U.S. State Department says international terrorism is still a ‘pervasive threat’ worldwide

According to a report released by the State Department on Thursday, terrorist groups remain a “a persistent and pervasive threat worldwide” even through the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The report explains that while the pandemic made the terrorist groups’ landscape harder to navigate, it also provided opportunity for them to focus on disinformation and radicalization campaigns online.

The report details how COVID “complicated the terrorist landscape, creating both challenges and opportunities for terrorist groups. While the pandemic disrupted terrorist travel, financing, and operations, terrorist groups adapted their approaches and appeals, using the internet to continue radicalizing others to violence and inspiring attacks worldwide.”

The State Department also points out in its report that even during the pandemic, Iran has continued to act as a hub for terrorist activity, allowing terrorist networks to grow.

“Iran continued to support acts of terrorism regionally and globally during 2020. Regionally, Iran supported proxies and partner groups in Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, including Hezbollah and Hamas,” the report says.

Simultaneously, al-Qaida has “bolstered its presence abroad, particularly in the Middle East and Africa, where affiliates AQAP, al-Shabab in the Horn of Africa, and Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin in the Sahel remain among the most active and dangerous terrorist groups in the world.”

In a statement released by Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday regarding the report, he points out that in spite of the ongoing terrorism threat, the United States has made some strides in recent years.

“Among the many accomplishments highlighted in the 2020 report are our efforts to expand the focus of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS to address new regions of concern, the first terrorist designation of a Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremist (REMVE) group, and the growing number of countries that have recognized the whole of Hizballah as a terrorist organization,” Blinken said.

The report reiterated the United States’ goal of countering global terrorism alongside its allies in years to come.