Why Isis Fights – Martin Chulov
This is the story of why men from all over the world have chosen to fight in a brutal and apocalyptic war; of what drew them to the battlefields of Iraq and Syria; and of what has kept many of them there as Europe and the west have scrambled to stem the flow, first of their own nationals fleeing to join Isis and now of millions of refugees fleeing the other way.
• Why Isis fights – the audio version
This Islamic State nightmare is not a holy war but an unholy mess – Jonathan Freedland
“Islamic State are jihadis with MBAs,” says Dodge, speaking of a movement so modern it has its own gift shop. He notes its combination of fierce religious ideology, financial acumen and tactical nous.
The Isis demand for a caliphate is about power, not religion – William Dalrymple
It is too early to say to which … tradition al-Baghdadi belongs, and whether Isis represents a brief interlude of Islamist anarchy or marks the beginning of a permanent new jihadistan which will succeed in establishing itself on the map.
Europeans have joined the US in bombing Isis – but what comes next? – Natalie Nougayrède
The international coalition of 20 western and Arab states is clearly dominated by one actor, as the US is reportedly carrying out 90% of the air strikes. Barack Obama gathered military chiefs from 20 countries at Andrews air force base outside Washington on Tuesday to discuss the operation. It is not clear whether the Europeans came with a specific message.
The Isis propaganda war: a hi-tech media jihad – Steve Rose
Just as Islamic State (Isis) has used captured American artillery against its enemies in Iraq, so it is using the west’s media tools and techniques against it. Isis has proved fluent in YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, internet memes (see: #catsofjihad) and other social media.
How Isis got its anthem – Alex Marshall
No one seems to know who exactly is writing the Islamic State’s songs. The consensus appears to be that the words are written by poets, the melodies by musicians, while a separate person sings. “In Iraq, there are lots of different production companies,” Phillip Smyth says, “and the same in other countries. In Lebanon, I once wanted to see how it was done and sat in a room that was in a guy’s mother’s basement.
How Isis crippled al-Qaida – Shiv Malik, Ali Younes, Spencer Ackerman and Mustafa Khalili
Later that year, while the rest of the world was fixated on Assad’s chemical weapons, Isis planned to seize control of the 500-mile border between Turkey and Syria: if it could hold the border crossings, which supplied the main rebel groups with food, medicine, weapons and new recruits, Isis would have Nusra and its other rivals by the throat.
Now the truth emerges: how the US fuelled the rise of Isis in Syria and Iraq – Seumas Milne
What’s clear is that Isis and its monstrosities won’t be defeated by the same powers that brought it to Iraq and Syria in the first place, or whose open and covert war-making has fostered it in the years since. Endless western military interventions in the Middle East have brought only destruction and division.
The Kurds are pushing Isis back – but it’s western airstrikes that tip the balance – Mohammed A Salih
Then came the US air strikes. In a matter of days the tide of the conflict began to turn in the Kurds’ favour. Kurdish forces first pushed Isis jihadists from Makhmour and Gwer and have ever since slowly but steadily retaken some lost territory in the Nineveh plains and other parts of northern Iraq.
David Cameron must not give Isis the wider conflict it wants – Emile Simpson
If action against Isis is actually more about the stability of the Middle East, then the public has another choice: there is clearly a debate to be had about the extent to which the UK should take ownership of that problem.
Isis: the inside story – Martin Chulov
Earlier incarnations of Isis had dabbled with the Ba’athists, who lost everything when Saddam was ousted, under the same premise that “my enemy’s enemy is my friend”. But by early 2008, Abu Ahmed and other sources said, these meetings had become far more frequent – and many of them were taking place in Syria.
How to think about Islamic State – Pankaj Mishra
Isis mocks the entrepreneurial age’s imperative to project an appealing personality by posting snuff videos on social media. At the same time, it has a stern bureaucracy devoted to proper sanitation and tax collection. Some members of Isis extol the spiritual nobility of the Prophet and the earliest caliphs. Others confess through their mass rapes, choreographed murders and rational self-justifications a primary fealty to nihilism.
The women taking on Isis: on the ground with Iraq’s female fighters – Sarah Moroz
Her story is too long and too sad,” says Alfred Yaghobzadeh. An alert, unnerving eye is all that’s visible in his portrait of a Yazidi woman who was captured by Isis last year, taken through Iraq to Syria and raped repeatedly. Photographed in a makeshift house with no door, she peeks between a wall and a hanging blanket, lit by sunset.
A war on Isis is a hard sell: the well of trust is still poisoned by Iraq –Mary Dejevsky
Even 12 years after the Iraq invasion, any British government will face difficulty convincing people of the need for a foreign war, because the well of trust remains poisoned. Official confusion and exaggeration over Isis stands to make that task harder still.
Why British airstrikes in Syria would be pointless – Shashank Joshi
Britain could start bombing Syria tomorrow, but the coalition’s efforts in that country amount largely to an ad hoc defence of Kurdish territory and pinpricks elsewhere. When Isis advanced into the ancient city of Palmyra in May, American and Arab aircraft stayed away.
We must beware – Isis wants the west to conduct a crusade – Oliver Miles
Isis is above all a threat to Syria and Iraq, and after them to the other near neighbours: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iran and Kuwait. Barack Obama has done a good job mobilising support from some of them, but the political pressure on him to be leader risks allowing them to make token contributions only.
A sledgehammer to civilisation: Islamic State’s war on culture – Martin Chulov
Isis says it is destroying the museums because, according to their ideology, they have to destroy every statue that is a symbol of worship, but the real reason behind the destruction is they don’t have much money right now.
Skyping with the enemy: I went undercover as a jihadi girlfriend – Anna Erelle
The dried blood I could see on the concrete was evidence of a recent attack. Isis’s black flags with white insignia floated in the distance. I listened to Bilel talk about a variety of issues, including his impatience for the arrival of his “American cargo” and “chocolate bars”.
How Isis came to be – Ali Khedery
Isis is the product of a genocide that continued unabated as the world stood back and watched. It is the illegitimate child born of pure hate and pure fear – the result of 200,000 murdered Syrians and of millions more displaced and divorced from their hopes and dreams.
Defeating Isis in Syria is essential to prevent catastrophe – Frederic C Hof
Legitimate governance for all of Syria – and for that matter all of Iraq – is a long way off. Defeating Isis in Syria – where its lack of a popular base makes it most vulnerable – is the essential first step. Time is of the essence. The Assad-abetted Isis malignancy makes time the enemy.
Video explainers from the Guardian
• What is Isis and what are its aims?
• Who is Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?
• Where does Isis get its money?
