The liberation of Mosul from the Islamic State is the biggest defeat yet for the most dangerous international terrorist group. Iraqi and American forces and their allies are rightly celebrating the end of the nine-month fight to take back the city in Iraq from where a caliphate was declared in June 2014. The extremists have over those three years lost about 60,000 fighters, including many leaders and two-thirds of the territory they once controlled and their capital, Raqqa in Syria, is surrounded by American-led militias. But a victory here and there will not spell the end of IS, which has adherents around the world, nor will it prevent the rise of similar radical organisations.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has made much of the victory. The taking back of Mosul is highly symbolic, the city having been IS’ de facto capital in Iraq and the centre from which the group overran large parts of the country’s north and west. But while he can take pride in the fighting prowess of his troops, the celebrations have to be short-lived. Much of Mosul has been destroyed and a huge reconstruction effort is necessary for the return of displaced people, while the fight against the extremists now has to move on to three other Iraqi areas.

But even militarily defeating IS will not guarantee peace. Already the group is returning to its roots as an insurgency force, with bombings and attacks the basis of its strategy of sowing fear and violence. The 25 million Sunni Muslims living between Baghdad and Damascus have been alienated by their Shiite, Iranian-backed, governments and are easy recruits for IS and other radicals. Demand for vengeance is growing and Iraq’s neighbours are only too willing to support sides to increase their sphere of political and economic influence.