ISIS And Its Role In Terrorism: Origins

Name Tutor Course Date ISIS and its Role in Terrorism Over the years, ISIS has operated under several names. These include the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham and the Islamic State (IS). It is arguably the most savage and brutal terrorist groups in control of vast regions in the Middle East. The group is responsible for numerous murders, including live beheadings, and terrorist actions all over the world. They have also destroyed numerous buildings, notably temples and monuments. ISIS Origins The origins of ISIS can be tracked back to the year of 2004. It was formed as a splinter group of another infamous terrorist group, al Qaeda (CNN, p.1). It was founded by Abu Musab al-Zaqawi, a former member of the Osama bin Laden’s controlled group. Consequently, it is commonly believed that ISIS was formed at the same time as al Qaeda. Following the death of Musab al-Zaqawi in an airstrike, Abu Ayyub al-Masri took over as the new head of the group in 2006. Masri died three years later and was succeeded by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, its current leader. Baghdadi, who was previously detained by the United States in Camp Bucca and released in 2004 (CNN, p. 1), rebuilt ISIS to its current form through mergers with other terrorist groups and rebel military forces. Of significant note is the merger of ISIS’s military forces in Syria with those in Iraq resulting in the inception of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in 2013. The merger was rejected by the leadership of al-Qaeda and al-Nusra leading to a split. However, the split worked in favour of ISIS and the group continued its terrorist attacks in the Middle East. ISIS Agenda One of the most common questions asked with regards to ISIS is ‘what does ISIS want?’ In 2015, the Special Operations commander of the United States in the Middle East, Major General Michael Nagata, admitted to The New York Times that they had failed to understand and defeat the idea behind the intentions and operations of ISIS. According to Wood (p.1), ISIS “follows a distinctive variety of Islam whose beliefs about the path to the Day of Judgment matter to its strategy, and can help the West know its enemy and predict its behaviour.” On the other hand, BBC News argued that ISIS “adheres to a doctrine of total war without limits and constraints - no such thing, for instance, as arbitration or compromise when it comes to settling disputes,” ("Islamic State: Can Its Savagery Be Explained?"). It differs with al-Qaeda in that it does not raise religion as a defence of its actions. But even these statements are not enough to really explain the real intentions of the terrorist group. After almost ten years of existence, ISIS burst into the world’s attention in 2014 with its declaration of the establishment of a caliphate. A caliphate is “a state governed in accordance with Islamic law, or Sharia, by God’s deputy on Earth, or caliph,” ("Syria Iraq: The Islamic State Militant Group"). The declaration was succeeded by a demand that all Muslims swear allegiance to al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS. They also demanded that all Muslims worldwide should move to the regions controlled by the group. Similarly, other jih...