Indian Defence Review

There are two major concerns that are emerging with respect to the environmental security threat caused by ISIS. The first one reveals how ISIS fighters have gone on a rampage to destroy historical monuments and antiquities. In February 2015, the ISIS fighters had ransacked the Mosul Museum in Iraq, damaging its historical antiquities and artifacts that date back to the Assyrian and Akkadian empires. [37] They have also demolished Hatra province, one of the UNESCO world heritage sites, which was founded 2000 years back in the Parthian Empire. They also bulldozed the Assyrian city of Nimrud in March 2015. [38]

But the other major concern that emerges is also the environmental threat caused by air-strikes caused by United States and its Arab allies, which are meant to attack oil installations, mobile refineries and modular oil refineries. Such attacks would have damaging consequences on the lives of the Iraqi and Syrian people, declining their productive capacity.[39]

The environmental concerns on the war of Iraq, caused by United States and Britain have not been made public. The huge amount of toxic gas produced due to oil fires had a damaging impact on the climate, vegetation and biota of the region. In addition, the use of ammunition which is tipped with Depleted Uranium also represented a major chemical threat. The fuel used by the coalition during this conflict was enough to supply the economy of 1.1.billion people. [40] Eric Pianin (2003) had mentioned how Iraq war would cause ‘massive and possibly irreversible’ environmental damage. [41]Thus, using the same kind of analysis in the context of ISIS, it would be difficult to figure out which party should be considered the perpetrator for environmental threat.

The political threat posed by Sunni jihadi militancy continued to loom, even before the emergence of ISIS. When the parameter of political threat is being questioned, it is necessary to contextualize it. Few pertinent questions arise like, is ISIS causing a political threat or a global threat, is ISIS against the political legitimacy of rulers of the West Asian region or its effect continues to pose greater security threat to the West? ISIS sprouted in Iraq and Syria, mainly because of the socio-political vacuum that existed in these states after the invasion of Iraq and civil war in Syria, respectively. Since June 29, 2014 when ISIS declared the establishment of a caliphate in Iraq and Syria, it has evolved to contain military, ideological and bureaucratic forms of administration. Currently, out of the 31,000 fighters, approximately 25,000 are full-time loyal members. They have mastered over guerilla warfare, direct and indirect intimidation as well as insurgent warfare. [42]

They have also been carrying out large scale military threat on multiple axes, along with having a large-scale bureaucratic functioning. Rather than relying on the traditional Al-Qaeda model which was dependent on foreign donors, ISIS has multiple sources of income, like oil, extortion, agriculture, antique selling, black marketing and kidnapping. In September 2014, they emerged as one of the wealthiest terrorist organizations in the world which was making $2 million per day.[43]

Amidst regional instability, ISIS has multiplied its international membership, gained military power and also acquired unprecedented amounts of financial resources. Financial Times commentator David Gardner tackled with the topic ‘political threat posed by ISIS’ and stated that ISIS was prepared to rule by terror and is savagely sectarian. He highlighted the political sophistication of ISIS, opined that though they can be driven militarily but the fear that they generate politically cannot be countered. They are going to crack open the divisions which are prevalent even in the neighboring countries like Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon.[44] But what is interesting is to note down that ISIS is not just a political threat to West Asian countries but the western world. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in August 2014 called ISIS as ‘imminent threat to every interest we have.’ The urgency of this threat was driven by the thousands of foreign fighters that are being recruited by the ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff went ahead to note down that ISIS’s threat is becoming more serious as it plans to remake the middle-east and absorb countries like Israel, Kuwait, Jordan and Syria into its caliphate.[45] Thus, keeping these points in mind, it is necessary to evaluate what kind of political threat does ISIS pose and against whom, predominantly.

The threat of food security in Iraq is under severe threat, with much of wheat production being generated in the Northern part, most of which is currently under ISIS control. The wheat farmers do not have access to the fuel or fertilizers. Due to their fear of ISIS, they have not even planted enough quantity of wheat, leading to lesser output of wheat by Iraq. [46] The southern Iraq where the Ministry of Trade is located, would store the remainder of wheat which will be later distributed by the Public Distribution System. The food security threat posed by ISIS would challenge the movement of wheat from storage sites to the flour mills. [47]

But once again, this food security threat is not just limited to West Asian region. Nigel Maxted, from the University of Birmingham’s School of Biosciences revealed that ISIS captured area has the highest concentration of wild crops needed for producing new food varieties. The fertile crescent embroidered by River Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates has the world’s largest ‘wild crop relatives.” Around 21% of wild crop relatives included in the first comprehensive survey of crops, is currently being threatened with extinction. [48]

During the time of global health crisis due to the Ebola outbreak, the threat of ISIS became more prominent after the World Health Organisation was informed that few of the military fighters were displaying symptoms similar to those of Ebola. The latest WHO figures revealed that Ebola infection has, till March 6th, killed 9840 people and infected 24014.[49]

But what currently is being debated is whether Ebola virus can be used as a biological weapon by the ISIS. In November 2014, Spain’s State Secretary for Security, Francisco Martinez revealed that there were “many examples” of ISIS’s online terrorist chat logs discussing the use of biological warfare against the West. Taking this into consideration, Amanda M. Teckman warned the policy makers that the increase in Ebola outbreaks in the region should not be ignored, especially when it is coupled with the possibility of terrorist group recruiting experts to acquire the virus and get prepared to use it as a biological weapon. The deliberate outbreak of Ebola is a global health and security issue and this ‘bioterrorist threat’ has wide ranging implications. [50]

Capt. Al Shimkus, a retired Professor at National Security Affairs of the U.S. Naval War College stated that an individual who is exposed to the Ebola virus can act as a carrier. [51] If this is the case, it indeed is a grave concern for human security.

The other challenge to confidently validate the health security posed by ISIS is still debated. Jacqueline Badcock, UN’s deputy humanitarian coordinator in Iraq revealed in July 2014 that ISIS had ordered the families to have their daughters undergo female genital mutilation (FGM), in order to prevent severe punishment. Though, this was later dismissed as a propaganda which was based on a fake document. But the editor of Kurdish website BasNews, Hawar Abdulrazaq stated that this ‘fatwa’ which was true would indeed be denied by ISIS. [52] At the same time, it also questions the accuracy and authenticity of the information, revealing how media can create a hype regarding such sensitive issues.

Thus, the issue of health threat included as a parameter in human security poses few challenges in the context of ISIS. Firstly, the official reliable data released by WHO can be questioned because of the lack of communication with the areas held under the control of ISIS. Secondly, health security aims to guarantee a ‘minimum’ protection from diseases and in the case of ISIS, it is quite difficult to quantify what ‘minimum’ would mean.

Political security, one of the important parameters of human security, can be debated in the context of West Asia to a large degree. Firstly, as Pinar Bilgin (2004) points out, the western conception of security adopts a top-bottom approach in which political security is perceived more from the perspective of the external powers rather than the people. [53] The ways to enhance political security has been to build alliances with the West, opt for humanitarian intervention or democracy promotion. For example, the lives of ethnic minorities and women in the context of ISIS, would be made even more insecure not only because of the threat that is caused by it, but also because of the sectarian or conservative character of their own government, which initially administered them.

So, it is quite interesting to question where the sprouting of ISIS in itself challenged the political security of the citizens of Iraq and Syria or did the state machinery too, threatened them from before? So, as a result of militarism or even foreign intervention, the minorities are ultimately the ones who suffer disproportionately. For example, the Baath regime in Iraq was known for infringing upon the human rights of its own citizens, especially in the context of state security. The rebels were marginalized, imprisoned and tortured for questioning the state. Also, it is important to deal with identities while answering the questions related to political security in West Asia. Unfortunately, the identity of an ‘Arab’ still remains ambiguous and contested. Same goes with the understanding of the ‘Islamist perspective’ as it is seen as an anti status-quo factor.

The ‘Muslim world’ which is the main referent in the people-centric concept of political security and human security, still remains debatable. With the emergence of ISIS, it is even more difficult to define what political security means because this organization had emerged in a vacuum of political ideologies. Hence, it is also interesting to question that why political security in West Asia has different meanings for islamist organizations, Muslim world, minorities, women and others. It can also be because of the limited understanding of this region due to the hegemony of the western discourses that are too superficial to understand the cultural cleavages. More scholarly work needs to be done when discussing human rights, human dignity and equality along with security and emancipation when it comes to West Asian political spectrum. Only then, it would be right to debate on political security and the threat posed to it by ISIS.