DUSHANBE, May 31. /TASS/. Having lost territory, the Islamic State international terror group (IS, outlawed in Russia) is turning to asymmetric warfare and are attempting to regroup and reactivate in countries fighting against terrorism, Head of the CIS Anti-Terrorism Center Police Colonel General Andrei Novikov said.
While addressing a high-level meeting of the CIS member states’ counter-terrorism agencies dubbed Dushanbe Anti-Terror-2017, which began in the Tajik capital on Wednesday, he said that "since pressure on the main strongholds of the Islamic State has been growing, militants are turning to the use of subversive methods both in areas where their main forces are, as well as in countries who have been actively participating in counter-terrorism operations."
"Even if the Islamic State loses the territory it controls and abandons its plans to promote the idea of setting up a caliphate, the terrorist threats will remain," Novikov added. "The Islamic State’s determination to seize the leading position in the global jihadist movement creates new terrorist threats in various parts of the world, as extremists strive to launch an asymmetric war on the territory of countries combating terrorism," the senior anti-terrorism official pointed out.
According to him, the specific character of asymmetric warfare, which has become evident in Syria, requires adequate and systemic methods to counter it.
The Dushanbe meeting, sponsored by the CIS Anti-Terrorism Center, involves special services delegations from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Besides, representatives from various CIS agencies, as well as delegations from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are also taking part in the event.