Beyond the frontline: watching ISIS

[davidbfpo]

Last month Medhi Hassan gave this spirited, very short explanation on 'How religious are 'Islamic terrorists' like ISIL? Mehdi Hasan challenges the common view that ISIL or al-Qaeda attackers are devout Muslims.'

Simply brilliant (2m45secs):http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/upfront/2016/02/religious-called-islamic-terrorists-160220042236009.html

[JWing]

Another great piece by Charlie Winter on IS's propaganda work. Here's a link to the article (https://www.lawfareblog.com/totalitarianism-101-islamic-states-offline-propaganda-strategy).

[SWJ Blog]

Intel Analysts: We Were Forced Out for Telling the Truth About Obama’s ISIS War (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/intel-analysts-we-were-forced-out-for-telling-the-truth-about-obama%E2%80%99s-isis-war)

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[davidbfpo]

Yassin Musharbash, a German-Jordanian journalist, has published his analysis of 10% of the 30k forms, along with two comments:http://abususu.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/an-analysis-of-3000-islamic-state-entry.html?

Some stats:
Just under ten per cent offer to die as suicide bombers ("Istishhadi"). Even less want to be an Ighimasi. The vast majority opts to become a "fighter" ("muqatil").
Roughly three quarters think of their own knowledge of Sharia as "weak".
The large majority of recruits is aged between 20 and 30 and appears to have had no real jobs or jobs that require little training or have had no advanced schooling.


The anecdotal observations give us an idea of the spectrum we can find within the IS: veterans of Jihad next to beginners, professionals next to scared people, educated and skilled people next to untrained and probably not very intelligent recruits. Not all of these will turn out to be master warriors, master terrorists or even master administration officials.

[SWJ Blog]

On ISIS: The Reality of the 21st Century Battlefield (http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/on-isis-the-reality-of-the-21st-century-battlefield)

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[davidbfpo]

From The Daily Beast:http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/17/u-s-ratchets-up-cyber-attacks-on-isis.html

As in the practice in DC after remarks by the President:
Three U.S. officials told The Daily Beast that those operations have moved beyond mere disruption and are entering a new, more aggressive phase that is targeted at individuals and is gleaning intelligence that could help capture and kill more ISIS fighters.

[davidbfpo]

Via Twitter I learnt that CTC @ West Point has examined the files and published a report:
The analysts believe the documents, which were also given to a British media outlet, are genuine and the details in them revelatory.Either this:http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-uncovered/isis-files-what-leaked-documents-reveal-about-terror-recruits-n557411

Or:https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/the-caliphates-global-workforce-an-inside-look-at-the-islamic-states-foreign-fighter-paper-trail

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CgWZsIFWwAA3UIH.jpg

[davidbfpo]

Stephen Biddle has a hard hitting article, which few will like, but alas he is probably right. Here is a taster:
In fact, we have a lot of evidence on wars like this and how they typically end. But it’s not a very encouraging story. The Islamic State threat is likely to persist, in one form or another, for a long time. In the meantime, we’re going to be stuck with a policy that amounts to containment and damage limitation, whose shortcomings will frustrate many Americans. Civil wars of the kind in which the U.S. conflict with the Islamic State is embedded are notoriously hard (http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/20031/ending_civil_wars.html) to terminate and typically drag on for years.
Link:http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2016/04/america-cant-do-much-about-isis/127644/

[davidbfpo]

A short article by Professor Paul Rogers; his summary:
Twenty months after the beginning of the US-led coalition air war against the self-styled Islamic State, the movement is definitively in retreat in Iraq and Syria and the US is increasingly, if secretively, pursuing a combined air and ground campaign. Yet IS is proving adaptive in holding core territory, not least around Mosul and Raqqa, in co-opting armed Islamist groups beyond the Levant, and in attacking Western and Russian interests beyond the battlefield. As per its “remaining and expanding” goals, the expansion of IS’s propaganda war to mobilise supporters globally is ever more crucial as its ability to remain is threatened.
Link:http://oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/publications/paul_rogers_monthly_briefing/islamic_state_retreat_or_transition

[CrowBat]

Stephen Biddle has a hard hitting article, which few will like, but alas he is probably right. Here is a taster:
Link:http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2016/04/america-cant-do-much-about-isis/127644/
Definitely a very intersting read.

Now, by side that it's 'right on the money', can't help but observe that the title (and some of content too), sound apologetic, or at least 'on the search for excuse' in style of, 'we can't do anything there, so better we do not meddle'. The last-before-last paragraph reads like a list of all the US (though not only US: EU's, Middle Eastern, Russian etc.) mistakes - especially in Syria, but in Iraq too.

Anyway, the feature still contains loads of more in-depth thinking than usually provided in such articles.

The only thing I'm really missing would be the question: what to do with the Daesh once it is defeated? Slaughter all of them - to the last wife and kid? Re-educate them? Convert them...?

[Bill Moore]

Another hard hitting article from Frontline that illuminates the dysfunction in our approach that our leaders and the talking heads on the media who claim to be strategy experts keep side stepping.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-clashing-agendas-in-the-fight-against-isis/?utm_source=Eloqua&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=ICYMI

The Clashing Agendas In The Fight Against ISIS


To listen to this year’s crop of presidential candidates, defeating ISIS is just a matter of enlisting more of our regional allies’ help. We need to build a coalition of Sunni Arab nations, the candidates all say, to form a ground force to go in and take ISIS out. If only it were so simple.

We hear this tune too many times that rings empty, just like elevator music. Through, by, and with, FID, security force assistance, and drivel continues to spew forth regardless of the facts that contradict the effectiveness of this approach when you don't have willing partners.

The author points out that ISIS is a problem, but they're a symptom of a larger issue which is Shia oppression. An oppression we arguably enabled by removing Saddam and enabling mob rule under the rubric of democracy, and then shifting our effort from putting pressure on Assad to myopically focusing on ISIS as though that will work.


When the U.S. airdropped weapons and ammunition in October 2014 to support Syrian Kurds of the YPG fighting ISIS for control of the Syrian border town of Kobani, Turkish tanks and troops stood by. President Recip Tayip Erdogan was furious that the U.S. had decided to supply and support the YPG.

The Turks denied the U.S. to conduct combat operations from Turkey in response, and now this.


Turkey has since opened Incirlik but has continued to target the YPG forces, despite the fact that the YPG is America’s principal and most reliable ground ally in the fight against ISIS.

Next door in Iraq (not to mention the riots in the Green Zone)


Meanwhile, sectarian tensions continue to fester in Iraq. The central government, without a strong national army, has relied on Iranian-backed Shia militias to confront ISIS. The results have been disastrous. After U.S. airstrikes routed ISIS from Tikrit, Iranian-backed Shia militias mounted dozens of revenge attacks against Sunni residents of Saddam Hussein’s hometown and in neighboring provinces as well.

If this was a novel it would be a best seller, but the so called experts in the region prior to 9/11 would argue that while this is good fiction, the probability of something like this happening is quite low or even impossible.

In some regards it reminds of Richard Clark's novel, "The Scorpion's Gate"

http://www.amazon.com/The-Scorpions-Gate-Richard-Clarke/dp/0399152946/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

And one reviewer's comments,


So this is the prediction of the near future Middle East the sage of the 9/11 commission brings us? Rest Assured, none of it will actually happen.

[davidbfpo]

RUSI has a new, very short commentary and they conclude:
Daesh has clearly learned lessons from Al–Qa’ida, and AQI in particular, so that it can hold territory more successfully and more effectively utilise the skills of its recruits. However, the evidence from the Daesh database suggests that the fundamental mechanisms of terrorist recruitment and radicalisation are still the same.
Social media has given the group greater access to a global audience, but the social processes underlying the radicalisation and mobilisation of foreign fighters still mirrors that seen among the recruits of Al-Qa’ida. Behind the bureaucracy, foreign fighters are still just a bunch of guys.
Link:https://rusi.org/commentary/friends-sponsors-and-bureaucracy-initial-look-daesh-database

[CrowBat]

The Turks denied the U.S. to conduct combat operations from Turkey in response, and now this.For years - read: long before the USA ever came to the idea to ask Turkey for permission to deploy its combat aircraft at Incirlik AB so they could fight the Daesh from there - Turkey, a loyal NATO-ally since 50+ years, demanded few things, from the USA and from the NATO. Between these was the NATO to provide full support if they (Turks) go into Syria to fight the Daesh (and Assad, of course). Foremost on behalf of the NATO (even more so considering what happened afterwards; see below).

Half the NATO said 'nyet' (literally, because of all the various talking-heads there on Putler's paylists) and the other couldn't bother to pay attention.

When nearly 3 million of Syrian refugees flooded Turkey, NATO just couldn't give a damn: it was the EU that began screaming when about half a million of these began flooding Greece...

Meanwhile, Turkey did grant permission for the US aircraft to deploy to Incirlik AB, and even began flying air strikes on Daesh in Syria - only to have the CENTCOM call it to stop immediately: supposedly, Turks were 'disturbing' US operations...

A month later, Russians forgot to announce ops of their Su-24s along the Turkish border, prompting Turks to conclude these would be Assadist Sukhois - and shoot one down, which was fully in line with currently valid NATO's ROEs for such cases ('unidentified aircraft, violating airspace, deploying weapons...').

Instead of informing themselves properly about what happened, all the possible NATO-relevant talking-heads de-facto sided with Russia and accused Turkey for doing that....

As next, certain official with job description 'President of the USA' ordered a significant contingent of the US-supported, Sunni-Arab 'Syrian Democratic Force' (a US-supported coalition of Sunni Arabs and YPG's Kurds, specifically created with the aim of fighting Daesh) to be transferred over 300km via Turkey to the Afrin enclave. And this in support of the YPG, which is an offshot of the PKK - considered a terrorist organization by all of the NATO.

Two weeks later, the same official then ordered Turkey to close its borders to Syria.

You know, I'm not the least pro-Erdo, and surely not curious to defend him. From my POV, he couldn't get bashed any more.

But, every story has two sides. Especially this one. And foremost because the US official in question - who, BTW, is the very same character repeatedly insisting on respect for 'Iranian interests' from all possible US-alllies - seems not to consider Turkey even for a sovereign state.

[Bill Moore]

For years - read: long before the USA ever came to the idea to ask Turkey for permission to deploy its combat aircraft at Incirlik AB so they could fight the Daesh from there - Turkey, a loyal NATO-ally since 50+ years, demanded few things, from the USA and from the NATO. Between these was the NATO to provide full support if they (Turks) go into Syria to fight the Daesh (and Assad, of course). Foremost on behalf of the NATO (even more so considering what happened afterwards; see below).

Half the NATO said 'nyet' (literally, because of all the various talking-heads there on Putler's paylists) and the other couldn't bother to pay attention.

When nearly 3 million of Syrian refugees flooded Turkey, NATO just couldn't give a damn: it was the EU that began screaming when about half a million of these began flooding Greece...

Meanwhile, Turkey did grant permission for the US aircraft to deploy to Incirlik AB, and even began flying air strikes on Daesh in Syria - only to have the CENTCOM call it to stop immediately: supposedly, Turks were 'disturbing' US operations...

A month later, Russians forgot to announce ops of their Su-24s along the Turkish border, prompting Turks to conclude these would be Assadist Sukhois - and shoot one down, which was fully in line with currently valid NATO's ROEs for such cases ('unidentified aircraft, violating airspace, deploying weapons...').

Instead of informing themselves properly about what happened, all the possible NATO-relevant talking-heads de-facto sided with Russia and accused Turkey for doing that....

As next, certain official with job description 'President of the USA' ordered a significant contingent of the US-supported, Sunni-Arab 'Syrian Democratic Force' (a US-supported coalition of Sunni Arabs and YPG's Kurds, specifically created with the aim of fighting Daesh) to be transferred over 300km via Turkey to the Afrin enclave. And this in support of the YPG, which is an offshot of the PKK - considered a terrorist organization by all of the NATO.

Two weeks later, the same official then ordered Turkey to close its borders to Syria.

You know, I'm not the least pro-Erdo, and surely not curious to defend him. From my POV, he couldn't get bashed any more.

But, every story has two sides. Especially this one. And foremost because the US official in question - who, BTW, is the very same character repeatedly insisting on respect for 'Iranian interests' from all possible US-alllies - seems not to consider Turkey even for a sovereign state.

Disappointing, but sadly not surprising. Thanks for sharing.

[SWJ Blog]

War Against ISIS Hits Hurdles Just as the U.S. Military Gears Up (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/war-against-isis-hits-hurdles-just-as-the-us-military-gears-up)

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[SWJ Blog]

Baghdad Bombings Reveal ISIS New Plan: Tearing Iraq Apart (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/baghdad-bombings-reveal-isis-new-plan-tearing-iraq-apart)

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[SWJ Blog]

How Kosovo Was Turned Into Fertile Ground for ISIS (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/how-kosovo-was-turned-into-fertile-ground-for-isis)

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[SWJ Blog]

Some Considerations on Dealing with ISIS (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/some-considerations-on-dealing-with-isis)

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[Bill Moore]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/who-was-the-founder-of-isis/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Eloqua&utm_campaign=ICYMI


But who was Zarqawi?
Could his rise have been prevented? Here are six things about his life you might not have known.
An attack plan was fast tracked to the White House, but with the U.S. just months away from a
full-scale invasion of Iraq, the CIA plan was shot down.Bruce Hoffman, a former U.S. military adviser explained:
Zarqawi had a strategy. He’s just trying to leave it so that it’s only the United States military left, and it’s a black-and-white conflict. And this will enable him to rally considerably more support to himself and to his cause.

The second part of his plan was to foment a civil war. To do this, he would attack Shia Muslims, causing them to retaliate against Sunnis, who would then have no choice but to turn to jihadists for protection.

[SWJ Blog]

ISIS Will Not Get Far in Asia (http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/isis-will-not-get-far-in-asia)

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[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to WoTR where Clint Watts assembles and examines the various data sources on IS recruitment:http://warontherocks.com/2016/06/beyond-syria-and-iraq-the-islamic-states-hr-files-illuminate-dangerous-trends/

[davidbfpo]

Catching up with emails I found that the PBS documentary also relied upon the now retired CIA analyst, Nada Bakos. In her interview:
..Bakos talks about Zarqawi’s rise, and why she believes “we would not be where we’re at today” had the U.S. acted sooner. “Zarqawi would not have been able to build a jihadist organization,would not have picked up his playbook and then taken it from there.”


She raises a number of issues, notably that AQI simply "laid low" as the allies pursued them and the military wrongly claimed to have defeated them.


Link:https://nadabakos.com/2016/05/20/nada-bakos-how-zarqawi-went-from-thug-to-isis-founder/

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to WoTR for the latest Clint Watts analysis on the future of ISIS, which starts with:
Panic over which future Islamic State affiliate should be of chief concern rises each day as the Islamic State loses turf in Iraq and Syria and foreign fighters flee.
Link:http://warontherocks.com/2016/06/when-the-caliphate-crumbles-the-future-of-the-islamic-states-affiliates/

He concludes, bar an important sentence:
Lastly, of all locations, Lebanon may be the most important to watch. A fragile state close to Syria, Lebanon is producing high rates of foreign fighters, faces floods of refugees, lacks a strong international counterterrorism presence, faces constant sectarian strife, and sits proximate to every jihadi’s common enemy, Israel. Lebanon, moreso than any other country, seems an ideal opportunity for the Islamic State should the caliphate end.

That last sentence:
Much like the American withdrawal from Iraq six years ago, the Islamic State’s demise, when it comes, won’t spell the end of jihad — just the close of a chapter and the start of a new one somewhere else.

[JWing]

Just published an interview with Naval War Prof Craig Whiteside about Abu Omar al-Baghdadi IS's 2nd leader after Zarqawi was killed. Abu Omar has been generally denigrated. Originally there were questions about whether he was a real person or not and after that he was called a figurehead. Turns out he had much more standing within the group and helped it survive the Surge Sahwa Awakening and started rebuilding it. Here's a link to the interview (http://musingsoniraq.blogspot.com/2016/06/who-was-al-qaeda-in-iraqs-abu-omar-al.html).

[SWJ Blog]

CNAS Releases ISIS Study Group Final Report (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/cnas-releases-isis-study-group-final-report)

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[SWJ Blog]

DOJ and FBI Backtrack After Criticism for Removing ISIS from Orlando Transcript (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/doj-and-fbi-backtrack-after-criticism-for-removing-isis-from-orlando-transcript)

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[SWJ Blog]

ISIS: State or Terror Group? (http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/isis-state-or-terror-group)

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[SWJ Blog]

Fallujah’s Importance to ISIS Helped Iraq Recapture City (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/fallujah%E2%80%99s-importance-to-isis-helped-iraq-recapture-city)

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[SWJ Blog]

Security Expert: 'ISIS And Al-Qaida Are Competing On A Worldwide Canvas' (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/security-expert-isis-and-al-qaida-are-competing-on-a-worldwide-canvas)

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[SWJ Blog]

In the Age of ISIS, Who’s a Terrorist, and Who’s Simply Deranged? (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/in-the-age-of-isis-who%E2%80%99s-a-terrorist-and-who%E2%80%99s-simply-deranged)

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[SWJ Blog]

Is ISIS Really 'On the Run,' as Kerry Says? (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/is-isis-really-on-the-run-as-kerry-says)

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[SWJ Blog]

The ‘Biggest Strategic Concern’ About Mosul? Putting it Back Together After ISIS Loses. (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/the-%E2%80%98biggest-strategic-concern%E2%80%99-about-mosul-putting-it-back-together-after-isis-loses)

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[SWJ Blog]

As ISIS Loosens Grip, U.S. and Iraq Prepare for Grinding Insurgency (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/as-isis-loosens-grip-us-and-iraq-prepare-for-grinding-insurgency)

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[SWJ Blog]

How a Secretive Branch of ISIS Built a Global Network of Killers (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/how-a-secretive-branch-of-isis-built-a-global-network-of-killers)

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[SWJ Blog]

With ISIS on the Run, New Wars Could Erupt in Iraq (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/with-isis-on-the-run-new-wars-could-erupt-in-iraq)

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[SWJ Blog]

New Commander Will Increase Tempo of US Operations in Conclusive Stage of ISIS Fight (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/new-commander-will-increase-tempo-of-us-operations-in-conclusive-stage-of-isis-fight)

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[SWJ Blog]

The ISIS War Has a New Commander and ISIS May Be the Least of His Worries (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/the-isis-war-has-a-new-commander-and-isis-may-be-the-least-of-his-worries)

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[SWJ Blog]

Former US Commanders Take Increasingly Dim View of War on ISIS (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/former-us-commanders-take-increasingly-dim-view-of-war-on-isis)

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[SWJ Blog]

New Tricks Make ISIS a Sophisticated Opponent (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/new-tricks-make-isis-a-sophisticated-opponent)

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[OUTLAW 09]

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
For the real historical background on #ISIS & its roots going back to 1999, see my 2014 report:

—> “Profiling #IS"

http://brook.gs/2bnDpLK

[JWing]

What's next for the Islamic State as its caliphate is collapsing? Best to look into Mao's theory of revolutionary people's war as argued by Naval War College, Monterey Prof Craig Whiteside. Here's a link (http://musingsoniraq.blogspot.com/2016/09/with-mosul-threatened-and-caliphate.html).

[davidbfpo]

Clints Watts in FPRI examines in a short article on 'Two-and-a-Half Years After ISIS’s Rise: Global Jihad Spreads And Morphs':http://www.fpri.org/2016/09/2-12-years-isis-rise-global-jihad-spreads-morphs/

He is optmistic that US intellignce community will understand the global jihad better:
Successfully anticipating jihad’s divergence will require tens or even hundreds of analysts equipped with advanced degrees, language skills, and field experience tapped into a blend of human and technical sources. Luckily, we have that! It’s called the U.S. intelligence community. Moving forward, Western intelligence services will be positioned to put together the global picture. Jihadis have gone local and academics and analysts should as well. To understand jihad’s local flavor moving forward, look to journalists (like here (http://www.nytimes.com/by/c-j-chivers)and here (https://twitter.com/abususu?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ct wgr%5Eauthor)) and academics (here’s one (http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-grinding-fight-to-root-out-isis-in-a-battered-libya)) doing true field research, in-person interviews and reporting rather than those relying heavily on social media personas of dubious access and reliability.

[Johannes U]

Apparently a French IS activist published the names and addresses of 4 Belgian soldiers on the Internet.

I have only the Belgian and German news version:

http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.deutsch/nachrichten/1.2779933

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/33982/Islamitische-Staat/article/detail/2889682/2016/09/28/Belgische-soldaten-in-vizier-van-IS.dhtml

[SWJ Blog]

ISIS and Mosul: Keeping Pandora’s Box Closed (http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/isis-and-mosul-keeping-pandora%E2%80%99s-box-closed)

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[davidbfpo]

In July 2016 the London-based, neo-conservative think-tank, the Henry Jackson Society, released a report Profiles of Islamic State Leaders by Kyle Orton, an analyst who often appears in the Syrian War threads.Today the report was publicised again and HJS states:
The report provides detailed profiles and biographical details of the key figures within the caliphate’s government, both for the chief administrators internally, and for those organising attacks against the West. The command and control structure of the organisation is laid out in detail.Link to the seventy pg. report:http://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/IS-leaders-report.pdf

I have not read the report.

[SWJ Blog]

ISIS Turning Into a Guerrilla Army, Top General Warns (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/isis-turning-into-a-guerrilla-army-top-general-warns)

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[SWJ Blog]

The Next US President Can Expect Weakened, But Still Lethal ISIS (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/the-next-us-president-can-expect-weakened-but-still-lethal-isis)

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[SWJ Blog]

ISIS: An Adaptive Hybrid Threat in Transition (http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/isis-an-adaptive-hybrid-threat-in-transition)

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[SWJ Blog]

With Mosul Under Siege, ISIS Leader Breaks Silence to Issue a Rallying Cry (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/with-mosul-under-siege-isis-leader-breaks-silence-to-issue-a-rallying-cry)

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[SWJ Blog]

DoD Walks Back Promise to Attack ISIS Capital ASAP (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/dod-walks-back-promise-to-attack-isis-capital-asap)

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[SWJ Blog]

ISIS: A Revolutionary Group, Fighting a Textbook Insurgency (http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/isis-a-revolutionary-group-fighting-a-textbook-insurgency)

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[davidbfpo]

An IISS podcast (56 mins), with Dr Nelly Lahoud, ex-West Point CTC and the summary states:
...addressed the Islamic State's prospects as its state-building project fails. Topics discussed included the way in which the same ideological tools that once served to propel the momentum of the startup state are now generating ideological uncertainties among the group's followers. The discussion also drew on how the Islamic State's official publications envisage the role of women in its militant worldview.Link:http://www.iiss.org/en/events/events-s-calendar/the-islamic-state---between-aspirations-and-reality-63ec?ec_as=03EC62FBCA624B4F8CBC079272293849

I have not listened yet to this.

[davidbfpo]

Charlie Winter, ex-ICSR and now at a university in Alabama, has a short article on 'Suicide Tactics and the Islamic State'. His aim:
I below offer some observations on the group’s three main suicide modi operandi.Link:https://icct.nl/publication/suicide-tactics-and-the-islamic-state/


Moderator's Note: thread closed and a new thread started upon President Trump being sworn in:Responding to ISIS & Terrorism under President Trump (http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/Responding to ISIS & Terrorism under President Trump)