ISIS took control of Iraq’s second city, Mosul, on June 10, by dislodging more than 2,000 soldiers. Senior Correspondent, ISHAYA IBRAHIM, examines the impact of its conquest on other insurgent groups, especially Boko Haram
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), the group that is only comparable to Boko Haram in brutality and fanaticism, has by its gains in capturing Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, emboldened other Islamists to attempt similar feat.
To fix the little confusion in the acronym, ISIS is alternatively translated as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham.
On June 10, its fighters overran Mosul and occupied most of its surrounding provinces. The next day, they advanced towards Baghdad, the capital, taking several towns on the way.
ISIS has now become an unrecognised state, something Boko Haram has long coveted.
“This has been the ambition of Boko Haram in Nigeria. Boko Haram now has territory. The Sambisa forest is apparently beyond the control of the Nigerian State,” Fred Agwu, associate professor at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), told TheNiche during the week.
But unlike Boko Haram that has no clear agenda, ISIS says it is working towards an Islamic emirate that straddles Syria and Iraq.
Evolution of ISIS
Its membership consists largely of the Sunni Islamic sect, and with the growing tension between Iraq’s Sunni minority and its Shia majority, ISIS is taking advantage of the divide to whip up anti-Shia sentiment.
What really is the difference between Sunni and Shia Muslims? The Economist of London in its May 28, 2013 edition explains: “The argument dates back to the death in 632 of Islam’s founder, the Prophet Muhammad. Tribal Arabs who followed him were split over who should inherit what was both a political and a religious office.
“The majority, who would go on to become known as the Sunnis backed Abu Bakr, a friend of the Prophet and father of his wife, Aisha. Others thought Muhammad’s kin the rightful successor. They claimed the Prophet had anointed Ali, his cousin and son-in-law – they became known as the Shia.”
With Sunni tribal leaders joining the fray, the strength of ISIS has been bolstered. On June 17, it made a daring move by attacking Iraq’s largest oil refinery. According to the United Kingdom Guardian newspaper, the refinery accounts for more than a quarter of the country’s entire refining capacity, all of which goes towards domestic consumption – petrol, cooking oil and fuel for power stations.
ISIS has also seized huge stores of American-supplied arms, ammunition and vehicles, including six Black Hawk helicopters and 500 billion dinars (about $430 million) in freshly printed cash.
Between ISIS and Boko Haram
Like ISIS, Boko Haram has upped its attacks, over-running towns, especially in Borno State. On May 21, it killed scores of villagers in Ashigashiya and Chinene. Witnesses said the sect fighters spent hours killing and looting without a response from the Nigerian military.
After the killings, Boko Haram hoisted its black background flag dotted with white Arabic writing, apparently to prove that it has also captured the villages.
Dr. Tunde Oseni, who teaches Politics and International Relations at Lead City University, Ibadan, cautioned government not to under-estimate the capacity of Boko Haram to also capture big cities like the ISIS did. “Boko Haram has grown from being a mere local organisation that is drawing inspiration locally to an international organisation that is drawing inspiration globally too,” he said.
Dr. Solomon Okajare of the Department of History, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile Ife, also thinks the situation in Iraq could encourage Boko Haram to make similar attempt at capturing big cities. “In other words, Boko Haram will see itself as an up-and-coming Islamic group, and any instance of success recorded by the ISIS will bolster Boko Haram to do more. The situation will be enhanced particularly by our government’s lacklustre approach to deal with insurgency,” he said.
Agwu believes that the Boko Haram militants already control a part of Nigeria. “The fact that the military has not been able to enter the Sambisa forest to dislodge Boko Haram means that the Sambisa forest is comparable to the Tora Bora mountainous region in Eastern Afghanistan (where the Taliban control).”
Understanding the obsession with Jihad
Why is Jihad so attractive to young Muslims to the point that some others cheer as jihadists bomb and kill civilians?
Oseni said: “I think it has to do with ideological extremism. Even Christianity, before now, had its own ideological extremism. As we speak, in the Central African Republic, you have Christian militia.”
According to Oseni, the jihadists use sentiment, emotion and spiritual persuasions to entice young Muslims into joining them. “It’s about capturing the minds of the people for religious extremism. And it can happen to any religion. It must not have to be Islam, though Islam seems to be the most unfortunate in terms of people using it for ideological extremism.”
Okajare said it is difficult to narrow down on any factor as the reason young Muslims fall into the hands of extremists. Using the case of Nigeria, he said: “For some of us, we initially thought it started as a political issue between the North and the South. But the problem has gone beyond that. We later thought it was an Islamic thing. But these people will even kill fellow Muslims. So, how do we place that?”
Countering extremist ideology
Agwu offers clue of how government can help limit jihadists’ influence on young Muslims. “The most effective way of countering this (extreme ideology) is to put out a counter-narrative. Every society must put a high premium on civic education, so that you don’t let the extremists have their way by bombarding people with all kinds of ideology,” he said.
But even as education helps limit the influence of extreme tendencies in any given population, there are still cases of educated people being recruited by groups like the ISIS and Boko Haram.
Johann Hari, writing for the Independent of the UK, says: “Ever since I started meeting jihadists, I have been struck by one thing – their Britishness. I am from the East End of London, and at some point in the past decade I became used to hearing a hoarse and angry whisper of jihadism on the streets where I live. Bearded young men stand outside the library calling for “The Rule of God” and “Death to Democracy”.
Agwu also believes that education does not make people immune to extreme ideologies. “They (ISIS) recruit people from Europe, America; people who are well educated. The issue is that this is an ideology. Somebody can fall into it, no matter the level of education the person has because it is an emotive thing,” he said.
For Oseni, social re-construction of the mind of young people and their economic security is the key to countering extremist views. He said: “You have to first of all talk about the economy of the people, then you give them education, free and quality education, then you give them economic security, take care of the poor because in most cases, it is the poor that are mobilised for ideological extremism.”
ISIS, the world deadliest terrorist group
The Guardian newspaper in the UK described the ISIS as more brutal than the main jihadist group, Al-Qaeda. It was even disowned by Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda’s number one, following its savagery and draconian interpretations of Islamic law.
“It is not a branch of the Al-Qaeda group, and Al-Qaeda does not have an organisational relationship with it,” Zawahiri said.
ISIS’s brutality is legendary, using amputation, beheading and crucifixion as forms of punishment.
Like ISIS, Boko Haram’s brutality is also ferocious. Members behead, indiscriminately kill civilians, slaughter schoolboys and abduct schoolgirls. Given its savagery, the Iranian Shia Islam jurisprudent, Grand Ayatollah Naser Shirazi, described Boko Haram as “savages who do not deserve to be called human beings”.
