ISIS Current Events

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ISIS (Islamic state of Iraq and Syria) has become a mainstay in Syria for the past four years through a variety of popular uprisings and sectarian maneuvering. They hope to progress to encapsulate religiously important areas including Mecca and Jerusalem in their Caliphate and expunge Western influence. This is likely why instead of only addressing heads of state, they behead western journalists and recently threatened Twitter & Facebook CEO’s Jack Doresy and Mark Zuckerberg – powerhouses for western propaganda /influence in their eyes. Constant streams of disjointed (yet still useful) information offers little to patching together the big picture. It brings to question then, what is the current state of the crisis?

ISIS is not the only extremist group present in the region but it is by far the largest and well-funded out there. The Assad regime from Syria is a Shia government ruling over a majority Sunni population. This caused the formation of splinter Sunni groups or ‘rebels’. Many of these groups have been able to find funding from the U.S. to combat Assad’s regime in addition to the larger ISIS threat. One such group is the al-Nusra sect, which is an al-Qaeda affiliate. Russia and Iran’s support of the Assad regime puts them at loggerheads with both ISIS and its own (Sunni) rebels. At surface level this looks like a triangle of sorts, but in reality is a pyramid - a multi-dimensional conflict. There are dozens of individual rebel groups, not all opposing Assad or ISIS that may still gain U.S./western support and arms – completely counteracting the intention of military aid.

The civilians suffer greatly. The death toll in Syria where most of the battles have taken place has an estimated death toll of around 250,000. The citizenry has suffered immensely from war waged not only within its communities, but also against it. Mass murders and chemical weapon usage, on many sides has left many dead, others in hiding and servitude, and an estimated 4.5 million fleeing. With governmentality falling to the controlling order of a region security of food and shelter was no more plentiful than its expectation to be.

The battle, as we know, still continues. Differing regions are under rule of the many factions we have heard of thus far, and will each continue to vie for consolidation of territory. The map above details the regions held by different factions, in addition to air strikes carried out by foreign support groups/coalitions. These boundaries change daily as more vie for power over the other. Even though the clear common enemy is ISIS, there are still a good deal of infighting between even situational allies. The difference in targets for airstrikes denotes difference of allegiance for would-be defeaters of the IS.

Interventionist leaders have now considered heavily shifting focus from military support to political reforms, as the former has offered little, if any, tangible benefit to the defeat of ISIS. Hopefully with less net military aid flowing from all directions, negotiations will be made a more viable option for ending massive conflicts in the region.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/25/isis-threatens-facebook-and-twitter-ceos.html

http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2016/03/04/please-dont-attack-al-qaeda/

map - http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26116868