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The death of bin Laden in 2011 after a U.S.-led raid led to a great decline in al-Qaeda’s influence and visibility. But the Islamic State, a group it helped to establish, has grown and developed a worldwide presence. After capturing several major cities in Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State declared itself to be an Islamic Caliphate and demanded allegiance from all Muslims—and it has garnered such from groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria and Ansar Beit Al Maqdis in Egypt.

The Islamic State is feared largely because of the brutal acts of terror that it has committed and taken responsibility for, which include publicized beheadings and the institutionalized rape and enslavement of Iraq’s Yazidi minority, and this makes the possibility of their obtaining a WMD unconscionable. Its use of chemical weapons against Kurdish populations has already been confirmed.

Reports were made in 2016 that the Islamic State was seeking nuclear material for the purpose of developing dirty bombs and that it has stolen radiological material from hospitals and universities in Iraq and Syria. It has been rumored that the organization is striving to detonate such a weapon outside of the Middle East, which is a clear possibility given the fact that it has known operatives in many countries. The Islamic State has already shown itself to be a greater threat than previously believed; therefore, any possibility of their accessing or developing a WMD should be taken extremely seriously. According to the IHS Conflict Monitor, ISIS has also used Chlorine in Iraq and Syria 52 times. This has been confirmed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Islamic State

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