The group “Islamic state in Iraq and Syria” (DAESH)
appeared in April 2013 and claimed to be a result of
consolidation of two groups, one called “The Islamic state of Iraq”, which was
subordinate to “al-Qaeda”, and the other called “The Syrian Nusra front”. The
last denied the consolidation at once, which led to finghtings flared up between
the two sides in January 2014 and have been continuing with breaks until now.
“Daesh” publicly repudiated the power of an
“Al-Qaeda” leader Ayman az-Zawahiry and refused to yield to his appeal to
concentrate on Iraq and leave Syria for “The Nusra front”.
In the beginning “Daesh” operated in Iraq under the
name of “Jammaa at-Tawhid (tawhid, an Islamic term, i.e. oneness) wal Jihad
(islamic term, i.e. combat, struggle)”, then transformed into group “al-Qaeda
in the country of two rivers”, soon after Abu Musab undertaking the leadership
in 2004 and swearing allegiance to the former “al-Qaeda” leader Usamma Bin
Laden. This new group became famous for publishing videos on the internet
depicting acts of execution and beheading.
After az-Zarqawi’s extermination in June 2006 by the
USA forces in Iraq, the formation elected Abu Hamza Al-Muhajir as a leader. Few
months later it declared the organization “Islamic state of Iraq” headed by Abu
Omar al-Baghdadi. However, in April 2010 the USA forces managed to eliminate
Al-Baghdadi and his assistant, Abu Hamza, so the formation chose Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi as its caliph (successor).
During a prolonged period of time between 2006 and
2010, United States Forces, along with Iraqi Forces, managed to weaken the
group to great extent, after setting up Iraqi “Sahwa” (consciousness) forces,
gathered from tribal fighters in sunni regions, and by means of elimination and
detaining of 34 its great leaders.
After US troops withdrawal from Iraq in the end of
2011, “The Islamic state of Iraq” carried out a series of explosions in some cities of Iraq, in particular,
Baghdad, with 5 thousand of victims incurred. The USA announced an award of 10
million dollars for those who would capture Al-Baghdadi or eliminate him.
Thereafter the group responded by unleashing tens of attacks on the Iraqi
prisons, so called «breaking the walls» campaign, which led to release of hundreds of
prisoners, especially from at-Taji and Abu Gharib ash-Shahir prisons.
In April 2013 there came up a voice message of
Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi from a recorded source, when he announced that “The
Nusra Front” is the continuation of his group and the two groups merged
under a name of “The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria”. However, the next day
“Nusra” hastened to turn down a consolidation offer. Soon after the
announcement of merge wasn’t achieved, Al-Baghdadi decided to transfer his
group’s activities into Syria, where he gained control over ar-Raqqa and Deir
ez-Zor provinces. He restored the az-Zarqawi way of execution against elements
of other rival groups and beheading them on public squares.
Suddenly the group involved into combats on several
fronts in Syria, opposing “Nusra”,“Free Syrian Army”, which is
subordinate to National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and
Opposition, and the Syrian Kurds, who decided to establish a kind of
autonomous power in their regions of Northern Syria. Last February “Daesh”
combatants managed to assassinate Abu Khaled as-Sury, az-Zawahiry’s
agent, by blowing up his residence in the city of Aleppo. This year in January
“Daesh” forces infiltrated into cities of al-Falluja and ar-Ramadi and occupied
them after months of violence escalation in al-Anbar province. However, the
government forces retook ar-Ramadi several days after, though al-Falluja
remained under control of rigorous combatants.
On 10th of
April “Daesh” unleashed a surprisingly progressing attack and rapidly took over
Mosul, the second biggest city of Iraq, as the government forces were
withdrawn. Consequently, the group extended its control by taking over Salah
ad-Din province, which links the middle part of Iraq with the North, including
the city of Baiji, where the biggest oil refineries of Iraq are situated , and
tried to advance towards plentiful of oil letigious Karkuk province, but
the Kurdish Bashmarka Forces hastened to occupy the province soon after
withdrawal of the The Iraqi Army.
As “Daesh” seized control over vast areas of Iraq,
including the major part of al-Anbar province in the West of Iraq,
on 29 June 2014 there was declared the establishment of
“The State of Islamic Caliphate” under its leadership and Abu Bakr’s swearing
allegiance to the Muslims, as well as the group’s change of the
name and its contraction to just “ The Islamic State”. “Daesh”
proclamation touched upon “abolition of borders” between Iraq and Syria and
called on the Muslims to make al-hijra to “The Caliphate State”. Five
days later, while the first appearance publicly, the group circulated a video
tape of Al-Baghdadi’s speech he made in the Great Mosque in Mosul, where he
called on the Muslims for obedience to him. He
appeared with long grey beard and dressed in a black abaa and an ammama.
The formation carried out the resettlement of the
Christians from Mosul to Baghdad regions and Kurdish regions in the Northern
Iraq, shortly after “The Caliphate State” proclamation. Hereupon it didn’t
hesitate to start arresting former Iraqi Army officers, which led to
significant tension with “al-Baas” party of Iraq and the outburst of clashes
between two sides that will probably extend.
After such great geographical extension of
the group’s areas, it approved income diversification for financing
combat operations and paying salaries for its combatants. It began to sell
crude oil and gasoline on low prices, obtained from fields and refineries
of Syria and Iraq equally, it also imposed taxes on gas stations
and vehicles transporting goods to the regions under control.
Charles Lister, a researcher of Brookings institution
in Doha, estimates a number of combatants involved in the formation “The
Islamic State” between 5000 and 6 000 combatants in Iraq and 7 000 in
Syria. However, other sources didn’t confirm this data.
As for the nationality, Roman Caillet, an expert of
French Institute of the Middle East, says that the majority of combatants in
Syria are Syrian, but their leaders, to most part, arrive from abroad after
having acquired of battle experience in Iraq, Chechnya or Afghanistan.
Regarding Iraq, most of them are Iraqi. Also the formation includes
approximately 2000 combatants of Moroccan background, who speak French and come
from France.
Source:
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