All these attacks underscore the ­important point that though IS’s territorial caliphate – the area in Syria and Iraq in which it assumed both political and religious authority – has now gone, the group’s ability to inspire acts of terror on foreign soil through online propaganda and ideological influence remains scarily formidable. And finally the third category is “Inspired”, those so-called lone wolf attackers like Shamsud-Din Jabbar in New Orleans last week who are radicalised through online propaganda and carry out attacks on their own. According to The Soufan Center, for weeks prior to Jabbar’s attack, there had been calls on various IS Telegram and Rocket.Chat accounts for terrorist attacks over Christmas and New Year as the group sought to seize momentum heading into 2025.