There is a “real risk” of increased funding for attacks in Europe as Daesh (ISIS) loses ground in Iraq and Syria, the EU’s security chief warned Thursday.
Daesh has lost an estimated 90 percent of its territory in Iraq. At one time, the group held around half of Syria but today controls just 15 percent, according to estimates.
“As we have success against Daesh on the ground in Iraq and Syria, they are moving funds out of Iraq and Syria,” Julian King told the civil liberties committee in the European Parliament.
“There is a real risk of a new influx of funding for terrorism. We need to be conscious of that and we need to work together to see what we can do about it,” he added.
Last month, a U.N. report said that Daesh was continuing to send remittances abroad – often small sums, making them difficult to detect — as part of a bid to step up its international efforts “as demonstrated by the higher pace of attacks in Europe.”