By Samah Abdel Fattah | 2025-03-13

"Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) recruitment, planning and fundraising networks are under increased risk of exposure as international intelligence agencies improve their social media and encrypted communications surveillance.

This has left the extremist group increasingly vulnerable, counterterrorism experts said.

The security agencies of various countries have been relying on enhanced intelligence sharing to dismantle global terrorist networks, extremist group specialist Yahya Mohammed Ali told Al-Fassel.

In the case of ISIS, he said, its "previous success in recruiting from multiple nationalities made inter-agency cooperation essential."

This cooperation has netted positive results "through the effective tracking of both existing members and new recruits," Ali said.

US agencies lead these efforts using databases compiled over long years of monitoring terrorist groups, he noted.

Surveillance capabilities now extend across multiple platforms, from social media to the encrypted messaging apps that ISIS once considered safe havens for its communications and recruitment efforts.

Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems now scan millions of social media posts and communications daily, identifying potential ISIS activity through pattern recognition and behavioral analysis, the experts said.

This type of surveillance led to the February 27 arrest of Abdisatar Ahmed Hassan, a Somali-US dual national charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS.

Hassan attempted to travel twice from the United States to Somalia, hiding his true intentions behind claims of family visits despite having no relatives there, the US Justice Department said.

Investigators found extensive social media evidence of his support of ISIS, including communication with an ISIS media outlet and videos of him displaying an ISIS flag while driving and brandishing a knife, officials said.

"The Hassan case confirms that ISIS is truly caught in a vice, with no ability to recruit or expand," Ali said.

Nowhere to hide

ISIS remnants have been reduced to seeking financial support via social media platforms and encrypted communications, said Mazen Zaki, director of new media at Egypt's Ibn Al-Walid Center for Studies and Field Research.

"Following significant territorial losses in Iraq, Syria and parts of Africa, the group's activities have largely shifted online, but even there, they're finding fewer safe spaces," Zaki told Al-Fassel.

Security agencies and religious scholars have united to defeat ISIS on its former digital battleground by promoting authentic Islamic teachings.

Meanwhile, the group's leadership is being systematically eliminated, in a two-pronged strategy that is destroying ISIS's ability to recruit and survive.

"Under the umbrella of international security cooperation, ISIS is facing its most challenging period since its emergence, and the countdown to its extinction has become a reality," Zaki said.