ISIS Research Articles

War Memory, Confessional Imaginaries, and Political Contestation in Postwar Lebanon

How does sectarianism intersect with war memories to subvert the political balance of power in postwar Lebanon? This article examines this complex dynamic along two levels. On one level, it demonstrates how war memory is deployed selectively from above by members of the political elite to sabotage the national war memory sanctioned officially and corresponding to a particular postwar confessional balance of power. At another level is the confessional or sectarian use of memory to resist this postwar political balance of power perceived as unjustly tipped against the subnational community. The argument advances in two steps. I first examine how war memory is invoked during crucial political battles that impact the postwar confessional balance of power. I take the debate around the promulgation of a new electoral law, and the 2018 parliamentary elections, in the context of the regional repercussions of the explosion of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the spillover effects of the Syrian war on Lebanon, as a case study of how different elites not only invoke war memories to contest or defend the postwar confessional balance of power but also to advance intra-sectarian political prerogatives. I then consider political memory as part of a complex and variegated confessional imaginary that survives at the private level in the form of resistance by substantial sectors of the Christian community to the postwar political balance of power and to the official national narrative of the war, one that refuses to revisit some of its most sordid moments, namely, its massacres. The article closes by underscoring the importance of reconciling dissonant memories of the war as a prerequisite for achieving genuine justice, peace, and reconciliation in postwar Lebanon.

Electronic Mind Washing in Conjunction with the Emersion of Terrorist Organizations A study of the Islamic State Organization (ISIL) Usage of Digital Techniques in Recruiting Youths and Teenagers

تنطلق هذه الدراسة من محورين رئيسيين الاول تأصيل مصطلح غسيل الدماغ الالكتروني بعد ان رافق الغموض المصطلح الاتصالي النفسي (غسيل الدماغ التقليدي)، والثاني البحث في الاساليب الالكترونية لغسيل الدماغ التي تتبعها التنظيمات الارهابية وتحديدا تنظيم الدولة الاسلامية المعروف اعلاميا بـ(داعش) في تجنيد الشباب والمراهقين ، ومقارنة هذه الاساليب بمراحل واساليب غسيل الدماغ التقليدي ، فضلا عن كيفية توظيف التقنيات الرقمية في عملية غسيل الدماغ ، ومدى تعرض الشباب الجامعي موضوع الدراسة للتقنيات الرقمية ورسائل التنظيمات الارهابية التي تبثها على مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي او مواقع الكترونية اخرى على الشبكة الدولية (الانترنيت) ، وقد كشفت هذه الدراسة عن خمس علامات اذا ظهرت واحدة منها او جميعها على أي شاب يستخدم التقنيات الرقمية بإدمان فأنها تدل على تعرضه لمحاولة غسيل دماغه وتجنيده الكترونيا ، وهذه العلامات على التوالي هي: (الانعزال، شرود الذهن، سرعة الغضب اثناء النقاش، تغير مفاجئ بالسلوك، التعنت في ابداء الرأي)، اذ ثبت احصائيا وجود علاقة طردية موجبة بين التعرض للمواقع الالكترونية الاعلامية الخاصة بالتنظيمات الارهابية وظهور هذه العلامات على الشباب.

Who watches an ISIS beheading-And why.

In the wake of collective traumas and acts of terrorism, media bring real graphic images and videos to TV, computer, and smartphone screens. Many people consume this coverage, but who they are and why they do so is poorly understood. Using a mixed-methods design, we examined predictors of and motivations for viewing graphic media among individuals who watched a beheading video created by the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). A representative national sample of U.S. residents (N = 3,294) reported whether they viewed a video and why (or why not) via an anonymous survey administered during a 3-year longitudinal study. Accounting for population weights, about 20% of the sample reported watching at least part of a beheading video, and about 5% reported watching an entire video. Increased likelihood of watching a video was associated with demographics (male, unemployed, and Christian), frequency of typical TV watching, and both prior lifetime exposure to violence and fear of future terrorism. Watching at least part of a beheading video was prospectively associated with fear of future negative events and global distress approximately 2 years after the beheading videos went viral. The most common reasons respondents reported for watching a beheading video were information seeking and curiosity. Results suggest attentional vigilance: Preexisting fear and history of violent victimization appear to draw individuals to graphic coverage of violence. However, viewing this coverage may contribute to subsequent fear and distress over time, likely assisting terrorists in achieving their goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Terrorism in The Perspective of Islamic Law (Reinterpretation of The ISIS Group's Views Regarding The Concept of Jihad, Takfir, and The Caliphate)

Differences betweenhumans is natural. The Qur’an also suggests that these differences will continue in linewith the existence of humans on this earth. There are many factors behind the birth ofdifferences between humans, such as religious factors, political factors, ethnic factors, andothers. This paper examines the phenomenon of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria)which is a splinter group of Muslims who often launch acts of terror in the name ofIslamic teachings. The emergence of ISIS ultimately gave a bad effect to the face of Islamin the international world because Islam, which is truly a religion of love, was viewedby outsiders as a religion that supported radicalism-terrorism. This study found that theemergence of the ISIS phenomenon was due to misunderstanding in interpreting theverses of the Qur’an about the concepts of jihâd, takfîr and caliphate.

INTRODUCTION STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION IN THE FIELD OF SECURITY

The cyclic emergence of various concepts related to communication in the security, defence and military fields continues. The newest one is Strategic Communication that follows Psychological Operations, Information Operations, Public Diplomacy, Public Affairs, Psychological Warfare, Political Warfare and Propaganda. There have been broader concepts developed in the past that involve different communication-related activities to realize interests and fulfil objectives of countries, international organizations as well as other actors. Listed chronologically as they appeared, the Strategy of Indirect Approach, Low Intensity Conflict, Operations Other Than War, Information Warfare, Asymmetric Warfare, Smart Power and Hybrid Warfare are among the most prominent ones. We are not in a position to define and compare all of the above concepts in order to identify the patterns of (dis)continuity or to explore how the concepts duplicate, overlap, and complement each other. The Strategic Communication concept is here, theoretically and in the practical application of various actors. Therefore, this introduction to the special issue of the Contemporary Military Challenges, will dwell upon conceptual issues related to Strategic Communication, and will try to identify the understanding and applying of the concept in the United States of America (USA), the Russian Federation, the European Union (EU), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Coping with Moral Threat: Moral Judgment amid War on Terror

Moral dilemmas amid war on terrorism include repeated harsh moral choices, which often pose threats to one’s moral image. Given that people strive to view themselves as moral, how do they cope with such morally compromising decisions? We suggest and test two strategies to cope with morally threatening decision-making under in-group moral responsibility amid war on terrorism: (a) trivialization of the moral dilemma and (b) resentment toward the target. Four experimental studies measured (study 1) and manipulated (studies 2–4) these hypothesized mechanisms, presenting a similar collateral damage dilemma to Israeli Jews in the context of the 2014 Gaza conflict (studies 1 and 2) and to Americans in the context of the US campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) (studies 3 and 4). Results demonstrate that both trivialization and resentment facilitate harsh moral choices under conditions of moral accountability. Studying the mechanism underlying moral decision-making in conflicts is key to understanding moral injury and the process of moral repair.

The Indoctrination and the Treatment of Children from ISIS

Islamic State of Iraq and Sham(ISIS) use the most elaborate technological ways of our time to consolidate a new propaganda. We will see how kinship with Nazism makes it possible to observe similarities in the mechanisms used to spread propaganda. Some aspects also cut across the techniques used on child soldiers. Our study shows that the whole process of juvenile indoctrination results from the interaction of tree cumulative approaches: - emotional (ISIS has an anxiety-provoking approach, based on the exacerbation of the fear of "the others"), - relational (the group becomes a substituted family where the bonds are fusional and protective, the child distances himself from his kinship system to regenerate through a new imaginary filiation, sacred and fantasized) - and cognitive-ideological (the discourse presents the application of the divine law to obtain a better self and a better world. Based on a follow-up of 450 French jihadists from 12 to 25 years old as part of a ministerial mission, first lines for treatment will be shared, especially by reflecting on the consideration of the trauma and on the role of the extended family.The conceptual framework for the dis-indoctrination program of children must integrate a two-fold emotional-ideological dimension. Key words : children, ISIS, indoctrination, dis-indoctrination, jihadisme, treatment. &nbsp

Hezbollah, Islamic State of Iraq And Syria And Foreign Interests in The Middle East

The focal points of foreign interests within the Middle East are crude oil resources, prevention of nuclear proliferation, the fight against terrorism, and promoting democratization. International actors have specific interests they seek in the region. Among these, the US interests are the protection and free flow of oil, and the control of nuclear weapons to prevent threats against the security of crude oil, Russia’s interests are arms sales, energy and investment while China’s interest is to have a continued access to energy resources. The scramble for these interests among these international actors brought about the crisis that weakened the security of the states in the Middle East. The weak security caused many ethnic and religious nationalities to begin engaging in conflicts which eventually escalated into civil war. This war led to confrontations between regional states thus, providing Hezbollah and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) the opportunity to rise up to fill the security vacuum in the region. The study therefore investigated the roles and consequences of Hezbollah and ISIS on foreign interests in the Middle East. The study adopted qualitative method. The population of the study was the violent organizations in the Middle East. Hezbollah and ISIS were purposively selected because they constituted the major security threats in an already volatile region between 2010 and 2017. Data were collected through documentary review (of publications and audiovisual recordings by Hezbollah and ISIS as well as journals and materials from Internet). Data from interviews of five Syrians and four American citizens complemented the major sources. Data were analyzed thematically. The study found that the interference in the Middle East crisis by foreign interests led to the rise of violent groups in the region. In addition, the support of some groups by Russia, China, Japan and USA on the pretext of humanitarian intervention fuelled the Hezbollah and ISIS violent activities. ISIS denied Russia access to their oil pipeline route and that affected Russia’s federal fund and foreign earnings, causing a decimation of profits for the Russian government. Furthermore, the trade route owned and managed by the Chinese construction company was destroyed by Hezbollah. This made China to lose trade route access from the Middle East to the rest of the world. In addition, the US military base in Syria was attacked by the ISIS and it resulted into casualties of some Americans. The study concluded that the foreign economic and military interests in the Middle East had been decimated by Hezbollah and ISIS. The study recommended that the various governments of the Middle East in dealing with the foreign interests should take cognizance of the internal demands of their citizens. Keywords: Foreign interests, Hezbollah, ISIS, Middle East DOI : 10.7176/IAGS/73-04 Publication date :June 30 th 2019

A criminal tribunal and a wide-ranging reparation programme is necessary for the victims of sexual violence and torture in Iraq.

The frequency and extreme nature of sexual violence committed in Iraq, primarily by the self-declared Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from 2014 onwards, has shocked the international community. Now, four years later, victory over ISIL has been proclaimed but addressing past atrocities and their consequences has barely begun. There is a wide discrepancy between Iraq's human rights obligations, stressed by the United Nations (UN), and the reality on the ground, shaped by the Iraqi authorities. The present paper aims to highlight this discrepancy by providing an overview of the crimes committed, their qualification under international law, and the efforts of Iraqi authorities to punish those responsible. It will also discuss legal frameworks and the role of the UN, before positing some possible solutions. Object of the inquiry. The primary object of this inquiry is the conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) that has taken place in Iraq since 2014. The term CRSV is used in the international discourse to designate sexual violence occurring during or following armed conflict. UN bodies have set a gravity threshold for defining CRSV-incidents or patterns of acts of sexual violence such as "rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity" (UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, 2011, p. 3).

The ISIS’ Discourse from the Rise to the Collapse: Analysis of ISIS’ Discourse through Films ‘Flames of War I & II’

The ISIS’ Discourse from the Rise to the Collapse: Analysis of ISIS’ Discourse through Films ‘Flames of War I & II’

Change is the Only Constant: The Evolving Role of Women in the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)

In the past, women in the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) were known to serve as homemakers (i.e., wives, mothers). However, in recent times there has been a shift in their roles, as more women are starting to emerge on the front lines as suicide bombers, recruiters, or a part of ISIS's official women police brigade. This article investigates this phenomenon by performing a thematic analysis on open-source material, namely research reports, media reports, and propaganda material produced by ISIS. In doing so, it presents the evolution of the roles of women in ISIS from past to present and highlights key reasons that motivate women to join ISIS, which include ideology, alienation, romance, peer influence, and a sense of security. Implications for research on women in terrorism have also been identified.

Investigating the influence of ISIS radicalisation on the recruitment process: a critical analysis

ABSTRACTSince June 2014 the world has been confronted by a new and alarming terrorist threat in the form of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS/ISIS). The intensification of the terrorist attacks perpetrated in Europe between the 2016 and 2017 by ISIS has placed terrorism at the top of the global agenda. This is not surprising as the Islamic State has recruited tens of thousands of fighters from around the globe. Considering the great appeal that ISIS has shown, policy makers, intelligence services as well as governments have been investigating what drives people to join ISIS. This article will investigate the influence of radicalisation on the recruitment process by analysing those factors that shape the pathway that lead people to join the Islamic State. Indeed, the hypothesis at the basis of this work is that the recruitment process indicates that efficient radicalisation has occurred.

From Byron to Bin Laden: a history of foreign war volunteers

‘Our intention is that the foreign fighters do not survive the fight to return home’. So said James Mattis, the former US Defence Secretary (p. 228). At times, nations have tried to prevent the phenomenon of foreign volunteering. In Britain and elsewhere, there has been legislation over the past three centuries, but it has been selectively used. Even today, there is a distinct difference between how the state and the public view British nationals who help the Kurdish militia compared to those who fight for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). This is a highly topical book as we contemplate the return of Islamist fighters following Islamic State's defeat in Syria. It is also meticulously researched. Nir Arielli has drawn on a wealth of source material to look at the phenomenon of ‘foreign fighters’ from every conceivable angle. The Spanish Civil War features, as does the Winter War in Finland, the 1948 campaign in Palestine, the unification of Italy, Bolivar's war of independence in South America, the Greek struggle against the Ottoman empire, the pan-Slavist conflicts of the nineteenth century, the Balkan imbroglio of the 1990s, the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union, as well as the Crusades and the Napoleonic Wars.

Rules for rebels: the science of victory in military history

Why do some armed rebellions succeed and others fail? In the popular consciousness and in much International Relations theorizing there is a widespread view against all evidence that terrorism works and that rebels kill civilians because it helps them get what they want. When Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was at the pinnacle of its power, an outpouring of literature lauded the group's strategic genius in using extreme barbarity and well-publicized atrocities to build their legitimacy and their caliphate and defeat their war-weary adversaries. But, as Max Abrahms shows in this well-researched and engagingly argued book, this view could not be further from the truth. Rebels do not succeed by killing civilians. In fact, terrorism—understood as the deliberate killing of civilians—rarely succeeds. We now know that the Islamic State was not led by strategic geniuses but by brutal opportunistic ideologues—its caliphate is collapsing into ruins almost as quickly as it was built, the group having achieved none of the objectives it had set for itself. The same is true of other rebel groups that kill civilians.

Electronic Mind Washing in Conjunction with the Emersion of Terrorist Organizations A study of the Islamic State Organization (ISIL) Usage of Digital Techniques in Recruiting Youths and Teenagers

الملخص: تنطلق هذه الدراسة من محورين رئيسيين، الأول: تأصيل مصطلح غسيل الدماغ الإلكتروني بعد أن رافق الغموض المصطلح الاتصالي النفسي (غسيل الدماغ التقليدي)، والثاني: البحث في الأساليب الإلكترونية لغسيل الدماغ التي تتبعها التنظيمات الإرهابية وتحديدا تنظيم الدولة الإسلامية المعروفة إعلاميا بـ(داعش) في تجنيد الشباب والمراهقين، ومقارنة هذه الأساليب بمراحل وأساليب غسيل الدماغ التقليدي، فضلا عن كيفية توظيف التقنيات الرقمية في عملية غسيل الدماغ، ومدى تعرض الشباب الجامعي موضوع الدراسة للتقنيات الرقمية ورسائل التنظيمات الإرهابية التي تبثها على مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي أو مواقع إلكترونية أخرى على الشبكة الدولية (الإنترنت)، وقد كشفت هذه الدراسة عن خمس علامات إذا ظهرت واحدة منها أو جميعها على أي شاب يستخدم التقنيات الرقمية بإدمان فأنها تدل على تعرضه لمحاولة غسيل دماغه وتجنيده إلكترونيا، وهذه العلامات على التوالي هي: (الانعزال، شرود الذهن، سرعة الغضب اثناء النقاش، تغير مفاجئ بالسلوك، التعنت في ابداء الرأي)، إذ ثبت إحصائيا وجود علاقة طردية موجبة بين التعرض للمواقع الإلكترونية الإعلامية الخاصة بالتنظيمات الإرهابية وظهور هذه العلامات على الشباب. كلمات مفتاحية: غسيل الدماغ الإلكتروني، التنظيمات الإرهابية، داعش، التقنيات الرقمية.

The Rise of the Islamic State and Changing Patterns of Cooperation in the Middle East

ABSTRACT Interstate relations are highly interdependent: a change in relations between a pair of states can impact the relationship each of those states has with third parties, as well as relations among those third party states. This is particularly salient in cases where emerging security threats have the potential to destabilize existing patterns of interstate behavior. While the interdependent nature of states’ strategic responses to varied security challenges is often discussed and theorized in the international relations (IR) literature, it is less frequently modeled empirically. We present an approach for analyzing state relations that takes into account higher-order dependencies in the position of states within a network. We apply the approach to a unique context: diplomatic relations between Middle East and North African (MENA) states during a period in which the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) becomes a significant destabilizing force in the region. We find that the emergence of ISIL dramatically reshaped the region’s politics, improving relations among the region’s major powers while worsening relations for the states facing territorial threats from the group.

C&EN talks with Firas Jumaah, Iraqi chemist now in Sweden

When Firas Jumaah moved from Iraq to Sweden to attend Lund University almost a decade ago to study green chemistry, he never intended to stay. But on a trip back to his homeland, he wound up hiding with his family from an attack on his people by the Islamic State group. After the university orchestrated a dramatic rescue, Jumaah returned to Lund to finish his research and planted roots as a chemist in the Swedish pharmaceutical industry. C&EN spoke to Jumaah about his educational journey, finding his footing after a traumatic event, and what he loves about his work today. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What prompted you to move from Iraq to Sweden for graduate school? After I finished my BSc and MSc degrees at the University of Mosul, in Iraq, I started as an assistant lecturer at Tikrit University in 2004. Three years later,

The age of terrorism media: The visual narratives of the Islamic State Group's Dabiq magazine

Soon after the Islamic State group declared itself to be the new ‘Caliphate’ on June 28, 2014, it launched an official transnational English-language magazine called Dabiq. The magazine, with a global outreach that transcended national and regional boundaries, covered the group's strategic direction, military strategy, and alliances. This research seeks to explain the crucial role its photographs had in framing the group's visual narratives and how these narratives transformed over time. Drawing on recent literature, this work discusses the new trends in terrorism media and incorporates new ways to operationalize and measure framing in the context of visual communication and global terrorism. The work concludes by a discussion of the global implications of the findings and points out limitations and suggestions for future research.

What Explains the Abandonment of Yezidi People by the Kurdish Forces in 2014? Foreign Support or Internal Factors

In 2014, the genocide of Yezidi people in Shingal by the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) attracted the world’s attention and triggered a military intervention by the United States. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has been accused of allowing the genocide to occur because it had been in military and security control of the area, but abandoned the local population to its horrific fate when ISIL attacked. As such, the KDP’s rival parties regard the withdrawal of KDP Peshmerga forces as a betrayal of the Yezidi people that raises troubling questions about the party’s motivations for doing so. This article offers six possible factors that may have contributed to the fall of Shingal: moral hazard based on genocide, moral hazard based on risk-taking on the Kurdistan Region’s capital of Erbil, military preparedness, bureaucratic and partisan obstacles, and lack of strong leadership and morale. The article tests these hypotheses and concludes that moral hazard does not account for the abandonment. Instead, the article argues that Kurdish forces could not defend the town because of a lack of military preparedness, bureaucratic and partisan obstacles, and lack of strong leadership and morale.

Framing the fall of Sinjar: Kurdish media’s coverage of the Yazidi genocide

In the early morning of 3 August 2014, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) attacked the Sinjar district in the vicinity of Mosul. The area was largely under the control of Kurdish forces at the time, especially those associated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). Those forces could not defend the district and ISIS was able to take control of the area. Consequently, a considerable number of Yazidi people were killed or displaced, while female Yazidis were raped and kidnapped. This study, based on framing theory, attempts to explain how two major Kurdish media organizations, Rudaw, which is loyal to KDP, and the Kurdish News Network (KNN), which is loyal to the Gorran (Change) Movement, each covered the event in their news reports. By performing a content analysis of 222 news stories covering the event, the key finding of the research is that, in instances of assigning responsibility for the fall of Sinjar, political considerations are the determining factor in how the narrative was framed. Taken as part of a growing literature on media in Kurdistan, the research outlined in this article supports the conclusion that the framing of media coverage in the Kurdistan Region is subject to strong political bias and media organizations support the political narratives advanced by their political patrons, as it is the case in many other Middle Eastern countries.