Navigated to ISIS Never Really Went Away

ISIS Never Really Went Away

Dec 18, 2025
28 mins

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Episode Description

More than a decade after its peak, the Islamic State has changed, but it isn’t defeated. This past weekend, the jihadist group reemerged in connection with two disparate acts of violence thousands of miles apart. 

Two U.S. soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in Syria by a man the Pentagon says is affiliated with ISIS. A day later, at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, two men opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration, killing 15 and wounding dozens. The men had homemade ISIS flags in their car, and had recently traveled to an area in the Philippines where ISIS-affiliated groups are known to still be active. Are these incidents connected? And do they point to a group that’s evolving?


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