For nearly a decade, ISIS has become one of the most feared and talked-about terrorist groups in the world.
Once controlling nearly a third of Syria and almost half of Iraq, ISIS had a far-reaching and terrifying impact, responsible for high-profile attacks in Paris (2015), Berlin (2016), and Manchester (2017).
Is ISIS having a resurgence?
Their influence began to subside in 2018. However, in 2024, ISIS resurfaced in the headlines after taking responsibility for Russia’s deadliest terror attack in over two decades.
More recently, on New Year’s Day 2025, an ISIS-inspired attack in New Orleans killed 14 people and injured many more.
With these events, the question remains: Is ISIS making a comeback?
On Monday morning’s episode of The Briefing, Michael Ware, the only Western journalist to survive an ISIS beheading attempt, shares his insights on the terror group’s resurgence.
Ware was at the scene of ISIS’s first-ever suicide bombing, an attack on the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad that marked the beginning of the group’s deadly campaign.
At the time, Ware was covering the insurgency in Iraq, having built contacts with a range of groups fighting against the American occupation.
Through these connections, he eventually came into contact with the Islamic State and its founder, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
“I was also kidnapped by them and almost beheaded. As far as I know, I’m pretty much the only Westerner who ever survived the beheading,” Ware said.
“It just breaks your heart. There’s no other way to describe it. I mean, my soul has been wounded and ways from which it can never recover,” he said.
For Australia, Ware said the threat of ISIS-inspired violence remains a critical issue.
“We’ve been living with this threat for 21. Now, and I suspect we’ll continue to do so for another 21 years.”
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