Opinion | Sri Lanka bombings may mean Islamic State, after its Middle East defeat, has entered a new phase

After defeat in Syria and attacks that failed to generate headlines, it stands to reason that IS would target countries where tourism is growing and security has been lax

Combating a terrorist organisation that views the entire world as a theatre of war cannot be achieved by military means alone

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Published: 3:00am, 25 Apr 2019Updated: 4:58am, 25 Apr 2019

Now that Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for the deadly bombings of Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka via its Amaq propaganda agency, it is time to focus on the big picture.

From the outset, IS was the name that leapt out as the prime suspect from the fairly large pool of transnational terrorist organisations active around the world, yet this prompted the question of why it would pick the Indian Ocean island to unleash attacks typical of the killing fields of Afghanistan and Syria.

IS always has ample motive to target churches, synagogues, temples and mosques frequented by Muslims, not to mention luxury hotels popular with Western tourists. What influences the choice of location for attacks is probably the means and opportunity to stage them.

After its defeat at the hands of a US-led coalition spearheaded by secular Kurdish and Arab soldiers in March and the elimination of the caliphate along the Syria-Iraq border, IS today is the jihadist equivalent of a wounded tiger, prepared to strike at any targets of opportunity.

As a transnational terrorist organisation, IS currently poses the same or a higher level of threat to non-Muslim communities al-Qaeda and its offshoots once did. It displays an unremitting animus towards Shia and non-observant Muslims, plus Muslims with heterodox beliefs such as the Alawites and the Druze.

That being said, IS may have concluded that its attacks on Shia Muslims in Afghanistan or non-Sunni communities in the Middle East are not creating enough buzz to prove its mettle, inspire attacks and attract new recruits.

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