Dawn:
With a spectacular jailbreak in Syria and a deadly attack on an army barracks in Iraq, the militant Islamic State (IS) group was back in the headlines the past week, a reminder of a war that formally ended three years ago but continues to be fought mostly away from view.
The attacks were some of the boldest since the extremist group lost its last sliver of territory in 2019 with the help of a US-led international coalition, following a years-long war that left much of Iraq and Syria in ruins.
Residents in both countries say the recent high-profile IS operations only confirmed what they’ve known and feared for months: Economic collapse, lack of governance and growing ethnic tensions in the impoverished region are reversing counter-IS gains, allowing the group to threaten parts of its former so-called caliphate once again.