Deadly attacks in Australia and Syria show a diminished ISIS is still a threat

A pair of deadly attacks in Syria and Australia has shone a fresh spotlight on the Islamic State, the militant group.

A pair of deadly attacks this month, in Syria and Australia, has shone a fresh spotlight on the Islamic State, the militant group whose sudden rise to power in the Middle East and reign of terror throughout the world had appeared to crest, and then fall, during the 2010s.

But for experts who study ISIS, law enforcement and intelligence officials who fight it and the growing number of victims who have been attacked or intimidated, the group has long been more down than out – a diminished threat, but a threat nonetheless.

“They never went away,” said Aaron Zelin, an expert on the group and a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “The nature of the threat just changed and the nature of the way they organized themselves changed. But what’s animated the Islamic State has never changed.”

Last weekend, a member of Syria’s security forces shot dead three Americans -- two soldiers and an interpreter -- near the city of Palmyra. The Islamic State didn’t claim responsibility for the attack, but the U.S. and Syrian governments both blamed the terrorist group.

A street in Palmyra, central Syria on Sunday, the day after an attack which killed two U.S. service members. Xinhua News Agency via Getty ImagesThe U.S. military launched strikes against Islamic State infrastructure and weapons sites in Syria in retaliation for the attack, officials said Friday.