STUDIES

Camps and Prisons Detainees … The Risk of ISIS Legacy in North-East Syria

 Dr. Reber Khalaf – a Scholar Fellow at Al-Furat Center for Studies

Translated by: Al-Furat Center for Studies – Translation Department

Also avilable in Arabic (العربية)

Introduction

Thousands of detainees of the Islamic State (ISIS) are swarming, in a small geographical area of North-East ​​Syria (NES), some of which carry mixed feelings between pain, fear, sadness, joy, dread, and regret, have found themselves as victims. Others hold feelings of hope, wish, and revenge within them, and despite its fall in Mosul, Raqqa, Deir Al-Zour, they believe that it is just a setback, and their state will continue, even in its last strongholds in Al-Baghuz. As their state is not just cities but also a thought that will continue in their places of detention and they will impose it on others.

Introduction

The Roots and Al-Jihad Duty

Despite the different names and religious titles of the militant groups, all of them belong, in its roots, to one tendency, which is the “Jihadi Tendency” The ideological idea is united regardless of the figures that stand for or the defects that occur in it, but it is a resumption and expansion of this ideology.

Despite the differences, it is being noted by referring to the ideological roots, the capability of ISIS ideas and to what extent it can be evolved and continued.

The beginning was with the announcement of the “Jama’at al- Wal-Jihad”(The Group of Monotheism and Jihad) organization joining Al Qaeda in 1999. It participated in the Iraqi resistance against the American invasion in 2003.

In 2004, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi announced the establishment of al-Qaeda in Iraq, and after his killing in a US raid on 7 July 2003, Abu Ayyub al-Masri assumed the leadership of the organization. The presence of al-Qaeda in Iraq on the ground was restricted to Fallujah and its surrounding Iraqi cities.

In October 2006, Abu Ayyub al-Masri announced the establishment of the Islamic State in Iraq, under the Emirate of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.

In April 2010, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi took over the emirate after the killing of Al-Masry and Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi in a joint US-Iraqi operation targeting their headquarters.

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