The Islamic State: long-term threat now a Western target
By Nehal El-Sherif
Cairo (dpa) – After swift advances in
June, the jihadist Islamic State group took over many towns and cities
in northern Iraq and eastern Syria. The question now is whether they can
hold them in the face of Western retaliation.
The group began to lose control over some villages in northern Iraq - as well as the Mosul Dam - after August 8, when the US military began airstrikes to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
The al-Qaeda splinter group seized the Mosul Dam earlier this month. Iraq's largest dam, it is located on the Tigris River, which also runs through the capital, Baghdad. Its capture raised concerns that the jihadists would bomb the dam, flooding nearby towns.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Iraqi troops took full control of the Mosul Dam after US airstrikes hit Islamist State positions around the dam and near the Kurdish capital, Erbil.
The IS reacted to the defeat by releasing a video showing a masked extremist with a British accent beheading US reporter James Foley, who went missing in Syria in November 2012. The group also threatened to execute a second American reporter, Steven Joel Sotloff, if US President Barack Obama did not end the strikes.
The United States has continued with its airstrikes despite the terrorist group’s threat.
Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel said that, while the US airstrikes have slowed the Islamic State's progress in Iraq, the US expects them to regroup and stage new offenses.
"We are pursuing a long-term strategy because ISIL clearly poses a long-term threat," he told reporters at the Pentagon, using the group's old acronym.
France had already provided Peshmerga forces with weapons, while Germany and Italy have pledged to help arm the Kurdish fighters.
The radical group has its origins in the Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda, which after 2003 fought US occupation forces as well as the new government's army and police.
The group, which used to be known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), split from the international terrorist network last year when its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, defied al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri and insisted that he would lead an Islamic State spanning Syria and Iraq.
In July, al-Baghdadi announced the Islamic State as a self-styled Islamic caliphate and proclaimed himself its ruler.
The radical group has expanded its control over parts of Iraq since June, forcing minorities in these areas to escape into the northern mountains.
They have recently overrun towns dominated by the Yezidi minority, with witnesses saying that those who stayed were either killed or forced to convert to Islam.
Militants have also taken control of several Christian towns in northern Iraq.
The advances have prompted many to flee for Kurdish-held territory.
The jihadist group has benefited from anger among Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority about what they say are discriminatory laws and massive anti-terrorist sweeps by the Shiite-led government.
In January, with the help of Sunni tribes, militants seized control of vast areas in western Anbar province. After tightening their grip on these cities, insurgents captured the country's second-biggest city, Mosul, in June.
As they took control of Sunni Arab regions of northern and western Iraq, the group fomented violence, aimed mainly at security forces and Shiite civilians.
In Syria's north-eastern al-Raqqa province, the group acts as a full-fledged government, imposing a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, but also providing public services. Its determination to control territory wrested from the Syrian government has led to fierce fighting with rival rebel groups.
The Islamic State says that, by opening the borders between eastern Syria and western Iraq, it will be the nucleus of a global caliphate.
The group began to lose control over some villages in northern Iraq - as well as the Mosul Dam - after August 8, when the US military began airstrikes to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
The al-Qaeda splinter group seized the Mosul Dam earlier this month. Iraq's largest dam, it is located on the Tigris River, which also runs through the capital, Baghdad. Its capture raised concerns that the jihadists would bomb the dam, flooding nearby towns.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Iraqi troops took full control of the Mosul Dam after US airstrikes hit Islamist State positions around the dam and near the Kurdish capital, Erbil.
The IS reacted to the defeat by releasing a video showing a masked extremist with a British accent beheading US reporter James Foley, who went missing in Syria in November 2012. The group also threatened to execute a second American reporter, Steven Joel Sotloff, if US President Barack Obama did not end the strikes.
The United States has continued with its airstrikes despite the terrorist group’s threat.
Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel said that, while the US airstrikes have slowed the Islamic State's progress in Iraq, the US expects them to regroup and stage new offenses.
"We are pursuing a long-term strategy because ISIL clearly poses a long-term threat," he told reporters at the Pentagon, using the group's old acronym.
France had already provided Peshmerga forces with weapons, while Germany and Italy have pledged to help arm the Kurdish fighters.
The radical group has its origins in the Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda, which after 2003 fought US occupation forces as well as the new government's army and police.
The group, which used to be known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), split from the international terrorist network last year when its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, defied al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri and insisted that he would lead an Islamic State spanning Syria and Iraq.
In July, al-Baghdadi announced the Islamic State as a self-styled Islamic caliphate and proclaimed himself its ruler.
The radical group has expanded its control over parts of Iraq since June, forcing minorities in these areas to escape into the northern mountains.
They have recently overrun towns dominated by the Yezidi minority, with witnesses saying that those who stayed were either killed or forced to convert to Islam.
Militants have also taken control of several Christian towns in northern Iraq.
The advances have prompted many to flee for Kurdish-held territory.
The jihadist group has benefited from anger among Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority about what they say are discriminatory laws and massive anti-terrorist sweeps by the Shiite-led government.
In January, with the help of Sunni tribes, militants seized control of vast areas in western Anbar province. After tightening their grip on these cities, insurgents captured the country's second-biggest city, Mosul, in June.
As they took control of Sunni Arab regions of northern and western Iraq, the group fomented violence, aimed mainly at security forces and Shiite civilians.
In Syria's north-eastern al-Raqqa province, the group acts as a full-fledged government, imposing a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, but also providing public services. Its determination to control territory wrested from the Syrian government has led to fierce fighting with rival rebel groups.
The Islamic State says that, by opening the borders between eastern Syria and western Iraq, it will be the nucleus of a global caliphate.
