Page 75 - Sayuru 40 full set
P. 75
Sayurusara 2019 December 73
it existed so far below the radar of international 8. As the year 2018 opened, the fight against
intelligence agencies troubles counterterrorism ISIS—both military and in the realm of narratives—
officials, who wonder how many similar groups are had taken the backseat in mainstream and regional
active or operating surreptitiously in North Africa, media. However, questions remain on not only the
South Asia and elsewhere4 . finality of the so-called ‘defeat’ of the Islamic State
but the fate of the ideology itself. After all, such
Discussion ideology was successfully disseminated not only in
Iraq and Syria but also to a global audience via the
Origin, ideology and the threat group’s impressively organized internet outreach.
The Islamic State organization emerged as The life of the Islamic State in its post-
a major international security threat amid more geography phase will likely be the subject of many
than a decade of conflict in Iraq after 2003 and the case studies, as the group evolves and trains its
outbreak of unrest and conflict in Syria in 20115 . sights on regions beyond Iraq and Syria. Indeed, it
In 2014, ISIS had taken over Iraq’s second largest has already garnered some degree of success in this
city with relative ease, and their leader, Abu Bakr sphere—with ‘lone-wolf’ attacks attributed to IS
Al-Baghdadi took to the Great Mosque of Al-Nuri in in Europe, US and other regions—and the coming
the city centre to announce the institutionalization of ‘ISIS 2.0’ has become an accepted fact amongst
of their proto-state. Between 2014 and 2016, ISIS scholars and analysts who follow the organization.
conquered territory at a perilous pace in both Iraq While it is imperative to remember that ISIS works
and Syria, setting up regime to install its rules and strongly on a psychological level, and is expected
laws according to the organization’s interpretations to intensify its approach of radicalizing potential
of Islam6. recruits online, the post-geography era of the group
offers a bigger challenge than that which can be
The ISIS brought in unprecedented defeated by military operations against a semi-
challenges. Beyond holding a proto-state, it defined proto-state. The relapse of the Islamic
weaponized the internet, used technologies State into its original form that of an insurgency, is
that propagated democratization of information inevitable.
and communications against people far beyond
the caliphate and successfully created presence Islamic State has numerous affiliates
in places such as the African Sahel, Libya, and around the globe, an influential media ministry and
Philippines and so on in the form of guardianships, thousands of fighters still underground in the group’s
abroad. It created a significant brand, one that home base in Iraq and Syria. As early as 2015, ISIS
anyone from a terror group to an individual in began instructing recruits to migrate to territory
Europe could brandish, and conduct violence in its held by its overseas affiliates. And in a development
name, attaining immediate global interest7. sometimes missed by local officials abroad, it began
signing up kindred local groups in distant outposts.
As the British Foreign Secretary, Jeremy In the Philippines, ISIS recruited insurgents from
Hunt, has said, “We cannot be complacent. Even Abu Sayyaf to create what it considers its East Asia
without territory, ISIS and its poisonous ideology Province, which carried out an attack on a cathedral
will continue to pose a threat to the people of Iraq in January, killing 23 people. The ISIS affiliate in
and Syria, as well as to the wider world.” They Afghanistan has swallowed whole units of Taliban
retains the capacity to conduct insurgent-type fighters.
attacks in Syria and Iraq, and continues to threaten
the UK and our allies with its network of terrorist International response to ISIS
affiliates. “Beneath this mask, there is more than
flesh. Beneath this mask, there is an idea, and ISIS once controlled territory roughly the
ideas are bulletproof,” The ethos behind this quote, size of the UK but, thanks to a sustained military
resonates with the basic question over the future campaign by the Global Coalition and its partners
of ISIS. Theology plays a critical role within ISIS on the ground, it no longer occupies land8. The U.S.
despite being underappreciated in public discourse military continues to conduct operations against
as a pivotal reasoning behind the group’s success. the group in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, while
8. GOV.UK
it existed so far below the radar of international 8. As the year 2018 opened, the fight against
intelligence agencies troubles counterterrorism ISIS—both military and in the realm of narratives—
officials, who wonder how many similar groups are had taken the backseat in mainstream and regional
active or operating surreptitiously in North Africa, media. However, questions remain on not only the
South Asia and elsewhere4 . finality of the so-called ‘defeat’ of the Islamic State
but the fate of the ideology itself. After all, such
Discussion ideology was successfully disseminated not only in
Iraq and Syria but also to a global audience via the
Origin, ideology and the threat group’s impressively organized internet outreach.
The Islamic State organization emerged as The life of the Islamic State in its post-
a major international security threat amid more geography phase will likely be the subject of many
than a decade of conflict in Iraq after 2003 and the case studies, as the group evolves and trains its
outbreak of unrest and conflict in Syria in 20115 . sights on regions beyond Iraq and Syria. Indeed, it
In 2014, ISIS had taken over Iraq’s second largest has already garnered some degree of success in this
city with relative ease, and their leader, Abu Bakr sphere—with ‘lone-wolf’ attacks attributed to IS
Al-Baghdadi took to the Great Mosque of Al-Nuri in in Europe, US and other regions—and the coming
the city centre to announce the institutionalization of ‘ISIS 2.0’ has become an accepted fact amongst
of their proto-state. Between 2014 and 2016, ISIS scholars and analysts who follow the organization.
conquered territory at a perilous pace in both Iraq While it is imperative to remember that ISIS works
and Syria, setting up regime to install its rules and strongly on a psychological level, and is expected
laws according to the organization’s interpretations to intensify its approach of radicalizing potential
of Islam6. recruits online, the post-geography era of the group
offers a bigger challenge than that which can be
The ISIS brought in unprecedented defeated by military operations against a semi-
challenges. Beyond holding a proto-state, it defined proto-state. The relapse of the Islamic
weaponized the internet, used technologies State into its original form that of an insurgency, is
that propagated democratization of information inevitable.
and communications against people far beyond
the caliphate and successfully created presence Islamic State has numerous affiliates
in places such as the African Sahel, Libya, and around the globe, an influential media ministry and
Philippines and so on in the form of guardianships, thousands of fighters still underground in the group’s
abroad. It created a significant brand, one that home base in Iraq and Syria. As early as 2015, ISIS
anyone from a terror group to an individual in began instructing recruits to migrate to territory
Europe could brandish, and conduct violence in its held by its overseas affiliates. And in a development
name, attaining immediate global interest7. sometimes missed by local officials abroad, it began
signing up kindred local groups in distant outposts.
As the British Foreign Secretary, Jeremy In the Philippines, ISIS recruited insurgents from
Hunt, has said, “We cannot be complacent. Even Abu Sayyaf to create what it considers its East Asia
without territory, ISIS and its poisonous ideology Province, which carried out an attack on a cathedral
will continue to pose a threat to the people of Iraq in January, killing 23 people. The ISIS affiliate in
and Syria, as well as to the wider world.” They Afghanistan has swallowed whole units of Taliban
retains the capacity to conduct insurgent-type fighters.
attacks in Syria and Iraq, and continues to threaten
the UK and our allies with its network of terrorist International response to ISIS
affiliates. “Beneath this mask, there is more than
flesh. Beneath this mask, there is an idea, and ISIS once controlled territory roughly the
ideas are bulletproof,” The ethos behind this quote, size of the UK but, thanks to a sustained military
resonates with the basic question over the future campaign by the Global Coalition and its partners
of ISIS. Theology plays a critical role within ISIS on the ground, it no longer occupies land8. The U.S.
despite being underappreciated in public discourse military continues to conduct operations against
as a pivotal reasoning behind the group’s success. the group in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, while
8. GOV.UK
