Daesh Increasingly Targeting Israel Amid Setbacks in Syria, Iraq

US Special Envoy to the Counter-IS Coalition, Brett McGurk said that the Daesh focused on Israel as a target.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) is increasingly directing its threats against Israel as the terrorist group is suffering setbacks in its strongholds in Iraq and Syria, US Special Envoy to the Counter-IS Coalition, Brett McGurk said on Tuesday.

"ISIL’s [Islamic State] media statements in recent months, as they suffer losses on the battlefield, have focused on Israel as a target, clearly hoping to generate international headlines to compensate for its defeats. We must not allow this to happen," McGurk said in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The Daesh has waged brutal attacks against Jordan from a hub it controls along the Marmouk Valley, near the Syrian, Jordanian, and Israeli border. Israel has not been the direct target of attack by the Daesh, which also has a strong affiliate in Sinai.

Earlier in June, the State Department officially designated and sanctioned the Daesh affiliate in the region, the Yarmouk Martyr’s Brigade. The group reportedly is comprised of between 500 to 1,000 fighters.