The Islamic State or ‘Isis’, as it is more commonly called, is a terroristic group of recent formation, active mainly in the territories of Syria and Iraq. In the last months, its fame spread to all over the world because of the brutality of its operations and the peculiarity of its targets. Let’s find them out together.
THE HISTORY
Even if the name ‘Isis’ may sound new to the ears of many people, the formation of this terroristic group is set in 2000.
Before giving birth to the Islamic State, a lot of its members used to belong to another well-known organization, Al-Qaeda, the group lead by Osama Bin Laden. They both shared the precept of Jihad, interpreting it in the most radical way, as a holy war against infidels. The modern Isis members, though, were considered too radical even by Bin Laden. Among its main targets there was (and there still is) the genocide of the Shiites, an islamic minority, while Al-Qaeda only meant to convert them.
Later, Isis power grew mostly thanks to two really important events: the abandonment of Iraq by the American Army and the recent civil war in Syria. Using this war as a disguise, a lot of mosques and private citizens have sent money to the organization, giving it new life.
ISIS TODAY
The Isis main goal is to form a real state that will cover the lands of Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel. Besides, it has the intention of expanding its power also on Europe and Rome, the head of christianity. This empire would be ruled by a caliph under the rules of salafitian Islam, a radical, very traditionalist and anti-Western interpretation of the Coran. The 29th of june of 2014 the organization has released a declaration for caliphates restoration, after which it wants to be known only as IS: ‘Islamic State’. The current caliph, Abu Baur Al-Baghdadi Al Qurashi (or more easily Al-Baghdadi), is one of the greatest experts in the world of Islamic law.
Together with the intention of restoring the caliphate, Isis has shown a great ostility for a great number of different populations, if not a precise aim for killing: they consider shiites to be their number one enemy and they deem their doctrin as eresy that needs to be wiped away.
Moreover, Isis sees in the middle east dictators a ‘close enemy’ and in the western countries a ‘remote enemy’, respectively less important than the islamic minorities.
The reasons why the Islamic State is considered a threat are also the resorces that it has, together with its intentions: right now it counts more than 50000 unities between muslim volunteers and foreign fighters who come from all around the world. The news that some of them were also from Europe and America created some disarray. Isis also has a treasure that should amount to around 2 milions Euros, and the favour of a lot of financiers from the persian gulf. This makes it the richest jihadistic group in the world. This fortune comes mostly from the possession of oil wells in the zone, but also the almost total monopoly of the local agriculture and other markets; then they regularly practice a number of criminal activities, like extortions, kidnappings and robberies.
THE ADVANCE
Isis came to the newspapers front pages last summer, when it started conquering lots of cities in Syria and Iraq. Every time it succeeded in putting its hands on a territory, it imposes to the population a choice: exile or conversion to Islam. The minorities, like the yazidis, were forced to leave everything behind and flee. Isis is also responsible for a lot of mass killings. Groups of women were kidnapped to be sold as slaves.
The continuous violations of human rights, the military attacks to the nearer regions and the threats to the other countries, made the West bound to take a stand. President Obama has created a coalition of 40 states to fight against Isis. At the beginning, these states only gave humanitarian help to populations under attack, then some of them have started giving weapons to Peshmerga, the curds fighters that are trying to defend themselves.
Finally, other countries like United States and United Kingdom are now offering help to the peshmerga with aerial bombing. To convince them to stop, the islamic state militiamen have beheaded some journalists and humanitarian operators after kidnapping them.
In conclusion, the development of this organization has caused a destabilization of the Near East, that seems doomed to live other years of uncertainty. For now the Islamic State doesnt look like an immediate threat to western countries and, despite the clear violations of human rights, it’s difficult to fight directly against it without upsetting the public opinion and perturbing the economical balance.
Adapted by Fabio Fontana and Emilio Frattallone
Translated by Sofia Aria