ISIS Southeast Asia designated as global terror organisation

ZURICH: The Southeast Asian chapter of Daesh has been designated as a global terrorist organisation by the United Nations Security Council.

Daesh’s so-called East Asia Province, also known as Islamic State East Asia Division and Dawlatul Islamiyah Waliyatul Mashriq, was formed in June 2016 upon an announcement by now-deceased Filipino terrorist Isnilon Hapilon, and is associated with Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, listed as Al-Qaida in Iraq, according to the UN’s website.

The Security Council's Resolution 1267 added the “Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in South-East Asia” to its list of designated entities on Jan 27, 2023 subjecting it to assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo, said the website further.

Hapilon was the leader of Abu Sayyaf Group which, along with another pro-Daesh outfit, the Maute Group, laid siege on the southern Philippine city of Marawi in 2017 to establish their territory in the region.

Philippine government forces drove the militants out after an intense five-month battle that saw much of the city in ruins and more than 1,200 people, mostly militants, dead.

The Marawi battle turned out to be the Philippines’s longest urban battle. Hapilon was killed towards the end of the siege.

The 1267 Committee comprises all 15 members of the Security Council and makes its decision by consensus.

It prepares annual reports of its activities, oversees the implementation of the sanctions measures on designated individuals and entities who meet the listing criteria set out in the relevant resolutions and conducts periodic and specialised reviews of the entries on the ISIL and Al-Qaida Sanctions List, according to the UN website.

On January 16 the committee added Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba's deputy chief Abdul Rehman Makki to its list of designated terrorists.

ISIS East Asia basically refers to the terror group's presence in Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and according to TRAC - Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium , also in Thailand.