ISIS's Regional Campaign: December 2015

ISIS’s affiliates in Libya and Pakistan gained new supporters and expanded attack zones in December 2015. ISIS’s largely dormant affiliates in Algeria and Russia’s North Caucasus region also conducted rare attacks, potentially signaling a renewal of ISIS activity in those areas. Each of these affiliate campaigns give ISIS resiliency outside of Iraq and Syria. Meanwhile ISIS is withstanding competition for recruits with its rival al Qaeda in countries like Somalia and Yemen by expanding into areas outside of AQ’s priority operating zones, thereby increasing global radicalization overall. ISIS will continue to expand regionally and inspire international plots such as the San Bernardino attack as long as it maintains its caliphate in Iraq and Syria.