Why Islamic State Keeps Winning
When Islamic State seized Iraq’s largest northern city of Mosul almost a year ago, tribal leader Hekmat Suleiman was sure the extremist militants wouldn’t expand further into his hometown.
“We bet Islamic State won’t have what it takes to last,” Suleiman said in October during a visit to the Iraqi Kurdish city of Erbil, smoke rising from his shisha water pipe. “We’ve reached the beginning of the end of extremism.”
He was wrong. His hometown of Ramadi fell last month, three days before Islamic State captured Palmyra, a 2,000-year-old UNESCO world heritage city on the Syrian side of its territory.
The battlefield victories ahead of the first anniversary of the group’s self-declared caliphate on June 29 emphasize its ability to endure U.S.-led coalition airstrikes as well as lower oil prices, which have slashed a key source of income.
More and more radicalized Sunnis from elsewhere are being drawn to the group at a time of deepening sectarian tensions between Sunni power Saudi Arabia and mainly Shiite Iran. It has also expanded its influence, with Nigeria’s Boko Haram militant group formally pledging allegiance.
Fueling Extremism
What’s made it easier is that the ingredients of the “toxic recipe that gave life” to Islamic State, also known by the abbreviations ISIS or Da’esh in Arabic, haven’t changed, said Patrick Skinner, director of special projects at Soufan Group, a security firm based in New York.
“They’re blessed with bad opponents at every single stage,” said Skinner. “Everything that put ISIS where they are now still is there and is keeping them there.”
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-01/islamic-state-s-toxic-recipe-gives-strength-year-after-caliphate
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