ISIS security risk in Iraq after the territorial defeat of the group

Two Iraqi soldiers stand outside an Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle parked at the entrance to the shrine of Nabi Yunus, which was destroyed by ISIS in 2014

With the liberation of Rawa on Friday November 17th, ISIS lost its last town in Iraq and so it’s entire occupied territory within the country. While ISIS almost certainly still operates in unpopulated land in Anbar, northern Diyala and Niveneh governorates, this victory marks the defeat of ISIS as a territorial based insurgent organisation in the country.