The Bondi Attack, the Islamic State, and the Price of Strategic Shortsightedness |
Reports that the Bondi shooters travelled to the southern Philippines to receive military-style training was a shocking revelation in the aftermath of Australia’s worst mass-casualty terrorist attack. Details of how the terrorists spent their month-long trip remain scant, which has fuelled ill-informed speculation that has done little to advance understanding and much to draw the ire of Philippines government officials.
Philippines National Security Adviser Secretary Eduardo Ano released a statement, rightly asserting that descriptions of Mindanao as a terrorist breeding ground are “outdated and misleading” while calling for “evidence-based reporting and responsible public discourse.”
Ano’s frustrations, which echo those expressed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., are understandable given the immense efforts the Philippines has made to confront terrorist threats across the archipelagic nation but especially on its restive southern island of Mindanao.
While it seems clear that the Bondi terrorists were inspired by the Islamic State, their links to Islamic State factions in the Philippines, let alone claims that they received training, seem tenuous at best. However, the spotlight on the Philippines is an opportunity to reflect on the persistence of the Islamic State threat in the country’s south and the importance of the ongoing Bangsamoro peace process for preventing a resurgence of jihadist threats in Southeast Asia.
“The Pride of Sydney”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese indicated soon after the December 14 Bondi Beach attack that its perpetrators were inspired by the Islamic State.
Then, on December 18, the editorial in issue 526 of Islamic State’s Al-Naba magazine praised the father-son duo as the “Pride of Sydney” while mocking counterterrorism efforts that “look for a structure to pursue… a cell to arrest… a camp or a guesthouse to bomb.” Reflecting the group’s transition from a proto-state, the editorial claims that the group’s incitement of supporters to engage in lone actor attacks is “an effective strategy that does not require many jihad resources and overcomes many obstacles, and moreover, plunges enemies into an endless cycle of attrition.” The........