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“It is a paradox that the virus that appeases others has led to further flourishing and terrorist attacks by the Islamic State,” Colonel Lt. Stein Grongstad told VG.
The Telemark battalion is in Iraq to train Iraqi soldiers to face the growing threat of the IS terrorist movement. In recent months, they have been unable to have physical contact with the Iraqi army due to contagion measures, while IS remains in agricultural areas and is not particularly exposed to infection.
Prisoners are released from jails, several of whom are IS supporters. Both from there and from the open refugee camps they are now receiving IS recruits.
– We believe that they have an attack strategy that consists of better planning and that they specifically target Iraqi forces that are currently not coordinated to the same extent as before the virus attack. IS makes use of road bombs, possesses advanced explosives, and uses heavier weapons. They also know how to use terrain in border areas to their advantage. In April, there were 20 ISIS attacks on Iraqi forces in Anbar province, says Grongstad, head of the Norwegian force in Iraq.
– The IS represents a threat even if the organization is territorially defeated. Both IS and Al Qaeda are taking hold more easily where government control is lacking or where instability prevails, Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide told VG on March 9 of this year, commenting that she feared that only the IS.
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