ISIS’s leadership, affiliates, and its supporters view its territorial losses in Iraq and Syria as a setback, not as defeat, ministers of the Global Coalition said in a final statement at the end of the their meeting in the US capital.

In response, ISIS increasingly turns to insurgent tactics to try to destabilize Syria and Iraq and focuses on increasing support to its worldwide branches and networks in order to carry forward the fight from more permissive locations, and on inspiring homegrown terrorists, the statement said.

The Global Coalition welcomed Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali Alhakim as the senior-most representative of the new Iraqi government, headed by Prime Minister Adil Abd Al-Mahdi, and reaffirmed its unwavering support to Iraq and its unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.

"We are also committed to addressing the security and legal issues posed by detained ISIS foreign terrorist fighters and ensuring that they never again return to the battlefield or relocate elsewhere to conduct attacks, recruit, train, or otherwise perpetuate ISIS’s ideology," the Global Coalition pointed out.

The movement of battle-hardened foreign terrorist fighters to regions and continents as diverse as Southeast Asia and Africa is particularly troubling, it noted, adding that appropriate measures should be undertaken so that ISIS fighters and supporters are held accountable for their support or participation in ISIS’s terrorist campaign in accordance with applicable rules of international law. 

In 2019, the Coalition expects to concentrate on implementing the Working Group action plans. With the conventional military effort against ISIS in Syria nearing culmination and shifting to a supporting rather than a central role, the Coalition members will open a discussion to plan the next phase of the campaign.

"This could involve an effort to counter ISIS’s reversion to insurgency in Syria and Iraq. It could also include, addressing ISIS’s trans-border networks, branches, and affiliates, which continue to present a significant, and in some cases, growing threat to the members of our Coalition as highlighted by the June 2018 Coalition meeting of Political Directors with a focus on Africa held in Skhirate, Morocco," the source pointed out.

"The Coalition should remain united in its efforts to undermine ISIS’s brand by rolling back its access to the information space as a tool to spread its toxic ideology and propaganda," the Coalition said.

Morocco was represented at this meeting by minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, Nasser Bourita. Foreign ministers of 79 country members of the Coalition took part in the meeting.