The United States strongly condemns the recent spate of deadly terrorist attacks that have taken hundreds of lives from Istanbul to Dhaka to Baghdad to the attacks in Saudi Arabia. These acts have shown no respect for human life, whether young or old, male or female, Muslim or non-Muslim.
These attacks were intended to spread terror and fear. They occurred at the end of Ramadan, the holiest time of the year for Muslims. Indeed, a Daesh spokesman himself called for targeting during this holy month. “So what’s obviously evident,” said State Department Spokesperson John Kirby, “is that Daesh certainly has no respect for Muslim life, life in general, or any respect for Islam itself.”
The United States remains extremely concerned about ISIL’s ability to inspire terrorist attacks and is working with its partners to help halt the spread of terror.
This requires a multi-pronged approach that includes working with partners from around the world to cut off Daesh’s messaging, financing, and recruitment networks. The U.S. and its allies are also expanding their ability to identify, disrupt, arrest, and prosecute suspected foreign terrorist fighters.
The United States now has information-sharing agreements with 55 international partners to identify and track the travel of suspected terrorists, and the number of countries contributing foreign terrorist fighter profiles to Interpol has now increased by some 400 percent over the last two years.
At least 35 countries have arrested foreign terrorist fighters or aspirants, and 12 countries have successfully prosecuted foreign terrorist fighters. At least 45 countries have enacted laws or amendments to create greater obstacles for foreign terrorist fighters traveling into Iraq and Syria.
The U.S. is also focused on discrediting the violent messages that Daesh puts out on a daily basis on social media that they use to inspire and to recruit people.
In an effort to defeat ISIL at its core in Iraq and Syria, the Counter-ISIL Coalition has accelerated the campaign against Daesh in those countries. Over the last six months, there has been significant progress retaking territory and diminishing the group’s finances and access to additional manpower.
The United States will continue the fight against ISIL on all fronts until the terrorist group is defeated.
