Alwaght- Although ISIS terrorist group initially focused on two countries, Iraq and Syria as its main field of operations which are currently the main seat of the ISIS Caliphate, the ISIS operations have expanded to a range of countries from the West Asia and North Africa to Europe. For the years to come, ISIS appears to have focused its operations on Iraq and Syria as its main field of operations, in other areas it has made more advances. However, in different regions, the functions and operations of the ISIS have had certain ambiguities and complexities.
While ISIS operations initially focused on Syria and Iraq, and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had called for emigration to the land of the Caliphate, this group is now pursuing the policy of international development of its operations and has defined its future trends based on this policy. In recent months, ISIS has carried out some operations in various countries including France, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt and Tunisia; however, the operations did not only aim at extending the geographical areas dominated by the ISIS, but they pursued other important goals, such as staging a psychological warfare, increasing the morale of the militants and diverting the attention of the international community from Syria until they are powerful enough to solve their own domestic issues. However, ISIS has been facing various problems in expanding its field of operation, and development of its organizations could be a great burden for this group and would increase its costs.
Expansion of the ISIS’s field of operations shifts its primary focus which was on Iraq and Syria, and it will be defined it in the framework of a global organization similar to that of al-Qaeda, which make it difficult for ISIS to globally control its operations. However, another important issue is the kind of the relationships between different branches of the ISIS which are quite various and somewhat uncertain. While the ISIS is now connected to its branches in Egypt and Libya, the relationship between ISIS and the Boko Haram which joined the ISIS and changed its name to West Africa Province is unclear. Besides, there are also some groups in India which use the title of the ISIS, but the leaders of ISIS rejects them as unacceptable.
In general, with regard to the field of operations of the ISIS in the upcoming years, a few points should be noted. First, Syria and Iraq will continue to be the main field of operations for the ISIS, and ISIS will make attempts to mobilize its forces and provide the financial support to successfully carry out most of its operations in this area. The purpose of these operations is primarily to preserve and protect the sanctity of the land under the caliphate of the ISIS and then to expand it to other areas if possible. Second, the northern and maybe some other parts of Africa would be the second operational priority of the ISIS, as it is interested in big victories and expanding its dominance over those countries. Crises such as Libya particularly could be a hotbed for the activities of the ISIS in this regard. In the West Asia, Jordan and Lebanon are likely targets for direct presence of the ISIS; however, this option may not be a viable option. Nevertheless, with regard to increased recruiting of the ISIS in this region, bombing operations in the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf are highly likely. Eventually, as ISIS in Europe has carried out some occasional bombings, this could be among the viable options of the ISIS in the future field of operations of the ISIS terrorist group.