ISIS Read online

  CONTENTS

  Glossary

  Timeline

  A Note on Sourcing

  Introduction

  Chapter One The Rise and Fall of Al Qaeda in Iraq

  Chapter Two The Rise of ISIS

  Chapter Three From Vanguard to Smart Mob

  Chapter Four The Foreign Fighters

  Chapter Five The Message

  Chapter Six Jihad Goes Social

  Chapter Seven The Electronic Brigades

  Chapter Eight The AQ-ISIS War

  Chapter Nine ISIS’s Psychological Warfare

  Chapter Ten The Coming Final Battle?

  Chapter Eleven The State of Terror

  Appendix

  Acknowledgments

  Notes

  Index

  About the Authors

  Also by Jessica Stern

  Also by J. M. Berger

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  GLOSSARY

  Abu Sayyaf Group: A jihadist organization in the Philippines founded with funds from al Qaeda. It has pledged loyalty to ISIS.

  Ahrar al Sham: The second most significant anti-Assad jihadist group behind Jabhat al Nusra; a member of the Syrian Islamic Front coalition.

  al Qaeda, al Qaeda Central (AQ, AQC): A global Salafi Sunni militant jihadi organization founded by Osama bin Laden and others in Afghanistan. It is now run by Ayman al Zawahiri.

  al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP): An al Qaeda affiliate based in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

  al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI): A jihadi group in Iraq founded by Abu Musab al Zarqawi, which would later become the Islamic State of Iraq and later still, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS. It refers to itself now simply as the Islamic State.

  al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM): An al Qaeda affiliate that operates in the Sahara and Sahel region of North Africa.

  al Shabab: An al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia.

  Ansar Bayt al Maqdis (ABM): A jihadist group that arose following the Arab Spring in the Sinai region of Egypt. It has declared its territory in the Sinai to be a province of ISIS.

  Ansar al-Islam: A Kurdish separatist and jihadi organization active in Iraq in 2003.

  Ansar al-Sharia (AST): A jihadist organization in Tunisia.

  Awakening, or Awakening Movement: Former Sunni Arab insurgents who joined the fight against jihadi groups in Iraq. Also known as the Sons of Iraq.

  Ba’ath Party: A political party founded in Syria that merged socialism with anti-imperialism, Arab nationalism, and pan-Arabism. Saddam Hussein and Bashar al Assad were affiliated with the Ba’athist parties in Iraq and Syria, respectively.

  Ba’athists: Members of the Ba’ath party.

  bayah: A religiously binding oath of loyalty.

  Bilad al Sham: Refers to historical Greater Syria that extended into regions of Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq; also called the Levant.

  Boko Haram: A fundamentalist jihadi group in Nigeria.

  caliph: Ruler of the Muslim community; a political successor of Muhammad.

  caliphate: A political-religious state led by a caliph.

  Daesh or Daash: A derogatory term for ISIS based on its acronym in Arabic.

  Dawla: The Arabic word for “state,” often used as a name for ISIS by its supporters.

  Eid al-Fitr: The last day of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting and religious reflection.

  emir: Arabic for commander; literally “prince.”

  fitna: An Arabic word referring to a period of internal dissent and infighting in Islamic history, also used to refer to similar conflicts in a modern context.

  Free Syrian Army (FSA): Originally consisting of Syrian military defectors, the FSA is now an umbrella organization for secular, nationalist anti-Assad fighters.

  hadith (plural, ahadith): Stories about Muhammad, his sayings, and historical figures within Islam, which are understood to have varying degrees of authenticity. Many Islamic end times traditions and prophecies are derived from ahadith.

  Hezb-e-Islami: An Afghan militant group.

  hijra: Migration, emigration.

  International Security Assistance Force (ISAF): NATO’s international security force in Afghanistan. Its role is to support the Afghan National Security Forces as they increase capacity.

  Islamic Army of Iraq: A former Iraqi Sunni Arab insurgency group that formed following the 2003 invasion. Following the 2011 withdrawal of American troops it demilitarized and formed a political opposition group.

  Islamic Front: A coalition of Islamist rebel groups in Syria, not including the al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al Nusra.

  Islamic State (IS): Name of ISIS after its declaration of a caliphate in June 2014.

  Islamic State of Iraq (ISI): The name of the al Qaeda–affiliated insurgent group in Iraq (and its allies) from the death of Zarqawi in 2006 until 2012.

  Islamic State of (or “in”) Iraq and Syria (ISIS): Also called Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham. The successor group to the Islamic State of Iraq, following its expansion from Iraq into neighboring Syria. The acronym ISIS is still widely used, despite the fact that the group officially changed its name to the Islamic State in June 2014.

  Jabhat al Nusra (Nusra): The al Qaeda affiliate in Syria; also known as the Nusra Front.

  Jamaat Jaysh Ahl al-Sunnah wa-al-Jamaah: The Army of the Sunni People. A Sunni insurgent group that formed following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. ISIS emir Abu Bakr al Baghdadi was reportedly a cofounder of this group.

  Jemaah Islamiyah: A now-defunct Indonesian jihadi organization that had strong ties to al Qaeda.

  jihad: Arabic word meaning “struggle.” It has been used to describe a broad range of actions from spiritual struggles to armed conflict.

  jihadi Salafism: A branch of Salafism that believes that any government that does not rule though Shariah is an illegitimate infidel regime. Jihadi Salafism embraces the use of violence to overthrow these regimes.

  Jund al Khalifa: A splinter group of AQIM in Algeria that has become part of ISIS. It is responsible for the beheading of a French tourist in response to ISIS’s call for such actions from supporters.

  Khorasan Group: A cell of senior al Qaeda Central operatives dispatched to Syria to plan and coordinate attacks on the West.

  kuffar: Infidels; unbelievers.

  Kurds: An ethnic group centered in the Middle East, whose ancestral homeland crosses several modern-day borders.

  Mahdi: An Islamic end-times figure believed to appear around the time of the Day of Judgment. Sometimes referred to as the Rightly Guided One, or the Hidden Imam.

  Mujahid (plural, mujahideen): A Muslim fighter waging military jihad.

  Muhajir (plural, muhajireen or muhajiroun): Emigrant. Often used to refer to foreign fighters taking part in military jihad. The plural form differs depending on the grammar of a sentence in Arabic.

  al Muhajiroun: A radical Islamic organization in Britain led by Anjem Choudary. The organization has been disbanded, but successor social networks remain active.

  mujtahidun: Literally “the industrious ones,” a term used to refer to very active ISIS supporters on social media.

  nasheed (plural, anasheed): An Islamic religious chant.

  niqab: A black cloth veil worn by some Muslim women that covers part of the face and the entire body.

  nusayri: A derogatory term for people who practice a variant of Shia Islam common among members of the Syrian regime.

  peshmerga: Highly trained Kurdish fighters in Iraq; the standing army for the semiautonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region.

  political Salafism: A branch of Salafism that pursues the purification of Islam through involvement in politics.

  quietist Salafism: A branch of Salafism whose central goal is to purify Islam. They do not ide
ntify as political actors nor do they participate in politics.

  rafidah: A derogatory term for Shia Muslims.

  Salafi: A fundamentalist Sunni Islamic movement that believes in strict adherence to Islam as they believe it was practiced by Muhammad.

  Shariah: The Islamic moral code and religious law. There are considerable disagreements among Muslims about how Shariah figures into modern life. ISIS and AQ-affiliated groups embrace a harsh interpretation, but even they differ over the details.

  Shia Islam: A branch of Islam that recognizes Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law, and only his descendants as the rightful leaders of the Muslim community.

  shaykh or sheikh: An honorific denoting respect for an individual as a leader or influencer within a tribe, clan, country, or Islamic religious group.

  shahid: A martyr.

  Sons of Iraq: Former Sunni Arab insurgents who joined the fight against jihadi groups in Iraq. More commonly known as the Awakening Movement.

  sunnah: The recorded traditions of Muhammad.

  Sunni Islam: The largest branch of Islam. Frequently referred to as “mainstream” or “orthodox” Islam.

  Tablighi Jamaat: An Islamic revivalist movement founded in response to a preserved corruption of moral values. The movement aims to bring Muslims across all social and economic spectra into their understanding of religion by encouraging community service, contemplation, and proselytizing.

  takfir: The pronouncement of a Muslim as an apostate. Usually understood by jihadists as a religious authorization to kill the subject.

  Taliban: An Islamic fundamentalist organization founded in Pakistan, which later spread to Afghanistan, where it controlled the government from 1996 to 2001. It continues to be a significant insurgent movement.

  Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP): A Pakistani insurgent group linked to al Qaeda, which has splintered in recent years due to a number of internal divisions, including but by no means limited to support for ISIS among some members.

  ummah: The worldwide Muslim community.

  wilayat: Province. A governing substructure used by ISIS.

  Yazidis: A Kurdish-speaking religious and ethnic minority in Iraq; ISIS believes the Yazidis to be devil worshippers who may be killed or enslaved with impunity.

  TIMELINE

  March 20, 2003 President George W. Bush announces the start of war against Iraq.

  April 9, 2003 U.S.-led invasion topples Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq.

  May 2003 Zarqawi-led group called the Organization of Monotheism and Jihad begins operations in Iraq.

  August 2003 Zarqawi’s group bombs United Nations headquarters in Baghdad.

  April 2004 Hundreds are reported killed in fighting during the monthlong U.S. military siege of the Sunni Muslim city of Fallujah.

  April 2004 Photographic evidence emerges of abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops in Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

  May 2004 Zarqawi begins videotaped beheadings in Baghdad.

  June 2004 United States hands sovereignty to Iraq’s interim government headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

  October 2004 Zarqawi swears loyalty to Osama bin Laden and founds al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).

  January 2005 AQI starts a campaign of public beheadings on the streets of Iraqi cities.

  April 2005 AQI becomes a foreign fighter magnet and targets Shi’a, much to the concern of bin Laden’s al Qaeda.

  May 2005 Surge in car bombings, bomb explosions, and shooting in Iraq.

  October 2005 Voters approve a new constitution, which aims to create an Islamic federal democracy in Iraq.

  December 2005 Iraqis vote for the first, full-term government and parliament.

  February 2006 Bombing of the Shi’a al Askari Mosque in Samarra, Iraq; full sectarian conflict ensues.

  April 22, 2006 Newly reelected president Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, asks Shi’a compromise candidate Nouri al Maliki to form a new government in Iraq, ending months of deadlock.

  June 2006 Zarqawi killed in U.S. military air strike.

  October 2006 Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) is formed; Abu Omar al Baghdadi named new leader.

  December 2006 Saddam Hussein is executed by the Iraqis in Camp Justice, a joint Iraqi-American base in a suburb of Baghdad, for crimes against humanity.

  January 2007 U.S. military surge and Sunni Awakening begin to greatly diminish ISI.

  January 2008 The Iraqi parliament passes legislation allowing former officials from Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath party to return to public life.

  March 2008 Prime Minister Maliki orders crackdown on militia in Basra, sparking pitched battles with Moqtada al Sadr’s Mehdi Army, a Shi’a militia group.

  May 2008 Relentless pressure on ISI and other groups by the U.S. military and government of Iraq results in lowest levels of violence since 2005.

  September 2008 U.S. forces hand control of Anbar province, once an insurgent and al Qaeda stronghold, to the Iraqi government. This is the first Sunni province to be returned to the Shi’a-led government.

  January 2009 Prime Minister Maliki targets Sunni leaders and Awakening groups, increasing sectarian tensions and latent support for ISI in Sunni tribal areas. This lessens the pressure on ISIS, allowing it to stave off disaster.

  August 2009 ISI bombs Iraqi ministries of Foreign Affairs and Finance, killing hundreds.

  Fall 2009 Abu Bakr al Baghdadi released from United States’ Camp Bucca in Iraq in 2009 when the camp is officially closed.

  April 2010 ISI leaders Abu Omar al Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al Masri (aka Abu Hamza al Muhajir) are killed in U.S.-led air strike.

  May 2010 Abu Bakr al Baghdadi named leader of ISI.

  March 6, 2011 In the city of Daraa, Syria, near the Jordan border, nearly a dozen boys under the age of fifteen are arrested for anti-regime graffiti. Protests break out in Syria beginning in Daraa, but quickly spreading to neighboring villages.

  April 21, 2011 President Assad issues a decree to end Syria’s nearly fifty-year-old state of emergency in hopes of quelling the rising protests.

  May 2, 2011 Al Qaeda Central leader Osama bin Laden is killed by U.S. special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

  May 28, 2011 Hamza al Khatib, a thirteen-year-old boy who was detained during protests in Syria, is delivered to his family as a mutilated corpse, exposing the brutality of the regime.

  June 3, 2011 In response to the release of Hamza’s body, thousands flood the streets for the “Friday of the Children” protest. The regime responds by blocking access to the Internet from within Syria.

  June 14, 2011 The Arab League condemns the Syrian crackdown for the first time.

  August 2011 Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain recall their ambassadors to Syria. Leaders from the United States, France, Britain, and Germany call on Assad to resign.

  December 2011 The United States concludes its operations in Iraq. The unity government immediately faces disarray, and Maliki issues an arrest warrant for Vice President Tariq Hashimi, a leading Sunni politician. The Sunni bloc boycotts parliament and the cabinet.

  January 6, 2012 General Mustafa Ahmad al Sheikh, the highest-ranking person in the Syrian military to defect, joins the Free Syrian Army. He reveals that at least twenty thousand soldiers have already defected.

  February 12, 2012 Ayman al Zawahiri calls on all Muslims to help overthrow Assad.

  June 16, 2012 The United Nations suspends its monitoring mission in Syria because it is too dangerous to continue operations.

  June 2012 ISI releases the first installment in its popular video series, The Clanging of the Swords.

  July 2012 ISI announces the initiation of “Breaking Down the Walls” campaign, to “refuel” the group by freeing members from Iraqi prisons and by regaining lost ground.

  August 2012 President Obama declares, amid rumors of chemical weapons use in Syria, that chemical weapons are a “red line” for action.

  September 16, 2012 Iran confirms units of its Revolutionary Guard are helping Assad.

  December 2012
Sunni Muslims in Iraq stage mass rallies across the country over several months, protesting perceived marginalization by the Shi’a government.

  February 28, 2013 United States promises “nonlethal assistance” to Syrian rebels.

  March 2013 Jabhat al Nusra becomes dominant in rebel areas.

  March 10, 2013 Islamist groups set up Eastern Council, consolidating control of eastern Syria.

  April 2013 The ISI announces that Jabhat al Nusra is its official Syrian offshoot and henceforth the merged group shall be known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria/Sham (ISIS). Al Nusra immediately rejects the statement and appeals to al Qaeda Central for judgment.

  April 18, 2013 Britain and France claim chemical weapons have been used in Syria.

  April 2013 Iraqi troops storm an antigovernment protest camp in Hawija, near Kirkuk, leaving more than fifty dead. This sparks Sunni outrage and the insurgency intensifies. By summer the country has entered full-blown sectarian war.

  May 19, 2013 Jabhat al Nusra takes over oil fields and begins selling crude oil.

  May 27, 2013 European Union ends arms embargo on Syrian rebels.

  June 4, 2013 France and Britain confirm finding evidence of the use of sarin gas in Syria. Within a week the United States also independently confirms that sarin has been used.

  July 2013 ISIS announces the initiation of “A Soldier’s Harvest” campaign, designed to intimidate/liquidate/assassinate Iraqi security forces, and to establish control over territory. At least five hundred prisoners, mainly al Qaeda members, are freed from Taji and Abu Ghraib prisons.

  July 24, 2013 The Israeli director of military intelligence warns that Syria is becoming a “center of global jihad.”

  August 2013 ISIS begins sustained attacks on Syrian rebel groups such as Liwa al Tawhid and Ahrar al Sham, and then al Nusra in Raqqa and Aleppo. This completely changes the nature of the rebellion in Syria.

  August 14, 2013 ISIS pushes Syrian rebels out of Raqqa.

  August 31, 2013 President Obama states that the United States has a moral responsibility to act in Syria, but that Congress must approve the use of military force.

  September 25, 2013 Rebel groups form the Islamic Front from eleven Western-backed opposition groups.