continued. and extremists gained the upper hand. allahu akbar. when you have these ungoverned spaces, that s exactly where extremists like to go to set up. they can plan. they can organize. they can recruit. they can do training. that s what they need. in 2013 isis took over raqqah, a major city in syria. then they marched into iraq, capturing vast swaths of territory. they had effectively creed their own nation. an iamic state. over the last two years isis has been badly squeezed. but the group could still strike anytime in the middle east, europe or america. and syria is still in chaos.