off extremist forces.
There are believed to be lower than 1,000 nonetheless stationed in Syria.
Three of these American troops had been killed in Jordan on January 28 – in a drone assault at a US navy base close to the Syrian and Iraq borders.
Is historical past repeating itself?
Professor Anthony Glees, an intelligence knowledgeable from the University of Buckingham, advised The Sun why the West must be contemplating terror threats like ISIS extra.
While the US, UK and different Western international locations are targeted on combating the Houthis and Hezbollah – a chance is carved out for ISIS to make a comeback.
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He mentioned: “When the free democracies of the West, notably America, after they’re engaged in combating one enemy, the opposite enemies come out of their holes and likewise try to have a go at them.
“What’s important is that we in the West are properly able to defend ourselves against all the people who might come at us.”
Glees mentioned the present local weather is similar to the risky second our world discovered itself in in the course of the early days of the War on Terror.
We know from historical past that one of the simplest ways to forestall a battle is to reveal that you simply’re ready for it
Ben Hodges
The War on Terror was a worldwide response led by America in the wake of Al Qaeda’s horrific assaults on the Twin Towers in New York City on September 11 2001.
On the morning of 9/11, 19 Islamic suicide terrorists hijacked 4 completely different planes crammed with passengers travelling throughout America.
The first two hijacked planes crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing over 2,750 individuals.
The third aircraft – geared toward Washington DC, crashed into the US Defence HQ, the Pentagon, and the fourth crashed right into a discipline in Pennsylvania – killing 220 extra.
The 9/11 horror, masterminded by al Qaeda, sparked the War on Terror – which noticed a long time of combating in Afghanistan, Iraq and different components of the Middle East.
Stepping up UK defences
General Hodges advised The Sun that battle is coming – and Western makes an attempt to maintain the risk of extremist Islamic organisations beneath management, which haven’t labored for years, are missing.
He mentioned: “The UK is in a pre battle setting. That means battle is coming.
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“The varied strikes which were taking place over the previous couple of days in opposition to Houthis, in opposition to Islamic organisations.
“They’re in retaliation. But clearly these are not having the deterrent effect of what needs to be done. We’ve been doing this for years,” he mentioned.
“When I hear the Administration say, these strikes are just the beginning. That’s fine, but I don’t hear What’s the ending? What are we trying to get to?”
Hodges additionally worries in regards to the lack of sources at our disposal to battle a battle.
He advised The Sun: “We now are in a situation where I think we’re much more vulnerable. And we know from history that the best way to prevent a war is to demonstrate that you’re prepared for it.”
He thinks the general public must be made totally conscious that we might spend a decade or extra combating the raging threats in the Middle East.
“I feel that half of the issue is communication to our populations.
“You know where our leaders speak to us like we are adults and say, this is gonna take minimum 10 years for this strategy to take effect, or 15 years… there is no quick solution.”
Speaking of the UK, US, and components of Europe, Hodges mentioned: “None of us have the sources to do it alone.
“So, having alliances and coalitions that are able to provide, that buy into it, that are willing to be a part of this. That’s part of getting the resources together.”
But it should be completely different to the final time the Western world banded in opposition to the extremist risk with America’s War on Terror.
Hodges mentioned we’d like a cohesive technique, the place priorities are established and sources fastidiously allotted with an finish objective in thoughts.
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