THE ISIS is “far from destroyed,” and has resurfaced in other parts of the world after being driven out of Middle East havens, so all nations desiring to be rid of the evil force must continue cooperating, the Philippines’s top envoy said at a recent global forum on the terrorist threat.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., noted that, “It had taken the Coalition six years to take back Raqqa. It took us six months,” referring to the time it took Philippine military authorities, with some help from allies, to rout the ISIS when it tried to overrun Marawi City in 2017.
Locsin made the statement as his intervention during the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh/ ISIS on June 28, 2021 in Rome.
In 2017, a homegrown extremist alliance swore allegiance to ISIS, and, on May 23 of that year, launched a takeover of Marawi. The siege took government troops by surprise.
The Philippine military waged ground assaults and airstrikes to defeat them, in fighting that dragged on for five months, from May to October 2017.
The Battle of Marawi marked the first time that militants aligned with Islamic States (IS) joined forces to claim territory in Asia-Pacific, notably with combat techniques and media strategies imported from IS’s operations in Syria and Iraq.
Locsin, however, said the territories once in the grip of terrorists “have been liberated, along with those who survived ISIS.”
He said Christians were especially marked out for murder and mutilation; their children gang-raped and burned alive in iron cages.
“The rest were sold into sex slavery in countries that allow it. Religion didn’t matter; the same fate was reserved for all who fell under ISIS sway. ISIS is about nothing but submission—not to God but ISIS.”
“And it is far from destroyed. When the Caliphate was driven out of the Middle East, it moved to the Philippines.” The former UN Ambassador said Marawi fell to ISIS. “200,000 Muslims fled and found refuge with Christians and Muslims along the length of the Philippines.”
What followed, Locsin recalled, “was 6 months of artillery fire, drone strikes, and ground attacks. After we ran out of drones, we resorted to door-to-door fighting to take back the city.”
Manila’s highest envoy led the Philippine delegation to the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh/ISIS. Members of the Philippine delegation included Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Affairs Brigido J. Dulay, National Security Council Deputy Director General Damian L. Carlos, Philippine Ambassador to Italy Domingo P. Nolasco, and Police Attaché PCol. Romeo Macapaz.
The meeting was hosted by Italy and was cochaired by Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and United States Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken.
This was the first in-person meeting at the ministerial level since the last one held on February 6, 2019 in Washington DC. A total of 13 deputy prime ministers and 37 ministers attended the meeting in person.
In his intervention, Locsin affirmed the Philippines’s commitment to the Coalition and to the group’s efforts in stamping out ISIS.
The 83-member Global Coalition was established in September 2014 with the goal of degrading and ultimately defeating Daesh/ISIS.
The Philippines became the 75th member of the Coalition in 2018.
Image courtesy of PHL Embassy in Rome