IS offsets ‘caliphate’ defeats with new attacks abroad

BEIRUT: By launching attacks in Yemen and Tunisia, the Islamic State (IS) group aims to demonstrate its ability to expand in order to divert attention from setbacks in Syria and Iraq, experts say.

“Expansion is their strategy,” and the first IS attacks in Yemen and Tunisia allow it to appear omnipresent, said JM Berger, analyst and co-author of “ISIS: the State of Terror.”