On Feb. 24, 2025, members of the Puntland Defense Forces posed next to a sign in Arabic that proclaimed the mountain town of Sheebaab as a 'province' of the Islamic State group. The town, located in Somalia's autonomous northeastern region of Puntland, was one of numerous areas that soldiers from the regional government have taken back during Operation Hilaac, an ongoing campaign against fighters from the Islamic State in Somalia ' the local branch of the terrorist network ' which began in late November 2024. Puntland's success in combating a growing Islamic State group presence in the northeastern region is particularly notable given the relative lack of success of the central Somali government's confrontation with the al-Qaida-affiliated group Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahidin ' more commonly known as al-Shabab ' which for about two decades has waged war against federal forces. Islamic State in Somalia emerged in 2015 when a small group of al-Shabab members led by Abdulqadir Mumin ' an extremist Somali preacher who previously lived in Sweden and the United Kingdom, where he acquired citizenship ' pledged allegiance to then-Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Having formed as a local branch ' or 'province' in the group's self conception as a global entity intent on expanding territory ' Islamic State in Somalia launched its first major operation in October 2016, briefly seizing the port town of Qandala in Puntland....

While the investigation is still ongoing, some details about the suspect have been released. Authorities say Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. Army veteran, was behind the assault in which a truck was driven into a dense crowd in New Orleans' French Quarter a few hours after midnight, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more. Jabbar, who died in a shoot-out with police, had pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group in online videos posted on Dec. 31, according to the FBI. It represents the first major assault on an American city by an individual purportedly influenced by the Islamic State group, or one of its affiliates, since a 2017 truck assault in New York City that killed eight. The New Orleans attack, like that earlier incident, underscores an important point: While the Islamic State group's territorial caliphate ' the area in Syria and Iraq in which it assumed both political and religious authority and sought to enforce its interpretation of Islamic law ' has been dismantled, the group's ability to inspire acts of terror on U.S. soil through online propaganda and ideological influence remains alarmingly potent....

France is famously strict on enforcing what it calls 'laicite': keeping religion out of the public sphere. Yet more than 7,500 private schools receive government funding, and most are Catholic. In a country where about 1 in 10 people are Muslim, just three Muslim high schools receive state support ' or did. In December 2023, local authorities of the French Ministry of the Interior confirmed a decision to revoke state funding from Lycee Averroes, France's largest and most acclaimed private Muslim high school. Authorities cited 'serious breaches of the fundamental principles of the Republic,' raised concerns over certain texts in religious education classes, and accused administrators of opaque financial management, among various alleged infractions. Lycee Averroes, located in the suburbs of Lille, opened in 2003 and was granted state funding in 2008. In 2013, it was named the best high school in France, according to the Parisien newspaper's rankings, and has consistently ranked among the region's best in recent years. Teachers and administrators pride themselves on being dedicated to both French Republican and Islamic values. As our research has shown, the school often goes above and beyond to teach civic values such as equality and laicite....

In the aftermath of Hamas' bloody raid into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, many Israelis and people around the world equated the newly ultraviolent and audacious Palestinian militant organization with the world's deadliest terrorist group, ISIS ' the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for example, linked the two groups directly on Oct. 25, 2023, stating: 'Hamas is ISIS and ISIS is Hamas.' President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made similar comparisons. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Hamas killing families 'brings to mind the worst of ISIS.' There are plenty of reasons for Israel to want the world to think Hamas is ISIS ' including the hope of marshaling the sort of overseas support that led to the 2014 creation of the 86-member Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. In fighting between 2014 and 2019, the coalition reclaimed all the territory the Islamic State group had seized in Iraq and Syria. And it is true that the Oct. 7 attack displayed tactics that are remarkably similar to those of the Islamic State group. But as a scholar of ISIS specifically, and Middle Eastern militants in general, I am inclined to agree with those who say the comparison between the two terrorist groups overlooks their underlying differences. The similarities are on the surface, in methods and tactics ' but their goals and ideologies remain vastly different....