ISIS Just Quintupled Its Forces. America Is Too Busy to Notice.

Iraq’s intelligence chief has issued a stark warning that should alarm Western capitals: the Islamic State has quintupled its fighting force in Syria over the past year, exploiting the power vacuum left by Bashar al-Assad’s collapse to stage what counterterrorism officials describe as a dramatic comeback.

Now, with American military and intelligence bandwidth consumed by Operation Epic Fury, the window for ISIS to consolidate that comeback may never be wider.

The timing is no accident. The United States and Israel launched surprise airstrikes on multiple sites across Iran on February 28, 2026, killing Supreme Leader Khamenei and triggering a cascading Iranian missile and drone campaign against American bases across the region, from Iraq to the Gulf states. Operation Epic Fury’s stated objectives include preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, destroying its missile arsenal, degrading its proxy networks, and annihilating its navy. Critics warn that this all-consuming campaign is pulling focus, resources, and regional attention away from the unfinished business of ISIS containment at precisely the wrong moment.