The dastardly terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November hours after a similar attack in Beirut should wake up all actors in the Middle East theatre of proxy wars as well as the global Muslim community to the danger that ISIS now poses to the whole world. As of now, ISIS was seen as a region specific entity, a quasi-state disconnected and autonomous but with a large number of fighters and more than adequate resources to continue expanding the size of its territory as well as attract more jihadis from across the world. What separated it from Al Qada both figuratively and literally is the fact that the latter believes in carrying on a long duration global jihad or prolonged war of attrition with Western powers and their allies in the region through decentralized network of terrorists or sleeper cells in key geographical centres around the world. It seeks to weaken and overthrow the global order through terror attacks like 9/11 believing the time was not ripe for establishment of the caliphate (read: gaining allegiance of majority of global Muslims community ). The ISIS on the other hand chose to declare itself as the caliphate on the basis of the territorial gains it had already made and with the ambition to conquer a sizeable territory in a short span. However, the attacks in Paris and the manner in which they were planned and executed indicate that ISIS may be adopting and improvising the modus operandi of Al Qaeda which is indeed scary given the number of recruits the terrorist group attracts from many parts of the world including Europe.
Posted By
Danish
12:50 AM
