ISIS: Terrors new avatar

The ISIS group was virtually unknown to the world until June 10, when it captured Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul. Iraqi forces removed their uniforms and fled without firing a single shot.

The group has emerged from Al-Qaeda’s shadow, threatening world dominance with a sleuth of brain washing through social networking and professionally shot recruiting videos. It has captured Tikrit, the birthplace of former dictator Saddam Hussein; and regions from Aleppo, Raqqa, Fallujah to Baiji.

Now, it has infiltrated minds of people far and beyond. An Indian man in the city of Bengaluru was arrested after his IS affiliation emerged. Mehdi Masroor Biswas reportedly confessed to operating the ISIS-friendly @ShamiWitness account before it was recently shut down.

The 24-year-old was charged with waging a war or abetting the waging of war against powers friendly to India, police commissioner M N Reddi said.

 

—Hate mongering—

The merciless fighting continues in the IS strongholds with the support of international fighters and hate mongers who are ready to escalate the brutality and back any effort to claim world domination.

It is an organisation which has been left to brew for far too long. Some ten years after it first began, the Iraqi insurgency has been fully reborn, and the conflict is escalating into a bloody new phase.

The world is in grave danger with the group targeting normalcy with its propaganda. Non-believers, women, children are all facing terrible plight under the ISIS in the areas controlled by them.

Reports have disclosed that non-Muslim women and children are taken into captivity. Young girls and women are forced into having sex with extremists. They are also sold or given off as gifts to others.

People in Mosul were handed out colour-printed pamphlet which read “Question and Answers on Female Slaves and their Freedom.”

The outrageous document explains that capturing women is permissible if they are “nonbelievers”, adding “Female slaves are the women that Muslims took from their enemies.”

 

—The man behind IS—

To know about the group which is emerging as the biggest threat to civilisation, we have to understand the man behind it – The leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He has led ISIS into the downfall of northern Iraq’s largest city and now a nation-size swath of land. A mostly unknown figure, the US has a $10 million bounty on his head. In just one year he has most likely surpassed Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in international influence.

He is believed to have been an Islamic preacher around the time US invasion of Iraq in 2003, and then driven into militancy he formed an armed group in eastern Iraq, one that reportedly never rose out of obscurity.

In 2005, he was captured by American forces and spent the next four years imprisoned in the Bucca Camp in Southern Iraq. Here is where he reportedly met and trained with key Al-Qaeda fighters. In May 2010 he became the leader of Islamic State of Iraq after Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was killed in a military raid.

Zawahiri took the opportunity of fuelling the resurgence of terror organisations with Syria’s civil war and here was born ISIS- Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Over the years, as many as 12,000 militant Islamists — 3,000 of whom are from Western countries — flocked to the region to fight.

 

—Funding—

The well-equipped, well-organised terrorist force has spread across Iraq like wildfire. The International Business Times says ISIS is now worth $2 billion.

According to the US intelligence expert Robert McFadden, ISIS has had a strong financial network in place since its inception in 2013. ISIS is set up to rake in funds through extortion, smuggling and private donations.

ISIS also draws as much as $1 million per day in profit from each oil well under its control in Syria. And despite its terrorist classification, ISIS has had no trouble selling its oil to the world market.

The group also gained truckloads of cash when it captured Iraqi city of Mosul. Reports say almost $466 million and a large quantity of gold bullion was taken by the terrorists from the city’s central bank. Since then, the organization has continued to loot and pillage everything in its path, adding to its already considerable wealth. ISIS has also become increasingly well-armed as it appropriates military weapons and equipment left behind for the Iraqi army by the US after 2009 pull out.

The group is also gaining from hostage money paid by nations or families for the release of loved ones taken by the terrorists.

 

—Recruitment—

One of its first videos to gain international headlines was the execution of over 1,700 Iraqi security forces. The propaganda video has made them a more formidable force in the region than Al-Qaeda.

The presence of several British fighters in the organisation has left people dumb founded. ISIS has used its wealth to develop an Internet presence, and grown its social media hub to accentuate its existence to the world and even uses a downloadable smartphone app to keep sympathizers informed.

An Internet presence makes it easier for ISIS to recruit, and creates chaos and fear in every country.

With several Arab countries along with France having joined the US air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, there’s hope the terror groups strength will diminish, if not completely wiped out.

 

(With inputs from agencies)