ISIS: Origin and Future

ISIS: Origin and Future

Brian Savage '18, Staff Writer

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is a radical Islamic caliphate and terrorist organization initiating and inspiring attacks under the name of Islam and the Assad Administration in the Syrian Civil War. ISIS has already claimed ten province nations across northern Africa and the Middle East. Combating the ideologies of the western world, ISIS assaults major western cities to increase the prevalence of the terrorist organization. Since January of 2015, the Islamic State has confirmed responsibility for many horrendous attacks on civilian life in Europe, the United States, and the Middle East. These attacks include the Charlie Hebda attacks, a Yemen mosque bombing, the Tunisian resort shooting, the Turkish peace rally blast, a Russian plane bombing in Egypt, the Paris attacks, the San Bernardino shooting, and, most recently, the Brussels attack.

The caliphate originated in ideology with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a mujahideen fighter against the Soviet Union. After the combatants had slowed, Zarqawi returned to his homeland in Jordan and established a terrorist training organization. He allied himself with Osama Bin Laden; however, he was not a formal member of al-Qaeda. Bin Laden’s and Zarqawi’s terrorist organization differentiated because al-Qaeda focused on suppressing western culture. Zarqawi’s group was an agent against the world of the west and Shiite Muslims. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi controlled al-Qaeda and adopted an augmented version of Zarqawi’s action points. This grew Zarqawi’s influence and ultimately resulted in the Zarqawi’s motivation to establish his caliphate, entitled Jama’at al-Tawhid w’al-Jihad and translated the Party of Monotheism and Jihad.

Assuming the role as leader, the United States and other coalition forces have initiated over 8,000 airstrikes on Syria and Iraq. However, direct aerial attacks against the terrorist organization have not resulted in a suppression of the group. ISIS has migrated to an expansive ideology losing its defined shape. Additionally, the media-savvy group has been able to plant its power in social media, projecting its message stronger and clearer. This new way of corresponding to outsiders has been limited due to the adopted opposition of a hacker organization, Anonymous. The plague of ISIS can be seen as growing after the recent attacks in Belgium where ISIS killed 35 and injured 300 people. The United States is responding to the growing destruction of terrorism by allocating over eleven billion dollars to destroy ISIL and to become united in a global coalition against terrorism. This will fund attacks against the group, humanitarian assistance to affected regions, and possible resolutions to the Syrian Civil War.