Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS): an explainer By Freya Petersen The conflict in Syria has seen the rise to prominence of an Islamist militant group called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). ISIS - the final S refers to al-Sham, an Arabic word for the fertile crescent region in the eastern Mediterranean - has become a leading force in anti-government attacks in Syria and Iraq. In doing so its fighters have taken advantage of a power vacuum, generated in the case of Iraq by the overthrow of Saddam Husseins dictatorship in the 2003 US-led invasion, and the fractured state of rebel forces. AUDIO: Splintering Syria, no end in sight for civil war (PM) The Al Qaeda-linked jihadist group has mounted hundreds of attacks in Syria since 2011 and played a leading role in seizing a military air base in the northern city of Aleppo last August. It also claims responsibility for numerous operations in Iraq: Islamists from the group have now seized control of Fallujah and most of Ramadi, the main cities in the Sunni Muslim-dominated province of Anbar. The groups avowed aim is to set up a new Sunni state straddling the border areas linking Iraq and Syria, and based on sharia law. Genesis of a terror group: When Iraqs Al Qaeda met Syrian Islamist rebels With the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq in 2011, the Sunni jihadist group Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) - which had been a key force in the anti-American insurgency - not only increased attacks there but expanded its reach into neighbouring Syria. Rebranding itself as ISIS, the group recruited members of rebel groups opposing the regime of president Bashar al-Assad, including those from the Syrian jihadist group, the Jabhat al-Nusra Front. Al-Nusra rose to early prominence in the Syria conflict as one of a number of rebel groups opposing the Assad regime, and quickly gained popularity with brazen attacks that it said were a response to alleged atrocities committed by Syrian government forces. The US fears that Al-Nusra is using the Syrian conflict to further its jihadist ideas and goals for an Islamic state, raising fears that Syria will likely become a hotspot for Al Qaeda activity. Washington has designated the group a foreign terrorist organisation, citing its links to Al Qaeda in Iraq. ISIS v Al-Nusra: rival groups sharing some common goals Experts differ on the topic of cooperation between ISIS and Al-Nusra. Aaron Y Zelin, a researcher at Washington DC-based think tank The Washington Institute, says that in 2011 ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi tried to merge with Al-Nusra, which at the time was one of the (Syrian) oppositions best fighting forces. The legacy of war Al Qaeda, which had no presence in Iraq prior to the US invasion, now has a niche there, writes Amin Saikal. Al-Nusras leader Abu Muhammad al-Jawlani ultimately rejected the merger, though not before many Syrian jihadists had left his group for ISIS. ISIS has since emerged as the more dominant group, attracting a large number of Syrian and foreign fighters. ISIS is also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, al-Sham being a historic Arabic name for the Fertile Crescent area and referring to a region comprising areas of modern Iraq, Syria, Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Lebanon. Levant, a Western term, refers to the same geographic area of the Middle East. One of the worlds most deadly terrorist organisations The Australian government has added ISIS to its list of terrorist organisations, replacing its listing for Al Qaeda in Iraq to reflect the expansion of the organisations operating area to include Syria. Attorney-General George Brandis described ISIS as one of the worlds most deadly and active terrorist organisations, saying the group - which includes many foreign fighters, including Westerners - conducts frequent and often indiscriminate attacks including the targeting of public gatherings to maximise casualties. Senator Brandis said the groups establishment of independent operations in Syria had resulted in the defection of some Al-Nusra members to ISIS. Hearts and minds: Learning from past jihadi atrocities Mr Zelin, who researches how jihadist groups operate in the wake of the Arab uprisings, writes that ISIS bolstered its growing reputation as a key player in the jihad against the Syrian regime with the takeover of Minakh air base in Aleppo, among other operations. However, he writes, a large part of the groups success lies in its efforts to cultivate support among ordinary Syrians and avoid repeating the mistakes that its predecessors made in Iraq, namely the beheadings and other brutal activities carried out by Al Qaeda in Iraq in the early stages of the sectarian war there. Besides light-hearted activities aimed at endearing themselves to the people, ISIS members have also provided aid to civilian protestors in Damascus, free medical services to locals in Jarabulus, bags of food to the needy in rural Aleppo, and below-market fuel to residents in Deir al-Zour governorate. These materials have been branded with the groups black flag, illustrating that ISIS has significant organizational and financial resources as well as a clear intent to publicise its charitable aims. Such efforts indicate that ISIS is attempting to lay the groundwork for a future Islamic state by gradually socialising Syrians to the concept, he writes. Syrian fighter guards against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant PHOTO: A Syrian rebel fighter guards a street to prevent members of ISIS from entering Idlib on January 6, 2014. (Reuters: Fadi Mashan) Ruthless masked army blamed for kidnappings, disappearances, torture of opponents However, Islamist rebels themselves have accused ISIS of being worse than the Assad regime, after the group was blamed for the kidnapping and killing of Hussein al-Suleiman, a physician who was also a commander in a rival militia. Lebanons Daily Star newspaper cited the Islamic Front militia as saying that Suleiman was arrested after he went to meet with an ISIS delegation in order to settle a dispute that arose in a village near Aleppo. They kidnapped him and tortured him, and then killed him and disfigured his corpse, in a way unknown to the Syrian people prior to the revolution, even when it came to the branches of the criminal Assad regime’s security bodies, a statement from the group said. It warned that such tactics risked internal fighting, in which the Syrian revolution will be the first loser. German newspaper Der Spiegel reports that the group has kidnapped hundreds of people, including activists, politicians, Christian priests and several foreign journalists, adding that anyone who opposes the ISIS fighters, or who is simply considered an unbeliever, disappears. It cites an engineer who fled Syria after threats he said he received from the group as saying: We call them the Army of Masks, because their men rarely show their faces. They dress in black, with their faces covered. Further: Few dare to stand up to the masked army. When a convoy of ISIS pickup trucks mounted with machine guns rolled into the town of Turmanin in late November, not a shot was fired. Drug smuggling, arms trafficking and oil fields keep money flowing Despite AQI presenting itself as a paragon of strict Islamic virtue, the bulk of ISISs financing, experts say, comes from illegal black market activities in Iraq, including robbery, arms trafficking, kidnapping and extortion, and even drug smuggling. In the northern Iraq city of Mosul ISIS nets upwards of $8 million a month by extorting taxes from local businesses, according to the US-based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Meanwhile, ISISs spread across the northern and eastern provinces of Syria bordering Iraq and Turkey has enabled it to take control of Syrias oilfields, the Economist magazine points out.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 07:05:55 +0000
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