Bishop Warns of New Islamic Caliphate in Southeast Asia

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says threat is on Australia’s doorstep as Islamic State is forced out of the Middle East.

Canberra, 27 Jumadil Akhir 1438/26 March 2017 (MINA) – Julie Bishop has warned of the prospect of a new Islamic caliphate being declared in the southern Philippines following the return of foreign fighters from the war against Islamic State in the Middle East, theaustralian.com.au reported.

Speaking on Sky News on Sunday, Ms Bishop argued this would bring the threat of Islamic State “right to our doorstep” and said she raised the problem of foreign fighters returning to the Southeast Asian region at the Washington meeting of the coalition against IS last week.

Ms Bishop said the Trump administration used the meeting to convey their interest in intensifying the military campaign against IS in the Middle East and identified Syria as the next phase in the battle against the terror group.

“One of my messages at this meeting of the coalition to defeat ISIS was to point out that as more pressure goes on ISIS in the Middle East and the more successful they are in driving ISIS out of the Middle East, the more likely it is that the returning foreign terrorist fighters will come back to our part of the world,” Ms Bishop said.

“There are estimates of at least 600 foreign terrorist fighters from Southeast Asia in Iraq and Syria at present. It could well be higher,” she said. “And if they are able to survive the campaign against them in Iraq and Syria they may well seek to come home.

“That’s why we’ve been working so closely, co-ordinating our efforts (with) Indonesia in particular but also increasingly with Malaysia and the Philippines because that’s where a number of these fighters are from.”

Ms Bishop said this warning “resonated” in the meeting and there was a shared concern that IS not be allowed to revive its powers and again pose a new threat in another region of the globe.

“We don’t want to see it re-emerge elsewhere in the world, otherwise we’ll be back in a few years’ time talking about how to defeat a caliphate in the southern Philippines. for example,” she said.

The re-emergence of terror networks in southern Philippines

Ms Bishop said she spoke with the President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, about the re-emergence of terror networks in the southern Philippines on a recent visit.

“There’s one (called) the Abu Sayyaf group; a particularly dangerous terrorist group. Their leader, Hapilon, has recently been declared an emir by ISIS in the Middle East. An emir — a leader — in the southern Philippines,” Ms Bishop said.

“So there is concern that ISIS may well seek to declare a caliphate, an Islamic caliphate in the southern Philippines.

“This brings the threat right to our doorstep and that’s why we’ve been ensuring that our security and law enforcement and intelligence agencies have the resources they need … to stamp this terrorist threat out in our region.”

Ms Bishop said the Trump administration would make a greater military commitment to defeat IS. But she said its identification of Syria as the next phase of the campaign after the recapture of Mosul presented complex geopolitical problems.

“The focus will be on Syria,” she said. “A similar operation will then take place to retake Raqqa.

“This is where it becomes really complex. And strategically very difficult because the United States with the backing of the Kurds is prepared to retake Raqqa and with other opposition forces — that is opposition to the Assad regime.”

“Russia and Iran, who are not represented at this coalition meeting, may well have a different agenda as to how to retake Raqqa. So there still needs to be a lot of strategic discussions between the United States on one side and Russia/Iran on the other.” (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)