Europol has said the ISIS propaganda machine has been dealt a major blow thanks to an international police operation launched on Wednesday, The Brussels Times reports.

However, historian Pieter Van Ostaeyen, an expert in the Arab world and ISIS, says this is “a slightly exaggeration” and there hasn’t been any impact.

“This operation doesn’t seem to have had any effect. There has been no disruption to Amaq, the ISIS communication channel, since Wednesday. On the contrary, ISIS is still very active via telegram. I can still access all the usual channels”, Mr Van Ostaeyen told the Belga Agency on Friday.

This is the first time Europol has spoken about an operation against ISIS propaganda channels. Europol claimed the operation had affected ISIS’s capacity to broadcast terrorist propaganda.

Pieter Van Ostaeyen cannot see what was actually achieved. “I don’t know what Europol are trying to do, but I’ve personally seen no impact”.