Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

The terrorist organization that will be discussed today is the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, most commonly known as ISIS. A splinter group of the Al Qaeda, ISIS was founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2004 (CNN Library, 2019). In 2014 however, Al Qaeda renounced its ties with the organization. The purpose of ISIS is to create a caliphate, which is a religious and political Islamic state across Iraq, Syria and beyond. The group implements the strict religious code of the Sharia law which is founded on traditional eighth century Islamic rules and practices (History.com Editors, 2018). Researchers who have interviewed captured ISIS fighters identified three factors which motivate them. Foremost among these is their deep commitment to spiritual and sacred values. Second is their readiness to forsake family for those sacred values and lastly, their perceived spiritual strength of the group or community that they represent (Howard, 2017). This motivations are the reasons why suicide attacks are common among ISIS tactics. The ISIS uses several tactics which are characterized by brutal violence and murderous assaults on civilians including heinous acts such as public executions, rapes, beheadings and crucifixions (History.com Editors, 2018). They make video clips of these acts and upload them online. One notable tactic of the ISIS is their use of social media. They use social media to propagate their political and religious views. ISIS is also known to destroy cultural and historic monuments and shrines, ancient ruins, churches, temples and mosques. They use suicide bombers to implement their attacks. ISIS is considered to be the richest terrorist organization in the world (History.com Editors, 2018). Their funding comes from oil production, kidnapping ransoms, smuggling, taxes, extortion, sale of stolen artifacts, extortion, donations, control of some crops, looting and aid from some foreign supporters. Some of the acts of violence attributed to the ISIS are the beheadings of American journalists in 2014 which was even posted in YouTube, the November 2015 Paris attack which killed 130 people and the July 2016 Nice attack which killed 86 people. References CNN Library. (2019, January 21). ISIS fast facts. Retrieved from Edition.cnn.com: https://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/08/world/isis-fast-facts/index.html History.com Editors. (2018, August 21). ISIS. Retrieved from History.com: https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/isis Howard, J. (2017, September 4). What motivates ISIS fighters — and those who fight against them. Retrieved from Edition.cnn.com: https://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/04/health/isis-fighters-human-behavior-study/index.html ***Questions*** 1. Why did al Qaeda cut ties with ISIS? 2. Should there be an increase concern for more attacks? 3. What attack did they commit in your region and what intel do you have?

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