Indian Defence Review

The Islamic State for Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), otherwise known as the Islamic State for Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and most recently as the Islamic State (IS) is, strictly speaking, a Sunni extremist group which holds territorial ambitions. The group has a severe anti-Shia disposition and supports the most astringent aspects of Wahhabi, Salafi Jihadist and Takfiri theologies. It has the professed aim of returning to the “glory days” of Islam by the setting up of a “Caliphate”, primarily in Iraq and Syria.

The organization started its existence in 1999 as Jamaat al Tawhid wal Jihad (JTJ-Organization of Monotheism and Jihad), led by Jordanian national Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian Salafi Jihadist. JTJ started initially as an anti-royalist group aimed against the Jordanian Monarch, who was not considered by it as a “good” Muslim. Zarqawi later travelled to Afghanistan to fight in the Soviet -Afghan war, but arrived at the time of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and did not see any real action. He then stayed in Afghanistan, where he ran a militant training camp in Herat for some time.

The organization soon spread into north-eastern Iraq from Jordan It had the professed aim of: a) toppling the Iraqi interim Government; b) forcing the withdrawal of the US-led coalition forces from Iraq; c) assassinating collaborators of the “occupation regime’; d) decimating the Shia population of Iraq and defeat its militias through the liberal use its “death squad” activities and; e) establishing a pure Sunni State in Iraq. It took part in the Iraq insurgency and in the Iraq war which started on the intervention of the US in the country in 2003.

The JTJ also functioned as an opposition group to U.S.’s Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan (October 2001) and was reputed to have a number of foreign mujahedeen and even Iraqi fighters in its ranks. Abu Musab al Zarqawi came firmly in the sights of the US anti-terrorist experts when, in 2004, he pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network. Zarqawi was also allied to the Kurdish militant group Ansar al-Islam in Iraq.

The organization gained a significant presence in the Kirkuk, Al Anbar, Nineveh and other nearby regions of Iraq and gained notoriety for its willingness to use suicide bombings, including the use of Car bombs in its operations. It targeted the Iraqi Security Forces and all elements facilitating occupation. The group went beyond using conventional weapons and guerrilla tactics in hitting the US and coalition Forces, Iraq interim government officials, Shia officials as well as civilians and Kurdish and political and religious figures, United Nations and other humanitarian workers.

Al Zarqawi’s militants used classic terrorist tactics, including the use of improvised explosive devices for random hits, the use of targeted kidnappings, for obtaining ransom and the employment of urban guerrilla tactics, using rocket propelled grenades, mortar attacks and the use of small arms. It gained notoriety for beheading Iraqi and foreign hostages and posting recordings of such killings on the internet. Zarqawi was specifically targeted by the U.S. and died as fallout of the aerial bombing of his hideout in 2006. He was found wounded but alive when Iraqi (and later U.S. forces) reached the site after the bombing, but was learnt to have been “beaten to death”; it was not clarified by whom.

The JTJ was at this stage re-named as Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn, (Organization of the Jihad’s Base in Mesopotamia—also known as Al Qaeda in Iraq). The organization underwent further changes in its name, joined other Sunni insurgent groups to form the Mujahedeen Shura Council. This organization merged with several more insurgent Sunni factions and, on October 13, 2006, consolidated shortly afterwards into the Dawlat al-Iraq al-Islamiya or the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), comprising an assortment of Sunni insurgent groups, inter alia, the Jund al Sahaba (Soldiers of the Prophet’s Companions) and most significantly the original Al Qaeda organization in the Land of the Two Rivers (traditionally the area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers).

The leaders of this group, Abu Abdullah al-Rashid al- Baghdadi and Abu Ayub al-Masri, were both killed in a joint US-Iraqi operation in April 2010. The present leader of the organization, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took over in May 2010; command of the organization became independent, with it breaking away from the Al Qaeda Central Command.

The entity, known as Islamic State for Syria and Iraq (ISIS), was established in April 2013 and was essentially a renaming of the ISI. By now, the ambitions of the jihadist ISI had spread to fighting the Government forces in Syria also, where an insurgency against the Government of Bashar al Assad was well on its way. By March 2011, protests had begun in Syria against the government of Bashar al Assad and the protests had intensified and become violent, due to confrontations between protesters and the security forces.

The group comprises Sunni Islamist mujahedeen and its ideology is influenced by Sunni cleric Abu Musab al-Suri, whose philosophy emphasised providing services to the people in order to avoid being seen as extremists, maintaining strong relationships with communities and with other fighting groups. The organization is known by a variety of names, including Islamic State for Iraq and ash-Sham – ISIS or Islamic State for Iraq, Dawlat al Iraq al- Islamiyah, Al- Qaeda in Iraq and the Islamic State for Iraq and the Levant – ISIL.

The Gaza Strip faction is known as DAESH, also known as al-Nusra al- Maqdisiyya, Al Dawlat al Islamiyah fi Iraq wal ash Sham. The Francophile Africa chapters are known as Daach. The word DAESH is an Arabic acronym for Dawlat al Islamiyah fil Iraq wal ash Sham, is used mainly by detractors of the ISIL. The ISIL consider the word derogatory as it is thought to translate as “to tread underfoot, trample down, crush” and reportedly use flogging as a punishment for persons using the word in ISIL controlled areas. The ISIL is extremely ruthless on the establishment of an Islamic State, establishing its own rule on conquered territory, carrying out sectarian attacks and imposing Sharia Law in such territory.

The group is currently led by Iraqi national Abu Bakr al –Baghdadi who was reported to have been born in 1971 and whose real name is Hamed Dawood Mohammed Khalil al-Zawi. The headquarters of the ISIS is in Baquba, Iraq and Baghdadi styles himself as the “emir” of the organization. The strength of the organization grew under Baghdadi and after entering the Syrian Civil War, the ISIS established a significant presence in the Syrian Governorates of Idlib, Aleppo, Ar-Raqqah and Dier ez Zeid. It achieved a series of military victories against the government forces, thereby capturing Chinese and Russian origin weapons and collected funds by ransom kidnappings, looting of banks in occupied territories and collections by imposition of sharia rule in captured territory..

Al – Baghdadi started sending experienced Syrian and Iraqi guerrilla fighters from his organization by August 2011 into Syria, to establish a new setup within Syria. This new organization was led by Syrian National Abu Mohammad al-Jawlani and it started recruiting manpower and establishing cells within Syria. On January 23, 2012, this group formed into Jabhat al-Nusra li Ahl ash Sham, or Jabhat al Nusra (The Support Front for the People of ash-Sham), Tanzim Qai’dat al- Jihad fi Bilad ash Sham and al- Nusra Foundation. The group is also known as al Qaeda in Syria, and is known to operate in Lebanon in addition to Syria.

This grew rapidly into an effective fighting force. The avowed goal of this unit is the overthrow of the Assad regime and its replacement by a Sunni Islamic State. Al-Nusra Foundation, despite having referred to the United States and Israel as “enemies of Islam” and warned against the intervention of Western Nations in Syria, however, insists it will remain focussed on fighting the Assad regime and not concentrate on either Western targets or global Jihad.

Essentially, al Nusra, which has a significant element of foreign jihad’s, has concentrated its energies on throwing out the Assad regime. Al Nusra is seen by Syrians as a largely home grown group, despite the presence of a large number of foreign fighters; it is essentially involved in fighting to undermine the Assad regime. Al Baghdadi issued an audio statement on April 8, 2013, announcing that al Nusra Front had been established, financed and supported by the Islamic State of Iraq and that the two groups were merging under the name Islamic State of Iraq and ash Sham.

The merger was denied by al-Jawlani, who added neither he nor anyone else in al Nusra Foundation leadership had been consulted on the issue. The issue was further complicated by Ayman al Zawahiri, the Supremo of al Qaeda, reportedly intervening in the fray and ruling against the merger, in letter to both leaders. Al Baghdadi took up issue with Zawahiri’s ruling, leading to the latter banning the ISIL and putting al Nusra in charge of operations in Syria. Baghdadi contested Zawahiri’s decision and continued operating in Syria. The power struggle continued till February 2014, after an eight month power struggle, the original Al Qaeda stated the ISIL was “notoriously intransigent”, had consistently failed to hold consultations and cut all ties with the organization. The concept of the Caliphate, which originally was restricted to Iraq and Syria, had, by late June 2014, expanded to being a world-wide Caliphate. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, known to his supporters as Amir al-Mu’mmin (Caliph Ibrahim) was declared as the Caliph and the organization was renamed as the Islamic State (IS).

As a caliphate, it claims religious authority over Muslims worldwide and intends to bring Muslim-inhabited regions of the world under its own control, covering the Levant region, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus and southern Turkey. ISIL has already absorbed fundamentalist minded groups in the Sinai and eastern Libya. The ISIL has stated that the “legality of all emirates, groups, States and organizations had become null and void due to the khalifa’s (caliphate’s) authority and arrival of its troops’ in their areas”. ISIL added it rejected the political divisions established by Western Powers during World War I and the Skyes-Picot Agreement (1916). The name “Islamic State for Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL) was decided as the primary name for the organization by the United States Department of State in May 2014.

At a press conference in June 2010, the commander of the US forces in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno announced that 80 per cent of the ISI’s top leadership, including recruiters and financiers had been killed by the US forces (he added that only eight of the leaders were still at large) and that the organisation had been cut off from the top leadership of Al Qaeda in Pakistan.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the new head of the ISI, replenished the leadership of the organization which had been depleted, by appointing former Ba’athist and intelligence officials who had earlier served in the Saddam Hussein regime. This new leadership, nearly all of whom had spent time imprisoned by the US forces, make up roughly a third of Baghdadi’s top 25 commanders.

Journalist Sarah Birke has pointed out ‘significant differences’ between the al Nusra and ISIL. Syrians feel that the ISIL, which has a strong presence in northern and Central Syria, is a party of ‘foreign occupiers’. Foreign fighters in Syria include Russian speaking jihadists, part of the Jaish ul Muhajireen wal Ansar (JMA). The JMA’s Chechen leader, Abu Omar al-Shishani swore allegiance to ISIL and al-Baghdadi in November 2013 and the group itself split between those who followed al-Shishani and those who continued operating under the original JMA. The ISIL and al Nusra had come to a parting of the ways, with the ISIL concentrating on the formation of a Caliphate and the Nusra insisting it had, essentially, an anti-Assad agenda.

In January 2014, the Islamic Front (Arabic al-Jabhat al-Islamiyah), a merger of seven rebel groups involved in the Syrian Civil War, announced on November 22, 2013, and the US trained and funded Syrian Free Army launched a joint offensive against the ISIL in and around the city of Aleppo. By May that year, al Qaeda’s supremo Ayman al Zawahiri ordered al-Nusra to stop attacks on the ISIL and balance of power between the two organisations became increasingly complicated. The ISIL made some gains in Iraq increased its ambitions and started a recruitment drive in Saudi Arabia, where the northern tribes have links with those in western and eastern Iraq. On June 29, 2014, the ISIL removed “Iraq and the Levant” from its name, began referring to itself as the “Islamic State”(IS), proclaimed itself as caliphate and named Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as caliph.

Analysts felt that the dropping of the reference to the region in its name as widening the group’s scope and that the physical occupation of territory by the group gave the IS the impression that the time was ripe for it to take control of the global jihadist movement. The real dichotomy in the region was the fact that the US trained (and largely supplied) Syrian Free Army and the rebel groups of the Islamic Front were fighting the ISIL and had, therefore, common cause with al- Nusra in its confrontation with the ISIL and ultimately with the US aim of setting up the Syrian Free Army, viz. undermining the continuation of the Assad regime. Ayman al Zawahiri’s disenchantment with the ISIL and backing of al-Nusra in its Syrian operations added to an almost piquant situation, where Zawahiri’s al Qaeda, the main target of US anti-terrorist efforts and the US-backed Syrian Free Army with its anti-Assad regime efforts had common cause.

Meanwhile, opposition to the ISIL (hereafter referred to only by its most recent avatar Islamic State-IS), was inevitable from the traditional monarchies in the Arab world, since the group had declared the legality of all emirates in the Middle East and the Arab Gulf as “null and void”. Jordan and Saudi Arabia moved troops to their borders with Iraq by June and July 2014, following Iraq losing control or withdrawing from strategic border crossing points to the IS. There was some speculation that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had deliberately ordered the Iraqi troop withdrawal in order to bring home to the Saudis the possibility of the IS over running its borders as well.

A month later Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau added to the confusion by declaring support for the new caliphate and for Caliph Ibrahim. Shekau captured the Nigerian town of Gwoza and launched further offensives in north-eastern Nigeria, following the example of IS.

In mid-2014 the IS had recruited over 6,300 fighters (according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights), elements of which had earlier been part of the Syrian Free Army — which was armed, trained and funded by the US. The US role in fishing merrily in the troubled waters of the Middle East is a subject which will be examined independently hereafter. Meanwhile the increasing military clout of the IS resulted in a series of victories in Northern Iraq and the consequent capture of territory by them.

The most significant influence of the advance of the astringently theocratic IS into territories in Iraq and Syria was on the ethnic Yazidi population of these areas. The Yazidis are Kurdish and Arabic speaking people, whose religion is rooted in early Persian religions, blended with vestiges of pre Islamic Mesopotamian and Assyrian religious traditions, plus elements of Christianity and Islam. The Yazidis, out of fear of the advancing IS militants, fled into the mountains. They faced a threat of genocide and of abduction of womenfolk from the advancing IS on the one hand, while on the other they faced deprivation of food and water in the mountains, where they had fled for safety.

The US in such circumstances, launched a humanitarian mission to aid the stranded Yazidis on August 7, 2014, and to start an aerial bombing campaign on August 8 in Iraq against the IS, which marked a new level of the hostility, rhetoric and action between these old opponents. Fortuitously for the US, the United Nations concluded later in September and October that the IS had slaughtered thousands of Yazidis in the region in August.

In response to the US air campaign, the IS despatched over 10,000 militants from Syria and Mosul to capture the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. By October, the IS militants had advance within 25 kms. of Baghdad and Iraqi troops as also Anbar tribesmen opposing the militants, threatened to abandon their weapons if the US did not send in ground troops to help fight the IS. By end October 2014, the radical forces in control of the Libyan city of Derna added a new dimension to this imbroglio by declaring allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, making Derna the first city outside areas in Syria and Iraq a part of the so-called “Islamic State Caliphate.”

The response of the Islamic fundamentalists involved in the regional imbroglio was classic and with the wisdom of hindsight, entirely predictable. Representatives of the Ahrar ash-Sham (Islamic Movement of the Free Men from the Levant), a coalition of Syrian militant, anti-government groups, held a meeting with the al-Nusra Front, the Khorasan Group (a group of senior al- Qaeda functionaries operating in Syria), the IS and the Jund al-Aqsa, earlier known as Sarayat al Quds (Soldiers of al Aqsa, an Islamist rebel group in Syria, formed as a sub unit of al Nusra Front) in an effort to unite several such radical groups against the US-led coalition and the other moderate, mainly Syrian rebel groups. By early November 2014, the Egyptian militant group, Ansar Bait al-Maqdis (Supporters of the Holy House) or Ansar Jerusalem (Supporters of Jerusalem), a Sunni fundamentalist group, owing allegiance to IS, pledged support to the IS combine, thus widening its influence still further.

The efforts of the US to contain the activities of the IS, viewing the latter purely as a terrorist group which could be cowed down and ultimately controlled with a massive display of firepower, is clearly misplaced. A study of the various countries and their interest in the current crisis, the sources of funding and weapons of the IS as also a dispassionate look at the US role and is interventions in the Islamic world as also in the Middle East, is necessary to put the issue in its true perspective. This will be the subject of the following article.