ISIS Research Articles

Perspective: Can We Repatriate the ISIS Children?

Perspective: Can We Repatriate the ISIS Children?

Help-seeking, trust and intimate partner violence: social connections amongst displaced and non-displaced Yezidi women and men in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq

BackgroundConflict and displacement impact the social fabric of communities through the disruption of social connections and the erosion of trust. Effective humanitarian assistance requires understanding the social capital that shapes patterns of help-seeking in these circumstances - especially with stigmatised issues such as violence against women (VAW) and intimate partner violence (IPV).MethodsA novel social mapping methodology was adopted amongst a Yezidi population displaced by ISIS (ISIS: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, locally known as Da’esh) occupation and a neighbouring settled Yezidi population in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq in late 2016. Six participatory workshops were conducted to identify available resources with respect to: meeting basic needs, dispute resolution and VAW. Subsequently, 51 individual interviews were conducted (segmented by gender and settlement status) to identify connectedness to, and trust in, the resources identified, with a focus on IPV against women.Results90% of participants reported God as a key source of help in the previous 6 months, representing the most widely cited resource. Following God, the most accessed and trusted resources were family and community, with NGO (non-governmental organisation) provision being the least. Women drew more strongly upon familial resources than men (Χ2 = 5.73, df = 1, p = 0.017). There was reduced trust in resources in relation to seeking help with IPV. A distinction between trust to provide emotional support and trust to resolve issues was identified. Settled women were 1.6 times more likely to trust community members and government services and 3.7 times more likely to trust NGOs than displaced women.ConclusionsMapping social connections and trust provides valuable insight into the social capital available to support help-seeking in populations of humanitarian concern. For these Yezidi populations, family, religious and community resources were the most widely utilised and trusted. Trust was mostly reserved for family and their main religious leader regarding IPV against women. Lack of trust appeared to be a major barrier to stronger engagement with available NGO provision, particularly amongst displaced women. The role of faith and religious resources for this population is clearly significant, and warrants an explicitly faith-sensitive approach to humanitarian assistance.

Successful treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis with intralesional sodium stibogluconate in internally displaced school age children in Iraq

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic in Iraq. After the last war in Iraq against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the number of CL cases has peaked particularly in children. International guidelines do not provide an insight on how to choose treatment regimen of CL in children. The aim of this article was to study the efficacy of intralesional sodium stibogluconate (SSG) therapy for school age children with CL. In the period between June 2016 and June 2019, 288 internally displaced school age children (6-12 years old) from Ninewa city were recruited in the study. All patients received intralesional SSG twice a week for a maximum of 12 sessions. All patients were followed up for 12 weeks after the last treatment session. The mean age of recruited patients was 8.6 ± 2 years and 164/288 (56.9%) were male. 202/288 (70.1%) of the patients presented with single lesion. The total number of lesions was 417 of which 141/417 (33.8%) lesion were nodular and the rest were ulcerative lesions. The treatment success rate was (282/288) 97.91%. No significant association was found between age, gender, number of lesions, or duration of lesions and the treatment outcome. Mild local pain, mild bleeding at the site of injection, and itching at the site of injection were the most common side effects. Intralesional SSG infiltrate is effective and minimal side effects. Further studies including clinical trials are required to provide robust data on the efficacy and the safety.

Building social cohesion between Christians and Muslims through soccer in post-ISIS Iraq.

Can intergroup contact build social cohesion after war? I randomly assigned Iraqi Christians displaced by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to an all-Christian soccer team or to a team mixed with Muslims. The intervention improved behaviors toward Muslim peers: Christians with Muslim teammates were more likely to vote for a Muslim (not on their team) to receive a sportsmanship award, register for a mixed team next season, and train with Muslims 6 months after the intervention. The intervention did not substantially affect behaviors in other social contexts, such as patronizing a restaurant in Muslim-dominated Mosul or attending a mixed social event, nor did it yield consistent effects on intergroup attitudes. Although contact can build tolerant behaviors toward peers within an intervention, building broader social cohesion outside of it is more challenging.

‎ The Influence of Human Development, Institutional Quality and ‎ISIS Emergence on Foreign Direct Investment in Iraq ‎

This study investigates the influence of human development and institutional quality on the foreign direct investment net inflows on the gross domestic product in Iraq for the period (2004-2016) by using OLS regression. The empirical results show that governance sub-indicators do not actually matter much in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in Iraq. This variable shows fixed results with a different sign; the Political Stability (PS), Government Effectiveness (GE) and Rule of Law (RL) are the sub-indicators of the governance with a positive sign which is insignificant, while the Voice and Accountability (VA), Regulatory Quality (RQ) and Control of Corruption (CC) are the sub-indicators of the governance index with a negative sign and an insignificant impact on FDI inflows. The value of Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) coefficient is negative and significant at 10% level. Hence it has been concluded that the explanatory variables are negatively associated with the dependent variable FDI. In contrast, the Human Development Index (HDI) has a positive and significant impact on FDI inflows. This study found that Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) emergence after (2013) had a significant coefficient, meaning that ISIS has affected the level of FDI inflows.

On Origins: Arab Intellectuals' Debates on the Ideational Sources of ISIS

This article examines the writings of Arab intellectuals on the ideas that inspired the Islamic State organization (ISIS) through a survey of Arabic-language books, scholarly articles, and editorials in leading newspapers during the group's 2014– 18 heyday. This probe focuses on one broad, recurring question that permeated these writings: namely, what were ISIS's ideational sources? In addition to shedding light on the rich perspectives that Arab authors offered on this question and the extent to which they disagreed, this article demonstrates how Arab intellectuals were united in their intense hostility toward ISIS.

Choosing to Fight, Choosing to Die: Examining How ISIS Foreign Fighters Select Their Operational Roles

Abstract Understanding why and how individuals participate in militant organizations has been the focus of an increasing amount of scholarship. Traditionally, these studies focus at either the individual or organizational level of explanation. This article advances the discussion on individual participation in militant organizations by combining primary and secondary sources at both levels to explain how the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) attracted individuals into its organization as either suicide bombers or frontline fighters. First, at the individual level, we analyze a primary source dataset of over 4,000 personnel files from foreign fighters who went to Syria to join ISIS between 2013 and 2014. Second, at the organizational level, we examine trends in Islamic State propaganda and messaging to see how the recruitment of individuals into the organization placed them on certain operational paths. Two specific takeaways emerge. First, foreign fighters in 2013–2014 volunteered to become suicide bombers with relatively less frequency than in past iterations of the conflict in Iraq and Syria. Second, fighters from Western countries and fighters from countries undergoing a civil war were especially less likely to volunteer for a suicide role. More broadly, this analytical essay makes a case for the value of looking inside an organization as well as at individuals to get a more complete picture about group-level behavior.

In search of enemies: Donald Trump’s populist foreign policy rhetoric

This article asks how Donald Trump’s foreign policy rhetoric during his presidential campaign and presidency has affected US foreign policy in the area of overseas counterterrorism campaigns. Looking at two case studies – the May 2017 Arab Islamic American Summit and the US role in the counter Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) campaign, it is argued that Trump’s foreign policy rhetoric has failed to accurately describe or legitimate his administration’s counterterrorism strategy, as per the conventional wisdom. Instead, Trump’s foreign policy rhetoric has largely been aimed at creating a sense of crisis (as populism requires) to mobilise his domestic base. In making this argument about the purpose of Trump’s foreign policy rhetoric, not only does the article contribute a new perspective to the extant literature on elections, rhetoric, and US foreign policy, but also to the burgeoning scholarship on governing populists and their foreign policies. Although these findings could be unique to Trump, the article’s novel framework – combining International Relations and populism scholarship to elaborate on how the foreign arena can be used to generate a state of perpetual crisis – can hopefully be applied in other contexts.

"Virtual Caliphate" of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS): An Analysis of the Rise of Cyber Terrorism and Its Impacts from a Historical Perspective

"Virtual Caliphate" of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS): An Analysis of the Rise of Cyber Terrorism and Its Impacts from a Historical Perspective

The Role of the UN Security Council for judging Daesh (ISIL) Organization

The role of the UN Security Council evolved at the end of the last century, not only in maintaining international peace and security and settling international disputes by peaceful means, but also in establishing international criminal courts to prosecute the perpetrators of international crimes. The Security Council roles expand because of its powers according to the ICC Statute and the UN Charter. When the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) emerged in 2014 and committed international crimes during its control over large areas in Iraq and Syria, especially the crimes committed against the components of the Iraqi people, the Security Council pushed the international community to fight this terrorist organization on the one hand, and stressed that members ISIL must be held accountable on the other hand. We will seek through this research to show the role of the Security Council to try these organization members and how it can contribute to determine the appropriate mechanism for this trial.

Women Victimization on Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS):A Critical Analysis On Terrorist Wives

Nowadays, perpetrators on terrorism are not male dominated. Research in this thesis discusses women involvement as terrorist wives to support their husband and their terrorist group. This research focused on the process of how wives were brought and involved in terrorism by their husband. Terrorist wives are the invisible victim of terrorism, they are involved not by their own will. Pressure, intimidations, dominance and symbolic violence in their household moving towards new kind of victimization. Using qualitative approach in dept interview with two terrorist wives, this research found terrorist wives experienced multiple victimization. Another findings is also made that wives are unconcious that they are actually victims with society unawareness shows that there is omission by the government. Terrorist wives are not only experienced multiple impacts, but also they are neglected victims of counter-terrorism systems.

Responsibility to Protect dalam Kasus Genosida oleh ISIL terhadap Yazidi-Irak melalui Intervensi Militer Amerika Serikat

Artikel ini bertujuan untuk menjelaskan intervensi militer yang dilakukan oleh Amerika Serikat (AS) dalam menanggapi genosida yang dilakukan oleh Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terhadap komunitas Yazidi di Irak. Peneliti menggunakan konsep Responsibility to Protect (R2P), yang merujuk pada laporan dari the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) u
 This article aims to explain the military intervention carried out by the United States in response to the genocide carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against Yazidi community in Iraq. The researchers use the concept of Responsibility to Protect (R2P), which refers to a report from the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty to see the procedure for procuring military intervention in the R2P framework in detail. This article found that besides several collateral damages, military intervention carried out by the United States was following the procedures set out by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. The United States’ intervention was done by the Iraqi government's approval, which had previously requested assistance from the United States. This intervention can be seen as Iraqi collective self-defense as stated in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations or intervention based on approval as stipulated in Article 20 of the Responsibility of States for International Wrongful Acts 2001. This research was conducted qualitatively using sources in the form of a variety of documents and mass media reports.
 ntuk melihat prosedur intervensi militer dalam kerangka kerja R2P secara terperinci. Artikel ini menemukan bahwa meskipun telah terjadi sejumlah dampak sampingan (collateral damages), intervensi militer yang dilakukan oleh AS mengikuti prosedur yang ditetapkan oleh ICISS, antara lain, dilakukan AS atas persetujuan pemerintah Irak yang sebelumnya meminta bantuan dari AS. Intervensi ini dapat dilihat sebagai pertahanan diri kolektif Irak sebagaimana tercantum dalam Piagam Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa Pasal 51 atau intervensi berdasarkan persetujuan sebagaimana diatur dalam Pasal 20 Responsibility of States for International Wrongful Acts tahun 2001. Penelitian ini dilakukan secara kualitatif dengan menggunakan sumber-sumber berupa berbagai dokumen dan laporan media massa.

Foreign Terrorist Fighters Indonesia: Belief in A Just World and Terrorism

The phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters’ movement to Syria to join ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) has received enormous attention in the world. Tens of thousands of individuals are moving from various parts of the world, including Indonesia, to join the Caliphate that ISIS is fighting for. There are still many reasons for the departure of foreign terrorist fighters to Syria, so this study will examine those that have not been revealed before. This is a qualitative research project using in-depth interviews as data collection techniques. There are 20 speakers who were foreign terrorist fighters but had returned to Indonesia. Just World Theory is used as a framework for thinking in this research. The findings show that not only the issue of religious ideology is the reason for the departure of foreign terrorist fighters to Syria but also the illusion of utopian life they imagined abroad. The findings of this study categorize the respondents' answers in seven ways, i.e. fair and prosperous life, verses and hadith, helping the cause of fellow Muslim who are being wronged, heaven, khilafah, living life like in the age of the prophet, and the order of hijrah.

Islamic Caliphate or nation state? Investigating the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's imagined community

AbstractThrough the lens of Benedict Anderson's Imagined Community concept, this paper examines how the selected community‐building theories are useful in understanding the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and its imagined community. Using four factors—language, education, power and history—derived from Anderson's Imagined Community concept, this paper applies theories of Modernism, Primordialism and Insurgency Governance to explain ISIL's imagined community. Specifically, our argument is threefold: (a) Anderson's Imagined Community concept and alternate theories of community building, although insightful, does an imperfect job at describing ISIL's Caliphate; (b) ISIL's group structure appears to transcend traditional and accepted notions of nations, nationalism and nation states; and (c) based on this reasoning, ISIL's Caliphate can be considered an outlier in community‐building literature analysed.

Georgia's Experiences with Foreign Fighters: Global Recruitment, Local Roots

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has attracted many foreign fighters from all over the world. ISIS has disseminated voluminous propaganda in painting itself as the defender of Islam. The core of ISIS messages is designed to have a global religious appeal. At the same time, ISIS has incorporated local issues and grievances into its propaganda message. The analysis of Georgia's experiences with foreign fighters reveals that ISIS has exploited local issues to attract recruits, demonstrating that, even though foreign fighter recruitment seems global, it inevitably draws on local roots.

Do Counter-Narratives Reduce Support for ISIS? Yes, but Not for Their Target Audience.

The purpose of this research is to experimentally test whether counter-narratives are effective to reduce people’s support and willingness to join Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Integrating psychological reactance theory (Brehm, 1966) and need for closure (NFC; Kruglanski, 2004), we predicted that exposing people to counter-narratives when they are at greater risk of radicalization (high NFC individuals) would be counterproductive and enhance their support for ISIS. Participants (N = 886 American Muslims) were randomly assigned to a 3 × 3 factorial experimental design varying the source (United States Government, Imam, ISIS defector), and the content (social, political, and religious) of the counter-narrative while comparing these groups to a control message. Results show an overall small positive effect of counter-narratives (β = −0.107, p = 0.043), but also evidence for greater support for ISIS in individuals at greater risk of radicalization (β = 0.154, p = 0.005). Results also show that the content was more important than the source: A political narrative was the most effective, and this result is consistent across different sources although an ISIS defector is the most effective messenger. These findings challenge the widespread assumption that counter-narratives are effective against violent extremism. In fact, they accelerate the very phenomenon that governments and policy makers are trying to undermine. Therefore, policy makers should avoid including them in their armamentarium to tackle violent extremism.

“Modeling the impact of wars and terrorism on tourism demand in Kurdistan region of Iraq”

Recent political instabilities in the Middle East have led to strong negative impacts on the tourism sector. The aim of this study is to investigate the extent and the impact of political instability on tourism development in Kurdistan region of Iraq (KRI). The impact of previous wars and incidents including the most recent events by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on tourism demand is quantitatively evaluated. Unit roots and structural breaks are detected relating political instabilities with significant tourist declines. A systematic comparison on the effect of terrorist attacks and wars on tourist arrivals is performed by employing a multiple regression model using monthly time series data from January 2003 to September 2018. The analysis revealed stronger negative impact of wars in comparison to terrorist attacks. The novelty of this study lies in its ability to establish that the impacts of war have far reaching consequences that last for at least three consecutive years as compared to short negative effects of terrorist attacks. Our findings imply that political instability, especially wars, leads to large safety concerns in the tourist destinations.

Comparative Analysis of Terrorists’ Objectives Hierarchies

To develop effective counterterrorism strategies, it is important to understand the capabilities and objectives of terrorist groups. Much of the understanding of these groups comes from intelligence collection and analysis of their capabilities. In contrast, the objectives of terrorists are less well understood. In this article, we describe a decision analysis methodology to identify and structure the objectives of terrorists based on the statements and writings of their leaders. This methodology was applied in three case studies, resulting in the three objectives hierarchies of al-Qaeda, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and Hezbollah. In this article, we propose a method to compare the three objectives hierarchies, highlight their key differences, and draw conclusions about effective counterterrorism strategies. We find that all three terrorist groups have a wide range of objectives going far beyond the objective of killing and terrorizing people in the non-Muslim world. Among the shared objectives are destroying Israel and expelling Western powers from the Middle East. All three groups share the ambition to become a leader in the Islamic world. Key distinctions are the territorial ambitions of ISIL and Hezbollah versus the large-scale attack objectives of al-Qaeda. Objectives specific to ISIL are the establishment of a caliphate in Iraq and Syria and the re-creation of the power of Sunni Islam. Hezbollah has unique objectives related to the establishment of a Palestine State and to maintain the relationship with and support of Iran and Syria. Al-Qaeda’s objectives remain focused on large-scale attacks in the West. We also note a recent shift to provide support for small-scale attacks in the West by both al-Qaeda and ISIL. Our method can be used for comparing objectives hierarchies of different organizations as well as for comparing objectives hierarchies over time of one organization.

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) Terrorism Action in Indonesia Between 2014-2018

The Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) was declared in Syria in 2014 and then spread to Indonesia. ISIS in Indonesia then spread the understanding of violence and terrorism so then with that understanding ISIS in Indonesia committed many acts of terrorism against the government and the people of Indonesia. This research aims to find out the cause of the birth of terrorism groups, related to the terrorism movement in Indonesia and the movement of groups affiliated with ISIS in Indonesia from 2014-2018 since ISIS was declared in Syria in 2014, both those who committed acts of terrorism and only supported ISIS. This method of research is Kualitatif the method of providing more directed to descriptive. Qualitative research in this paper research takes two methods, namely document analysis taken from written material and the results of the discussion by making a conversation with various parties who know information related to the ISIS terrorism movement from 2014-2018. ISIS groups in Indonesia carried out acts of terror throughout 2014-2018 as many as 48 acts of terrorism. 22 acts of terror were committed against members and police stations because they were considered as enemies. In addition, the attack was aimed at houses of worship in the form of blasting churches and attacking public places and facilities with an explosion in Thamrin and the Malay bus station. This research serves as material for researchers who examine the terrorism movement of the ISIS group in Indonesia, researchers in the social field who study the ISIS social movement and its impact in Indonesia as well as researchers in the field of Islamic studies and Islamic thought which examines various kinds of Islamic thought. This research reveals new facts related to the ISIS organization in Indonesia, the ISIS organization movement in Indonesia and the acts of terrorism committed. changes in terrorist organizations and new patterns related to terrorist attacks and targets by ISIS Indonesia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4032974

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) Terrorism Action in Indonesia Between 2014-2018

The Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) was declared in Syria in 2014 and then spread to Indonesia. ISIS in Indonesia then spread the understanding of violence and terrorism so then with that understanding ISIS in Indonesia committed many acts of terrorism against the government and the people of Indonesia. This research aims to find out the cause of the birth of terrorism groups, related to the terrorism movement in Indonesia and the movement of groups affiliated with ISIS in Indonesia from 2014-2018 since ISIS was declared in Syria in 2014, both those who committed acts of terrorism and only supported ISIS. This method of research is Kualitatif the method of providing more directed to descriptive. Qualitative research in this paper research takes two methods, namely document analysis taken from written material and the results of the discussion by making a conversation with various parties who know information related to the ISIS terrorism movement from 2014-2018. ISIS groups in Indonesia carried out acts of terror throughout 2014-2018 as many as 48 acts of terrorism. 22 acts of terror were committed against members and police stations because they were considered as enemies. In addition, the attack was aimed at houses of worship in the form of blasting churches and attacking public places and facilities with an explosion in Thamrin and the Malay bus station. This research serves as material for researchers who examine the terrorism movement of the ISIS group in Indonesia, researchers in the social field who study the ISIS social movement and its impact in Indonesia as well as researchers in the field of Islamic studies and Islamic thought which examines various kinds of Islamic thought. This research reveals new facts related to the ISIS organization in Indonesia, the ISIS organization movement in Indonesia and the acts of terrorism committed. changes in terrorist organizations and new patterns related to terrorist attacks and targets by ISIS Indonesia.
 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4032974