Isis may emerge in lethal new form after loss of ‘caliphate’
On retreat in Syria and Iraq, Islamic State is set to return to its guerrilla roots
Men suspected of being Islamic State fighters are searched at a security screening centre near Kirkuk, Iraq, on October 1st. Photograph: Ivor Prickett/The New York Times
Its de facto capital is falling. Its territory has shrivelled from the size of Portugal to a handful of outposts. Its surviving leaders are on the run. But rather than declare Islamic State and its virulent ideology conquered, many western and Arab counterterrorism officials are bracing for a new, lethal incarnation of the jihadi group.