As well as losing most of the territory it overran in 2014 and 2015, the Daesh terror group has recently suffered the loss of several of its leaders.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has reported that the group's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was probably killed in an airstrike in Syria last month. On Thursday the US-led coalition has reported the death of another senior Daesh leader, Turki al-Binali, in airstrike in Syria.
Rhiannon Smith, Managing Director of Eye on ISIS in Libya and Libya-Analysis, told Radio Sputnik that Turki al-Binali was a key figure in Daesh's online and social media presence and ability to recruit more fighters and the death of the Bahraini cleric is a significant blow.
"It's very difficult to know at this stage who would be able to then take up that mantle going forward. Perhaps we will see that instead of it being someone like al-Binali, whose strength is really promoting ISIS and gaining more recruits and putting the message out there, maybe there will be a shift in tactics. Maybe it will be someone versed in guerrilla tactics, someone who can take ISIS forward in a new for as it seems likely they will have to do after losing this significant amount of territory," Smith said.
In a decree issued in May addressed to "all soldiers of the Islamic State," the group wrote, "The enemies of the religion have taken various means in order to penetrate the ranks of the muwahhidin [monotheists] and to learn their secrets."
"I think it's actually a fascinating move. One of ISIS's main strengths has been its ability to reach out over social media, it's had a very technical and well-polished social media presence and one of the reasons that ISIS has been able to recruit so many fighters from Europe and all over the world, not just within the Levant, is really because of this social media presence."
"It shows how weakened the group has really become, because this is a massive shift in tactics. It also show the key role that people like Turki al-Binali play in that, if they haven't got someone who knows how these systems work and is able to utilize them for recruitment, that shows it's a significant blow to the organization. Perhaps there isn't anyone who can step into that role and take things over."
Daesh is facing defeat in its strongholds of Mosul and Raqqa, as anti-terror forces close in. When it is finally driven from the last of the territory it holds, the terror group is likely to resort to more terrorist attacks.
"They will probably be more focused on 'shock and awe' tactics that will strike fear into people, so we may well see more of these terrorist attacks in Europe where they are likely to gain more attention than in the Levant."
"I suspect that they will continue to carry out these kinds of attacks in the Levant and elsewhere. In terms of relocating, there is a possibility that some of the fighters will relocate to areas such as Libya, or further south in the Sahara where it's easier for these groups to conduct trainings and regroup."
"It may be more that they spread out and use places such as Libya and elsewhere to conduct more attacks in Europe in order to try and keep the momentum of ISIS and also the recruitment from around the world."
