Omar Mateen, who perpetrated Sunday’s attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando, killing more than 50 persons, and injuring dozens others, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) during a 911 call he made during the incident. As in the San Bernardino incident in December 2015, carried out by an IS-inspired coupled, the quasi-state’s terror operations outside its core bases in Iraq and Syria are foretelling.
Against this backdrop, an analysis of IS terror operations outside its core bases in Iraq and Syria is foreboding. This is particularly so as the two-year milestone of the self-declared caliphate occurs on June 29th. Such anniversary dates are often marked by particularly vicious terror incidents. This is particularly so when undertaken on behalf of jihadist groups, particularly during the Ramadan, which runs this year during June and early July.