In 2014 a group of Jihadist militants announced a worldwide caliphate. These Sunni Islamic fundamentalists goal was to create an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Originally they were referred to as ISIL but the name currently adopted by the organisation is ISIS. However many of the governments of the western world have taken to referring to ISIS as Daesh as an attempt to degrade and undermine them. This essay will attempt to follow this trend, but will use the two names interchangeably. Since their announcement, Daesh have grown more powerful. Holding vast areas of territory in both Syria and Iraq, as well as many provinces in other Middle Eastern and North African countries. Due to a successful social media campaign and there religious rhetoric,
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There is the fight against Daesh, the intense civil war in Syria against the Assad regime, the sectarian conflict in Iraq and the Kurdish struggle for identity and independence. All this is part of a broader global conflict against terrorism and extremism, as well as part of the competition between the US and Russia. But Daesh is no longer contained within Iraq and Syria, there stated objective is to Remain and Expand. They have announced their intent to expand into the rest of Middle East as well as North Africa where they already hold numerous provinces. Additionally ISIS has successfully projected their power overseas through waves of terror attacks such as the November 2015 Paris attacks. ISIS propaganda machine on social media is pivotal to their overseas recruitment and the flow of foreign fighters from overseas is steadily rising. “The Soufan Group has calculated that between 27,000 and 31,000 people have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State and other violent extremist groups from at least 86 …show more content…
Before we suggest and implement new strategies to counter Daesh we need to ask ourselves if they can be defeated. It is certainly possible to militarily defeat them thus disbanding the Caliphate. However, “Even if it is defeated in Syria and Iraq, most of its fighters will go on to other countries or remain a threat. Even if ISIS fades as a name, other extremism movements will take its place.” This has happened time and time again with the Taliban, Al Qaeda and now ISIS/Daesh. The crux of the matter is that they follow an idea and you can’t kill an idea.
Winning the people’s hearts and
There is the fight against Daesh, the intense civil war in Syria against the Assad regime, the sectarian conflict in Iraq and the Kurdish struggle for identity and independence. All this is part of a broader global conflict against terrorism and extremism, as well as part of the competition between the US and Russia. But Daesh is no longer contained within Iraq and Syria, there stated objective is to Remain and Expand. They have announced their intent to expand into the rest of Middle East as well as North Africa where they already hold numerous provinces. Additionally ISIS has successfully projected their power overseas through waves of terror attacks such as the November 2015 Paris attacks. ISIS propaganda machine on social media is pivotal to their overseas recruitment and the flow of foreign fighters from overseas is steadily rising. “The Soufan Group has calculated that between 27,000 and 31,000 people have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State and other violent extremist groups from at least 86 …show more content…
Before we suggest and implement new strategies to counter Daesh we need to ask ourselves if they can be defeated. It is certainly possible to militarily defeat them thus disbanding the Caliphate. However, “Even if it is defeated in Syria and Iraq, most of its fighters will go on to other countries or remain a threat. Even if ISIS fades as a name, other extremism movements will take its place.” This has happened time and time again with the Taliban, Al Qaeda and now ISIS/Daesh. The crux of the matter is that they follow an idea and you can’t kill an idea.
Winning the people’s hearts and