Why it's Almost Impossible to Defeat ISIS
Why it's Almost IMPOSSIBLE to Defeat ISIS
The Islamic State, or ISIS, is a terrorist organization that once controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq. It increased its military strength to such an extent that it surpassed even a power like Israel, and its presence was felt in over 86 countries. With a daily income of 3 million dollars, the organization was waging its ideological war in an increasingly aggressive manner. In 2019, when US President Donald Trump announced the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, he also claimed that the US had wiped ISIS off the world map. However, despite this announcement, ISIS’s influence and activities did not cease. Recent terrorist attacks in countries like India and Belgium are proof that the organization is still active. The US’s elimination of Baghdadi was a major success, but the operation had some critical mistakes that gave ISIS the opportunity to adapt and strengthen itself. After Baghdadi, ISIS changed its strategy and appointed multiple leaders who could evade US targeting. These leaders included Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi and Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, both of whom were killed in suicide bombings by US forces. This pattern shows that ISIS understood the US strategy and devised a new strategy to protect its leaders from being targeted. Under this strategy, they appointed a leader named Abu Habs, who is faceless, meaning their identity is unknown to anyone. This anonymity has helped ISIS survive despite the elimination of its leaders. This cycle of leadership changes demonstrates how resilient ISIS is and how challenging it is for the US to completely dismantle it.
To understand ISIS’s resilience, it is essential to look at its origin and evolution. The organization was founded in 2004 by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as a splinter group of al-Qaeda, named al-Qaeda in Iraq. After Zarqawi’s death in 2010, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took command and transformed it into a global terrorist organization. Baghdadi declared himself the first caliph of the Islamic State, and with this, ISIS rapidly expanded its territory in Iraq and Syria. It aggressively spread its ultra-conservative Salafi ideology worldwide. This ideology became a major cause of radicalization in many parts of the world, especially among those who fell prey to its propaganda through online platforms. ISIS’s aggressive approach and territorial gains during its peak time, i.e., 2014-2015, gave it unprecedented power. At that time, ISIS had an army of over 200,000 fighters, which was larger than Israel’s military strength. This was a scale unimaginable for any terrorist organization.
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