What is ISIS & How Islamic State Can be stopped?

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

What is this ISIS?

Led by an Iraqi, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS (the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant – al-Sham in Arabic) is a militant group so hardline that it was disavowed by al-Qaida's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri. American and Iraqi intelligence analysts in 2014 said Baghdadi has a doctorate in Islamic studies from a university in Baghdad. According to a biography that circulated on jihadist internet forums in July 2013, he obtained a BA, MA, and PhD in Islamic studies from the Islamic University of Baghdad. Another report says that he earned a doctorate in education from the University of Baghdad. 

The group's reputation for brutality was reinforced when it released photos and videos of some prisoners it had captured being killed apparently in the desert near Tikrit. Claims that 1,700 prisoners were killed could not be verified. Baghdadi sought to gain influence over the increasingly powerful Jabhat al-Nusra by directly expanding ISI's operations into Syria, forming ISIS in April 2014, but differences over ideology and strategy soon led to bitter infighting. ISIS turned out to be too extreme not just for Jabhat al-Nusra but for al-Qaida itself, leading to a public repudiation by Zawahiri, who last month called on Isis to leave Syria and return to Iraq. 

Isis has already shown its ruthlessness in the areas of Syria under its control, namely eastern Aleppo and the city of Raqqa. It was blamed for the February killing of a founding member of the Salafi group Ahrar al-Sham and the group's leader in Aleppo, Muhammad Bahaiah, who had close connections to senior al-Qaida leaders. It was also blamed for the assassination of Jabhat al-Nusra's leader in the Idlib governorate, Abu Muahmmad al-Ansari, along with his wife, children and relatives. It ordered the crucifixion of a man accused of murder. Other forms of punishment include beheadings and amputations.

ISIS turned out to be too extreme not just for Jabhat al-Nusra but for al-Qaida itself, leading to a public repudiation by Zawahiri, who last month called on Isis to leave Syria and return to Iraq.

Whats ISIS Goal.?

Baghdadi believes that the world's Muslims should live under one Islamic state ruled by sharia law, the first step towards which is establishing a caliphate spanning Syria and Iraq. Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, Doha, wrote in a paper: "Isis now presents itself as an ideologically superior alternative to al-Qaida within the jihadi community and it has publicly challenged the legitimacy of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. As such it has increasingly become a transnational movement with immediate objectives far beyond Iraq and Syria." The Islamic State is currently positioning itself to attack the Al-Asad airbase in Anbar province, where U.S. military advisers are now located, and such an assault could amplify calls in the United States for an immediate American withdrawal from the region. ISIS could conceivably launch a major cross-border attack against Jordan or move into Suwayda, the only majority-Druze province in Syria, carrying out massacres comparable to those that the group committed in Sinjar or Hit. In the latter scenario, the Islamic State would be goading the U.S. to intervene militarily on what could be seen as the side of Bashar al-Assad’s supporters.

What are the major Factors leading ISIS to gain strength? 

The group had an impressive array of foes when a June blitzkrieg extended its reach into Iraq—enemies that included the Iraqi government, the Iranian regime, and even other jihadist groups like the Nusra Front, with whom it frequently skirmished in Syria. This offensive wasn't solely the work of ISIS, which fought alongside a coalition of Sunni insurgent groups that included former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party. The offensive was also widely backed by Iraq’s disaffected Sunni elite.

When it comes to its victories, ISIS does not depend on its military power - which experts disagree over and which certainly doubled after seizing Mosul - and it does not depend on the policy of intimidation and horror which it spreads. It depends on dismantling the political and social infrastructure of cities and regions it targets through sleeper cells and through recruiting men and terrorizing people. It also targets this infrastructure by exploiting the mistakes of politicians like Maliki and others who resemble him. It then sweeps these cities and towns like a torrent sweeps a low-lying land. Perhaps the aforementioned also answers the question of whether ISIS will not just last, but also expand.

 ( In Grey Color ) Area Controlled by ISIS so far

What is the Territory ISIS is holding so far.?

It’s clear that the outburst of Mosul’s victory and what followed of the Iraqi army’s collapse and ISIS’ entrance to several cities and towns and its seizure of military bases have decreased as if it’s reached its peak. It’s now possible to draw an approximate map of ISIS’ territory: It’s most of Sunni Iraq and central Iraq. In the east and south, ISIS has reached its extent. Although Samraa is Sunni, ISIS did not enter it due to the government’s power there and due to the strong presence of the Islamic party there. Instead, ISIS attacked the Brotherhood there and accused them of treason. As for Baghdad, it’s still unattainable for ISIS as Maliki and those before him altered its demographics. ISIS now controls territory that stretches from the eastern edge of Aleppo, in Syria, to Falluja, Mosul and now Tal Afar in Iraq.

Read More: Turkish Forces has evacuated Tomb of King Suleman Shah in Syria 

What we know about its Hierarchy so far.?

The information from the computer sticks shows the group's leaders to have been carefully chosen. Many of those who reported to the top tier are battle-hardened veterans of the insurgency against the US a decade ago. ISIS has bolstered its numbers by recruiting thousands of foreign volunteers in Syria, some from Europe and the US, and is estimated to have more than 10,000 men under its control. The computer sticks included names and noms de guerre of all foreign fighters, senior leaders and their code words, and initials of sources inside ministries.

ISIS has bolstered its numbers by recruiting thousands of foreign volunteers in Syria, some from Europe and the US, and is estimated to have more than 10,000 men under its control.

How many are these ISIS Fighters,

A report by NBC News quoting U.S. officials,  total number of Foreign Fighters has now reached 3,400. U.S. agencies have different views on the overall size of the ISIS fighting force in the Caliphate, with the intelligence community sticking with a range of 20,000 to 31,500 while the Pentagon thinks the number could be as low as 17,000. The intelligence community's estimate is built on reports from other intelligence agencies in the Arab world and the West. Those numbers often cover different reporting periods and can be inconsistent in their specificity. France, for example, has very specific numbers. Other countries provide very general estimates.

Read More: How many ISIS Fighter are there so far

United States and European countries have took right measures to keep on the monitoring the flow of fighters to Caliphate.  Turkish Government has applied enough pressure to slow down the inflow because Fighters are using Turkey for joining to the ISIS.

Read More: Three British Teenage girls have travelled to join ISIS

How ISIS got money to Run.? 

ISIS has secured huge cash flows from oilfields in eastern Syria, which it commandeered in late 2012. It also reaped windfalls from the smuggling of raw materials plundered from the crumbling state and priceless antiquities from archaeological digs. Computer sticks captured just before the fall of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul have shown the full extent of the group's finances. Before Mosul, total cash and assets of ISIS came to $875m (£515m). After Mosul, the group's financial assets are estimated to be about $2bn, with money taken from banks and military supplies captured. Although, ISIS’s financial and military resources have shrunk due to U.S. airstrikes that have destroyed the group’s materiel and capacity to refine oil. The Islamic State is still able to sell unrefined oil on the black market, but the difference between the prices it can set for unrefined versus refined oil is significant. Reports this week indicated that ISIS expects a $250-million surplus in its $2-billion budget, but these figures are entirely self-reported: Accountants aren’t exactly lining up to get into ISIS-controlled territory and perform an outside audit.

How long will it grow and how much.?

In September and October, as the jihadist group captured territory through a major offensive in Iraq’s Anbar province, culminating in the fall of the town of Hit on October 13, observers feared that even Baghdad was in danger of being overrun. ISIS is now in the midst of another major military movement in Anbar. Another reason it is possible to say ISIS is “lasting” is that ISIS, as Kurdish politician Barham Salih put it, “has grown through the gaps which Iraqi politicians created among them.” Mr. Maliki is steadily creating more gaps. It’s as if he intentionally wants to grant ISIS more reasons to be powerful. He strongly opposes ceding power and he still deals with the constitution - which he violated more than once - like it still means something, even after the notion of “one country” collapsed. 

How ISIS Can be Eliminated.?

American and British pressures on Baghdad, Riyadh, Tehran and Arbil succeed and unless a government that can confront ISIS is installed, the group will last for quite a long time. No ceasefire will be announced but black banners and flags of the Islamic state have begun to flutter on the Kurdish-ISIS borders - so to speak. Then it’s only a matter of time and borders will be drawn with Shiite Iraq (maybe this is what Maliki and Iran want), and then some sort of secret agreement will be reached to cease shelling in exchange for ending suicide bombing operations in the Shiite heartland of Iraq.. ISIS could yet seize the Iraqi cities of Ramadi or Haditha, which would represent powerful symbolic gains for the group and disasters in terms of lives lost, but would do little to improve the Islamic State’s overall strategic position. Even if ISIS lost all its Iraq holdings (which won’t happen anytime soon), the organization would simply be back to where it started before the June offensive, hunkered down in its stronghold of Raqqa, Syria.

Who can fight with ISIS.?

Beheading of the American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, helped draw even more enemies for the ISIS into the theater, including the United States and an international coalition backing U.S. military action.

ISIS’s jihadist rivals have also been gaining ground. The Nusra Front, which Syria watchers once considered a spent force, has in recent weeks made major gains in Idlib, Hama, and Daraa, and its growing strength has effectively marginalized the “moderate” Syrian opposition. It’s a clear sign that jihadism will bedevil Iraq and Syria for some time to come—and that this problem is much broader than ISIS. It’s also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Kurdistan as it also began to draw the borders it wants for itself and has established a buffer zone between ISIS and Iran.

Although, Western airstrikes and Kurdish forces have rolled back ISIS on the northern edge of the caliphate, but the Islamic State's march through the Sunni heartlands of Syria and Iraq has only been slowed, not stopped even. However, officials have yet to determine, Air Strikes by NATO or Kurdish Military offensive have done anything to slow down the influx of Foreign Fighters. 


Some 30,000 Iraqi forces and Shi'ite militias known as Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) backed by Ariel Support has launched a major military strikes on ISIS controlled Tikrit, hometown of Saddam Hussain. The operation began in early morning after being announced by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi the previous evening. Abadi urged the security forces to spare civilians during the offensive, a message echoed by the UN and responding to fears of reprisals against the area’s Sunnis. “I call on all those who were misled and made mistakes in the past to lay down their arms today. This may be the last chance,” Abadi said, suggesting some could be granted amnesty.


Read More: The number of ISIS Militant are still creeping Up