The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Beirut—Little known to the wider world 18 months ago, the Islamic State extremist group has muscled its way into the international spotlight by carving out a self-declared caliphate in the heart of the Mideast, beheading its opponents and foreign journalists, and attracting radicalized youth as far afield as Paris, London and New York.
The militants’ once seemingly unstoppable push across Syria and Iraq has slowed to a crawl in recent months as the United States, its Arab allies and even rival Iran work to roll back the group and ultimately defeat it. Despite those efforts, the extremists show little sign of crumbling under the weight of international efforts to crush it. Here’s a look at what happened this week involving the extremist group and the fight against it:
Kidnap, smashing of artifacts
In northeastern Syria, the militants swept through several villages and seized more than 220 Christians from their homes over a three-day stretch beginning around dawn Monday. The onslaught also forced thousands of people to flee to nearby cities. The fate of those kidnapped, almost all of them Assyrian Christians, remains unclear. The abductions have compounded fears among religious minorities in both Syria and Iraq, where the Islamic State group’s fighters have repeatedly targeted minorities, killing them, driving them from their homes, enslaving their women and destroying their places of worship.
In northern Iraq, meanwhile, the militants took sledgehammers and drills to smash ancient Mesopotamian statues and other artifacts in the city of Mosul, including a winged-bull that dated to the 7th century B.C. The destruction, documented in a video posted online, is part of a wider campaign by the extremists to eliminate anything that they view as heretical. UNESCO’s director general, Irina Bokova condemned the destruction, calling it “a deliberate attack against Iraq’s millennial history and culture” and “an inflammatory incitement to violence and hatred.”
Schoolgirls seduced to join group
The long reach of the Islamic State group was felt in London this week with the news that three teenage girls had left their families with the apparent intent of joining a friend who already was with the extremists in Syria. It was another indication that IS had at least some appeal to a small number of Britons who may believe propaganda videos posted online about the building of a caliphate in Syria and Iraq.
Jihadi John
The masked militant known as “Jihadi John” who has played a prominent role in Islamic State beheading videos was revealed this week to be Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwait-born computer scientist who had moved to London with his family as a young boy. He had not been known to the general public, but had been seen by Britain›s security services as a potential threat. It turned out they had questioned him several years ago—and, according to emails Emwazi sent to an Islamic support group, even tried to recruit him as an informer.
The case highlighted the difficulties Britain faces in trying to mitigate the terrorist threat. Security officials had questioned Emwazi because they believed he had been planning to join a terrorist group in Somalia, but he still was able to leave Britain and join militants in Syria.
AP