A U.S. service member walks past a drone on the Ayn al-Asad airbase in Iraq, where American troops ... [+] work in coalition against ISIS. The officials said it was in the U.S. military’s interest to resume counterterrorism efforts quickly so ISIS could not claim a propaganda victory or build momentum in the troops’ absence. Crucial quote: “ISIS has begun to reorganize and plan invasions and attacks,” Abdul-Mahdi said in a speech to his cabinet Wednesday. Key background: The reported reinstatement of ISIS counterterrorism efforts is the latest culmination of a series of escalations between the U.S., Iran and Iraq, with Iraq claiming its sovereignty has been violated by the other two countries. Since 2014, U.S. and European troops have trained local Iraqi forces to fight ISIS, using the country as their base of operations.

Source: Forbes January 16, 2020 13:30 UTC