{"id":32490,"date":"2017-08-08T20:21:33","date_gmt":"2017-08-08T20:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/08\/08\/us-army-pacific-official-isis-a-growing-threat-in-the-philippines\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:35:10","slug":"us-army-pacific-official-isis-a-growing-threat-in-the-philippines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2017\/08\/08\/us-army-pacific-official-isis-a-growing-threat-in-the-philippines\/","title":{"rendered":"US Army Pacific official: ISIS a growing threat in the Philippines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BETHESDA, Md. \u2014 The Islamic State group\u2019s affiliates in the southern portion of the U.S.-allied nation of the Philippines is a growing threat to U.S. security, a U.S. Army Pacific official said Tuesday at the Global Explosive Ordnance Disposal Symposium & Exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group seized the city of Marawi on the Philippine island of Mindanao in late May and have turned the city of 200,000 inhabitants into a battlefield comparable to the brutal slog faced by allied forces trying to take back the Iraqi city of Mosul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cISIS affiliated elements took over that city on the 23rd of May, and the Philippine Army is still trying to get it back,\u201d said Col. Gerardo Meneses, director of the Asia-Pacific Counter-IED Fusion Center, which monitors improvised explosive device activity in the region. \u201cIt\u2019s a very Mosul-like situation. It\u2019s not making headlines but they\u2019ve had over 600 casualties there. \u2026 This is a growing threat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meneses\u2019 organization published a report in June highlighting the dangers posed by the sudden boost the battle of Marawi has been to ISIS-Philippines\u2019 profile in the global jihadi movement and to its leader Isnilon Hapilon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe battle for Marawi has materially changed the outlook for ISIS-PHL, suddenly launching Hapilon and his organization into legitimacy while placing the Philippines in the precarious position of having to play its cards exactly right in the rehabilitation of a devastated city, an increasingly brittle peace negotiation, and the upcoming IO battle,\u201d the report concludes, using an acronym for information operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAdditionally, the Philippines now finds itself under the global jihad community\u2019s spotlight, bringing an entire new set of challenges even if the Philippines succeeds in negotiating the current minefield it faces. The Philippines must now take every opportunity to deny victories to Hapilon, before he pulls them over the brink.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t