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GIVING THANKS Health care workers in Mumbai, located in the Indian state hit worst by COVID-
19, are showered with flower petals from a helicopter on May 3 as part of a day of appreciation
by the armed forces, which also included flyovers and naval displays. Two days earlier, the Indian
government announced that lockdown would continue for at least two more weeks, with some
relaxations in low-risk areas. As of May 5, India had confirmed 49,391 cases and 1,694 deaths.
NEWS
TICKER
Tribes sue
Treasury over
COVID-19 aidA group of Native
American tribes filed
a lawsuit on April
over the Treasury
Department’s failure
to distribute $8 billion
in COVID-19 relief
meant for them. The
delay is partly due to
a clash over the tribal
governments’ claim
that Alaska Native
corporations shouldn’t
be eligible for funds.Microbe stops
malaria,
scientists sayResearchers from
Kenya and the U.K.
discovered a new
microbe that prevents
mosquitoes from being
infected with malaria,
per a study published
May 4 in the journal
Nature. The scientists
said it has “enormous”
potential to stop a
disease that kills more
than 400,000 people a
year, mostly children.Mississippi
finds massive
misspendingMore than $94 million
in federal poverty aid
distributed over three
years by a Mississippi
agency was misspent
or not properly
documented, according
to a May 4 state
audit. Lax oversight by
the agency’s former
director enabled two
nonprofits to spend
money on luxury cars,
lobbyists and concerts,
according to the report.When ISIS mIlItantS led a coordI-
nated overnight assault that killed 10 Iraqi
paramilitary members on May 1, it was
the latest attack in a rising tide of violence
across Iraq, suggesting the group is mount-
ing a resurgence less than three years after it
was routed from Mosul. Amid the COVID-
19 pandemic, the U.S. troop drawdown and
Iraq’s internal political crisis, experts say
ISIS is exploiting security gaps—and shift-
ing its tactics from intimidation and assassi-
nation to more sophisticated techniques.
GLOBAL REACH ISIS continues to pose
a threat far beyond its heartland in Iraq
and Syria, where it is waging insurgencies.
With the pandemic reducing the capacity
of many security forces, ISIS affiliates have
conducted operations in Afghanistan, West
Africa, Central Africa, Southeast Asia and
elsewhere; an attack was thwarted in Ger-
many, while an ISIS supporter rammed his
vehicle into police in France. (In the U.S.,
intelligence shows that far-right groups
pose a greater threat to homeland security.)
PROPAGANDA Widespread fear and isola-
tion caused by the pandemic creates “condi-
tions very well suited to recruitment,” says
Rita Katz, a co-founder of the extremism
monitor SITE Intelligence. ISIS has blamed
COVID-19 on “crusader nations” in Europe
and Shi‘ite “polytheists” in Iran. When Ra-
madan began in April, ISIS called for more
attacks in the West and ramped up dissemi-
nation of English-language content.GAINING STRENGTH The pandemic itself
is unlikely to seriously aid ISIS, says Seth
G. Jones of the Center for Strategic and In-
ternational Studies—but its ranks could
swell if imprisoned jihadists are able to re-
join. Since the U.S. began pulling troops
from northeast Syria in October, Kurdish
forces have struggled to guard some 10,
ISIS detainees; a local coronavirus outbreak
could further jeopardize their control. And
in countries that have failed to address the
causes of extremism, grievances that arise
during the pandemic may well allow ISIS to
flourish once more. —JoSeph hInckSTHE BULLETIN
With the world preoccupied,
ISIS sees an opening