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ISIL/Da'esh Still Resilient Global Threat, Top Counter-Terrorism Officials Warn Security Council, Urging Rights-Based Strategies, Steadfast Unity to Defeat It

Meetings Coverage
Security Council

9982nd Meeting (AM)

SC/16149
20 August 2025

Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as Da'esh) remains a resilient and evolving global threat, increasingly active in Africa, and exploiting technology and financing networks, such as social media and cryptocurrency, high-level officials warned the Security Council today as they called for comprehensive, rights-based strategies and unwavering international unity to defeat it.

"Africa remains significantly affected, currently experiencing the highest intensity of ISIL/Da'esh activity globally," with renewed operations in the Sahel and West Africa, warned Vladimir Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism and Head of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism.

The group remains a "volatile and complex" threat, with its affiliates showing resilience despite the deaths of key leaders, he said, during a briefing in which delegates considered the Secretary-General's latest report on the threat the group poses to international peace and security and the range of UN efforts to support Member States in countering it (document S/2025/496).

In Somalia, ISIL/Da'esh mounted a large-scale attack involving foreign fighters, though 200 were killed and 150 arrested in the counteroffensive, he said. In the Middle East, the group continues to exploit gaps in Iraq and Syria, while in Afghanistan ISIL-Khorasan "represents one of the most serious threats to Central Asia and beyond". He further highlighted ISIL/Da'esh's use of new technology, including encrypted platforms, crowdfunding and artificial intelligence (AI). "Member States' reports that ISIL/Da'esh may be seeking to recruit experts in cybersecurity are gravely concerning," Mr. Voronkov said.

Stockpiles of weapons falling into terrorist hands have worsened risks, while camps in north-east Syria hold tens of thousands of women and children in unsafe conditions. These environments, Mr. Voronkov, pose "serious risks of radicalization" and are "contrary to obligations under international law". He emphasized prevention and long-term solutions as the best response, warning that targeting leadership alone "is not sufficient".

Mr. Voronkov also reiterated the Secretary-General's call for "the safe, voluntary and dignified repatriation" of detainees, particularly children, in line with international law. In the Pact for the Future, world leaders committed to pursuing a future free from terrorism, he recalled, urging the Council to support "whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches" to counterterrorism.

Group's Adaptability Poses Significant Challenges, Especially in Africa

Natalia Gherman, Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, said that ISIL/Da'esh's ability to adapt and exploit instability continues to pose significant challenges, particularly in Africa. ISIL-Khorasan remains a significant threat in Afghanistan, and in Europe and Central Asia, where it actively seeks to recruit and fundraise relying on propaganda tactics.

As of early 2025, ISIL Somalia has been playing an increasingly prominent role as a logistical hub for ISIL/Da'esh globally, though in recent months, that country has degraded the group's capacities. In the Lake Chad Basin Region, ISIL/Da'esh is increasingly receiving foreign material and human support to conduct its operations, including money and drones.

In its visits to Chad and Cameroon this year, her delegation focused on the return of former Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) associates and their families, and the support needed to ensure accountability and sustainable reintegration into the communities, she said. Engagement with affected African States has been deepened through the European Union-UN Global Terrorism Threats Facility, which supported legislative reform and cross-regional dialogues on prosecution and reintegration.

In response to the terrorism situation in West Africa, she said that UN agencies have focused on regional capacity development in countering the financing of terrorism. During the assessment visit to Côte d'Ivoire in November 2024, the Directorate commended the establishment of the Operational Coordination Committee, bringing together the financial intelligence unit, investigative services and juridical authorities. As a result, that country delivered its first terrorism-financing convictions, having benefited from capacity-building support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

She said that, to counter the threat posed by new and emerging technology for terrorist purposes, the Directorate supports States in the implementation of the non-binding guiding principles on terrorists' use of unmanned aircraft systems and emerging financial technology. "As we stand at the crossroads of technological transformation and geopolitical uncertainty, the threat of terrorism is more diffuse and complex," she asserted, noting the Directorate's commitment to "a world free from terrorism".

Digital Transformation Causing 'Major Evolution' in Terrorist Financing

"By turning off the money tap, we can cut [off] the blood supply of terrorism," said Elisa De Anda Madrazo, President of the Financial Action Task Force, warning of a "major evolution" in terrorist financing due to digital transformation. The Force, which regularly tracks terrorist financing risks, including through regular analysis of ISIL/Da'esh and Al-Qaida financing, completed a comprehensive update in June on those risks.

Terrorists increasingly abuse digital platforms, crowdfunding and virtual assets, with ISIL-Khorasan in particular using cryptocurrencies for transfers and donations, she said. Lone actors radicalized online are also employing "microfinancing strategies drawn from licit sources, petty crime and gaming and social media features", she said, underscoring the link between conventional and tech-driven schemes.

To meet these risks, she urged stronger sanctions, closing legal loopholes and better prosecution of financing cases, noting that "less than a third of countries are investigating and prosecuting terror financing adequately". She further recommended closer engagement with social media and tech platforms, as well as public-private partnerships. "Terrorists need to succeed only once to achieve their goal," Ms. de Anda Madrazo concluded, "while we have to succeed every time to prevent it".

Counter-Terrorism Strategies Must Tackle ISIL/Da'esh Propaganda

In the discussion among the 15 Council members that followed the briefings, speakers echoed concern that ISIL/Da'esh and its affiliates remain a persistent threat. Somalia's delegate noted a "troubling shift towards the African continent" where ISIL/Da'esh affiliates exploit instability and weak governance, warning that "technology further complicates the challenge", with groups using digital platforms to recruit and finance operations. Sierra Leone's speaker, noting ISIL/Da'esh's resilience and adaptability particularly in the Sahel, Lake Chad Basin, and East Africa, pointed out that ISWAP alone commands between 8,000 and 12,000 fighters, supported by an influx of foreign terrorist fighters.

The United Kingdom's representative said that, in Africa, ISIL/Da'esh has "used its appalling violence as a source of propaganda", calling for strategies that tackle both "upstream drivers of radicalization and downstream manifestations of violence". Indeed, as Da'esh maintains fighters in Iraq and Syria, ISWAP has become the most active in spreading propaganda, said Algeria's delegate. The African continent faces an average of 8 terrorist attacks and 42 killings daily. Fighting this threat requires building the capacities of developing countries and the necessary technological transfers. "There can be no development without peace and no peace without development," he said echoing the sentiments of several speakers.

Focus on Syria

The United States' representative meanwhile underscored notable successes in the elimination of high-ranking ISIL/Da'esh attack planners in Somalia, Iraq and Syria. Nevertheless, in Syria, both Al-Qaida and ISIL/Da'esh are actively spreading instability by stockpiling weapons, recruiting fighters, conducting deadly attacks and planning external operations. Relatedly, she called for the repatriation of ISIL/Da'esh-affiliated third-country nationals who are displaced and detained in north-east Syria.

"We cannot afford Syria reverting to being an incubator for terrorism," stressed the speaker for the Republic of Korea, warning that delaying repatriation or reintegration — however complacent — "can no longer serve as a stop-gap measure", as it will only "spur further radicalization within the camps". While welcoming the tangible progress achieved in repatriating and reintegrating individuals, particularly children, from detention facilities in north-east Syria, Greece's delegate cautioned that the humanitarian conditions in these facilities remain "alarming". "A purely security-based approach is insufficient," he asserted, adding that rehabilitation and accountability must go hand in hand.

Speakers expressed deep concern over the recruitment of young people and children, with Guyana's delegate noting with concern reports of growing youth leadership in ISIL/Da'esh. This trend is compounded by the use of AI to enhance propaganda efforts and the algorithmic influence of certain social media platforms to recruit youth to terrorism. "The close link between underdevelopment and terrorism cannot be overemphasized," she emphasized. Slovenia's delegate added that even the loss of key ISIL/Da'esh leaders "set back the group for only about six months" and cautioned that "new technologies and digital tools" are targeting a younger population.

As ISIL/Da'esh Adapts, So Must International Response

"ISIL is adapting. So must we," stated Denmark's delegate, warning that terrorists are now recruiting cyberexperts and experimenting with AI for propaganda purposes. He spotlighted the exploitation of drones and encrypted networks. "Terrorism is moving into new domains — faster than many States and institutions are able to follow," he stated, stressing that the use of AI and other new technology must be matched by enforceable countermeasures.

Different Ways to Combat Threat

Speakers debated the different ways to combat and address the threat of terrorism, with Pakistan's speaker stressing: "Occupation cannot be dressed up as counter-terrorism." He urged the need to address State terrorism and oppression, noting the situations in "Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir" and in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as examples of "grave human rights violations, and fabricated counter-terrorism narratives" used to deny legitimate self-determination.

The Russian Federation's representative warned against Western countries' interference in the domestic affairs of States. "The events of recent decades clearly show who has paved the way for terrorists coming to Africa," he said, noting the devastation of State institutions in Libya and Iraq as a result of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervention. "This has created power and security vacuums," he added, further voicing concern over Ukraine's subversive activities in Sahel countries and other regions in Africa. They are supplying weapons and drones to fighters and coordinating terrorists' actions, including in Mali, he said, calling for "careful international investigations".

Role of Sanctions

Several speakers discussed the role of sanctions, with France's speaker calling for stronger use of sanctions under Council resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1373 (2001). "Choking off the sources of financing of terrorism" is vital, she said. "What implications and effects will follow from adjusting the Council sanctions regime on Syria now," added China's delegate. In Syria, where terrorist groups like ISIL/Da'esh have exploited instability, the interim authority has a duty to fulfil its counter-terrorism obligations. And because terrorism is the common "enemy of humanity", the international community must "stay clear of ideological biases" to build a united front against it, he said. Panama's representative, Council President for August, called for modernizing Sanctions Committees, insisting that designations "must be governed by technical criteria, not political criteria". "Where international institutions withdraw, other stakeholders will take their place," he also warned.