By Anas al-Bar | 2024-08-13

Since defeating the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) in 2017, Iraq has worked to resolve the displacement crisis and facilitate reconstruction in areas the extremist group once controlled.

But the challenge remains as ISIS threatens security and the successes achieved with a new spate of high-impact attacks, including a July 13 incident in the orchards of the Diyala province town al-Eit.

Four security personnel were killed, prompting the Iraqi forces to raise their level of alert.

The incident came amid intelligence that ISIS is restructuring and had ordered its cells to step up attacks from their secret hideouts.

In a July 16 statement, the US military warned ISIS has escalated its attacks in Iraq and Syria, claiming 153 attacks so far this year -- double the number it claimed in 2023.

The al-Eit attack is a reminder that security and intelligence services need to "maintain the momentum against the group's elements," military analyst Ayad al-Tufan told Al-Fassel.

"The defeat of ISIS in 2017 has left the group unable until now to control one square inch of territory," he said, noting that though the current attacks are isolated incidents, "they compel us to review our deployment and confrontation plans."

Al-Toufan urged early response to terror cell activity by stepping up security campaigns and building trust between security forces and the local population, which can "help uncover the terrorist nests even in the most complex areas."

Reconstruction and rehabilitation

Iraqi authorities have been working for years to erase the ISIS era, in which millions of Iraqis lived under the group's oppression.

They have worked to return internally displaced civilians to their homes, and to repatriate and rehabilitate the wives and children of ISIS fighters from Kurdish-run camps in Syria.

Iraq is coordinating with donor countries such as the United States and various United Nations agencies on reconstruction initiatives that include road, power grid, hospital and school renovations.

Meanwhile, the plan to rehabilitate Iraqi heritage sites has reached advanced stages with the reconstruction of several historical buildings, such as Mosul's al-Nuri mosque, which is expected to open at the end of this year.

But the growing threat of an ISIS resurgence threatens the foundations of stability that Iraq toiled to establish after ousting the group with the help of the international coalition, analysts said.