ISIS held a massive military parade this week in Cyrenaica in eastern Libya.
Hundreds of ISIS militants took part in the parade.
ISIS has now expanded from Syria-Iraq to Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya and Algeria. The terror group also has supporters in Europee, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Yemen.
The Boston Globe reported:
The Islamic State is expanding beyond its base in Syria and Iraq to establish militant affiliates in Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, and Libya, US intelligence officials assert, raising the prospect of a new global war on terror.
Intelligence officials estimate that the group’s fighters number 20,000 to 31,500 in Syria and Iraq.
There are less formal pledges of support from “probably at least a couple hundred extremists” in countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Yemen, said a US counterterrorism official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information about the group.
Lieutenant General Vincent R. Stewart, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said in an assessment this month that the Islamic State is assembling a growing international following.
Nicholas Rasmussen, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, echoed Stewart’s analysis in testimony before Congress last week.
But it is unclear how effective these affiliates are, or to what extent this is an opportunistic rebranding by some jihadist upstarts hoping to draft new members by playing off the notoriety of the Islamic State.