WASHINGTON – The longer militants linked to the Islamic State (IS) prevent Philippine security forces from liberating besieged Marawi City in Mindanao, the better their chances of attracting more foreign and local fighters and financial support, an expert on terrorism has told US legislators.
Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Transnational Threats Project director Thomas Sanderson said that as the Abu Sayyaf group and the Maute coalition hold on in Marawi, the IS could come to see this as a primary, extra-regional destination as its fortunes tumble in the Middle East and North Africa.
Sanderson told a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on Wednesday that the battle for Marawi, now in its eighth week, has become the focal point of IS activity in Southeast Asia.
But it is the list of nationalities among the militants’ body count that is raising alarm among counterterrorism officials in the region.
Among some 80 foreigners believed to be involved in the clashes have included fighters from Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Chechnya, Yemen, Indonesia and Malaysia, Sanderson said.
For years, experts and government officials have warned of the return of highly motivated, experienced Southeast Asian jihadi fighters from Iraq and Syria. Marawi is the starkest example to date of their potential impact.
The presence of these foreign fighters raises concerns that the Philippines is becoming an IS hub, Counter Extremism Project strategic policy analyst Supna Zaidi Peery said.
Islamist terrorist organizations have operated in Southeast Asia for decades, but IS’ attempts to establish a caliphate in southern Philippines represent a fundamental change in the nature of this threat, Republican subcommittee chairman Rep. Ted Yoho, who presided over the hearing “Black Flags over Mindanao: Terrorism in Southeast Asia,” said.