ISIS has assembled a strategic unit of jihadis to plot terror attacks on the West as it builds its new caliphate in "silence", an expert claims.

This comes as officials in Washington say the death cult is resurgent in the Middle East and is pouring cash in Syrian prisons packed with extremists.

The evil group's new leader Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi has recruited up to 10,000 new fighters as ISIS look set to unleash a new reign of terror as the world battles Covid-19.

David Otto, a counter-terrorism expert at Global Risk International, says the new-look cult has replaced its "strategic" unit tasked with plotting attacks on western cities.

Many of the group's high ranking members were killed during the last days of the so-called caliphate in northern Syria and Iraq.

Mr Otto told the Daily Star: "They always replace any strategic leadership.

"There is a clear line of succession each time a jihadist leader is killed irrespective of which department they operate in – whether be it operations, logistics, supplies or maybe propaganda – they will be replaced by someone else or by the deputy.”

The expert says that ISIS's new leader, nicknamed the Professor, wants the group to keep a low profile while they recruit new fighters.

He said: "What they are doing now, they are not talking about the caliphate – they are building one in silence."

The Professor has also not been named in any of the cult's propaganda – a move Mr Otto believes is an attempt to avoid assassinations.

He said: "I think what is happening now is a leadership that is working underground and not saying much to the external world."

"Once the leader becomes very vocal he’s going to become a legitimate target", he adds.

This comes after ISIS claimed responsibility for a double suicide bombing in Baghdad that killed 32 people in January.

That same month US officials said militants smuggled £100million into Syrian jails packed with brainwashed fighters ready to bust out and create the second incarnation of the caliphate.

The group are also reportedly expanding in Africa and carried out a mass-beheading of more than 50 people in Mozambique in November.

Officials in Washington also highlighted the Islamic State's sprawling financial network which stretches around the globe.

The group uses "logistical hubs in Turkey" which are being used by ISIS maniacs to move cash between countries, the US Treasury says.

These money transfers, which utilise couriers, are also happening between Syria and Iraq – where the first caliphate was established.

Some of the cash is filtered into al-Hawl – a camp in north east Syria which houses ex-members of the Islamic State.

Nearly 100 financial brokers have been designated as terrorists by Washington in a bid to smash the sinister financial network.

Still, with followers around the globe, ISIS is still able to circulate money particularly in Asia and Africa, reports say.

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