How a resurgent Isis spread its tentacles far and wide

As its links with the Bondi gunmen are investigated, author Peter Neumann explores how the terror group has evolved, and why we should be worried by its chilling new call to arms

- Peter Neumann

Isis is not what it used to be. At its peak a decade ago, the group governed a territory in Iraq and Syria that was roughly the size of Great Britain, with a population of nearly 10 million people. It declared so-called provinces across three continents and projected an image of unstoppable momentum. That version of Isis no longer exists.

Its self-declared “caliphate” was comprehensively defeated by decisive international action led by the United States and its allies. By 2019, Isis controlled little more than a handful of villages along the Syrian-Iraqi border. With the collapse of territorial control came the end of its centrally directed global terror campaign, which had reached Europe and Britain by the mid-2010s with devastating attacks in Paris, Brussels, Manchester, London, Berlin, Stockholm, Barcelona, and other European cities.

But while Isis was beaten, it did not disappear. It has now emerged that the alleged father-and-son gunmen who killed 15 people and injured 40 more in the mass shooting at Bondi Beach may have been inspired by the Isis terrorist organisation.

Sajid Akram, 50 and Naveed Akram, 24, allegedly stood on an overpass bridge near to the event and shouted “Allahu Akbar” as they carried out the massacre, and New South Wales police force commissioner Mal Lanyon said a car registered to Naveed Akram contained IEDs and Isis flags.

“It would appear that this was motivated by Islamic State ideology,” Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese told ABC Sydney.