Title I Caliphate

The Turkic Caliphate The Oguzes in the Caliphate were doomed to triumph. They were nourished by the Ancient Altai - the spring of the spirit of the Turkic people. And Central Asia - the land of creators, poets, scientists - the heiress of the Kushan Khanate. When the Muslim cavalry came to Central Asia in the 7th century, the Oguzes,

The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group began to form in Syria and Iraq in 2013. In the summer of 2014, IS militants already controlled 35% of Syria and most of its gas and oil fields. The total area under the control of the group was estimated at 40-90 thousand square meters. km. According to the American research center IHS, since then, by the spring of 2016, the group has lost about 22% of the territory.

population

According to the GRU, the ISIS army has about 33,000 fighters, including 19,000 in Iraq and 14,000 in Syria. The Pentagon estimates the number of militants at 31,000. The composition of the army is international. In March 2016, British intelligence agencies announced that, according to their information, citizens of 50 states were fighting on the side of the Caliphate. 70% of them are in the Arab countries, but the leaders in the number of mercenaries from European countries are France, Germany and the UK. Earlier, in December 2015, the FSB reported about 2,000 Russians fighting on the side of the Caliphate.

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The taxable population in the controlled territories in 2014 totaled 9 million people. In 2016, due to territorial losses, it was reduced to 6 million. The Pentagon claims that the number of those fighting on the side of the IS during this time has decreased by 6 thousand.

Economy

The main sources of financing for ISIS are the smuggling of hydrocarbon raw materials and antiques, as well as extortion from the population in the occupied territories. IS sells oil at a reduced price to neighboring countries through intermediaries. According to various sources, the IS profit from such trade could amount to $1-3 million per day. According to a study by the European Center for the Analysis of Terrorism, in 2015 the Islamic State received $ 2.4 billion in this way, becoming the most financially secure terrorist group in the world.

Nevertheless, the active hostilities deployed against the caliphate in recent times are changing the situation. Thus, IS's revenues from the sale of oil fell over the year from $1 billion to $600,000, from the sale of gas from $490,000 to $350,000.

Weapon

ISIS is armed with tanks, armored personnel carriers, recoilless rifles, anti-tank systems and anti-aircraft weapons, including portable anti-aircraft missile systems. According to human rights activists of the international organization Amnesty International, the militants of the Islamic State use more than 100 types of weapons originating from about 25 countries. Like RT before, it has been flowing uncontrollably into Iraq in recent decades.

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At the same time, the bulk of the weapons were supplied to the region by the United States and its allies. Most of it was captured by militants from the Iraqi army armed by Washington.

Propaganda

Many experts call propaganda, which is carried out professionally, using new technologies and masterfully following modern trends, the most important weapon of ISIS. Videos of ISIS executions have gained wide popularity, most of which have their own plot, specially selected background music and clear timing. The Islamic State has its own media services and media channels that broadcast news of the caliphate daily. Released in May 2014, the propaganda film The Clash of Swords was compared by some Western media with a product of professional cinema. Propaganda and recruitment is actively conducted through the Internet. To attract newcomers to their ranks, the media technologists of the caliphate produce not only videos, but also computer games. The main target of propaganda is young people, the average age is 23 years.

Crimes in controlled territory

Brutal executions and the destruction of ancient monuments are the hallmarks of ISIS. The number of such crimes has already exceeded tens of thousands. Thus, in 2015, the number of victims in the videos published by the Islamic State alone exceeded 5 thousand. Caliphate fighters pursue a policy of genocide against ethnic groups in Iraq and Syria: Yezidis, Christians, Turkmen, Kurds and representatives of other communities, including Sunnis .

The most notorious crime against cultural heritage was the destruction of Palmyra's monuments in the summer of 2015. Then the ancient temples of Bel (Baal) and Baalshamin, the triumphal arch were destroyed, the national museum was plundered. The Islamic State militants also blew up dozens of Shiite mosques, destroyed the temple of Nabu in the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud (in present-day Iraq. — RT), a monument of ancient architecture "Gate of God" near the city of Mosul, blew up the central library of Mosul, which stored 8-10 thousand unique publications.

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On the lands reclaimed from ISIS, specialists are working to restore the affected artifacts. The State Hermitage takes part in the restoration of historical monuments of Palmyra.

Crime outside IS

IS supporters carry out attacks on civilians outside the region. Suffice it to recall the terrorist attacks on June 12, 2016 in the night gay club Pulse in the American city of Orlando, which killed 49 people, the explosions at the Brussels airport and the Brussels metro at the Malbec station on March 22, 2016 (34 victims), the terrorist attacks in Paris and its suburb on November 13, 2015 (130 dead). IS claimed responsibility for all these attacks.

*"Islamic State" terroristwhich group is banned in the Russian Federation.

The Internet, with its availability at a distance of a couple of clicks, has a huge mobilization potential. Here, people easily unite according to their interests, and then, under a certain influence, they can show their interest in real life, together with members of their virtual group, or individually. Among Islamic radicals, ISIS was not the first to use Internet resources to promote its ideas, however, it was they who achieved the maximum effect in Internet jihad. In terms of the number of mentions per year, they surpassed Al-Qaeda five times (250 million links and articles against 45 million), recruiting 20 thousand foreigners through social networks. However, the control of the masses through online communities was first experienced in the Middle East five years ago during the Arab Spring. Since then, the technology of Internet zombies has evolved to the point where it allows the Islamic State today to build its virtual empire according to the laws of the Internet itself.

Western freedom of speech has turned ISIS into a hyped brand that is already autonomously replicating itself both on the Internet and in the sensationalized press. In just one month, at the very beginning of the bombing of the anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq, the English name of ISIS was mentioned by the press more than 4 million times, scattering almost a million tweets. It was Twitter that became the launching pad for the digital construction of the world caliphate. His rapid promotion tools have smashed the IS brand across mobile network phones, super-popular hashtags and memes. They allowed the Mujahideen to be presented in the top topic of cats - ISILCats or to issue an announcement about the capture of Baghdad to a request for a pop star's jaundiced adventure. Europol only recently took care of searching for terrorists in social networks and, of course, will close the five thousandth account dedicated to the life of cats in the Islamic State. However, technology does not stand still, and IS social marketing itself is at a very high level.

According to the law of Twitter, the Islamists “twittered” about themselves, and ordinary Twitterers multiplied this “twitter” according to the principle of network marketing. IS used the reverse principle of this social network, whose name goes back to the CIA program for the use of psychotropic substances during interrogations called Chatter (Twitter). ISIS technologists are so fond of network memes in neurolinguistic programming that they even called a film about the modest and righteous life of civilians within their borders Mujatweets - "Mujahideen's Twitter". However, behind the brutal cat warriors are experienced media analysts who monitor the behavior of the online audience and monitor their reaction to content, editing it in such a way that it influences more effectively.

IS accumulated all the previous experience of Internet technologies to mobilize protest in the Middle East, using the technology of the "Arab Spring". Back then, protest organizers used the mainstream networks for various purposes: Facebook to organize protests, Twitter to spread information, and YouTube to show it to the world. Such profiling allowed technologists to effectively mobilize the population of the capitals in conditions of low Internet coverage in the countries themselves. In Egypt - 0.26%, in Tunisia - 0.1%, in Libya - 0.07%, in Yemen - 0.02%. However, in reality, back in 2005, the United States launched the “Hundred Dollar Computer” program in the Middle East, under which computers were generally distributed to schoolchildren in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan for free. Even then, the States were preparing to control the Arab world via the Internet. When Mubarak ordered the shutdown of the Internet and mobile communications in Egypt, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton personally oversaw the provision of alternative means of communication.

It is significant that after the "Arab Spring" the popularity of the Internet in the Arab countries has increased. In Egypt, the number of Facebook users has grown more than sixfold, from 450,000 to 5 million, and Saudi Arabia is the world's number one YouTube channel. The Arabic language is in the first place in the ISIS recruiting system before English and Russian, and people from the Maghreb made up the command line of the Islamists. In the American wars, the Arab world has already lost over half a million people, and now it has become the main supplier of "cannon fodder" for the construction of a utopian "caliphate". However, ISIS members have also learned to appeal to foreign youth audiences, using images and themes that are close to them. But the main thing: IS has found the shortest way to its viewer - through the phone screen, showing the "truth" first hand without a filter. It allows you to move the sympathetic viewer to the other side of the screen and give him a real weapon in his hands.

The Ministry of Propaganda was created in the caliphate, which in 2014-2016 was headed by A. al-Adnani, who was also the official spokesman for ISIS. The department was engaged in organizing the production and distribution of extremist content based on the instructions of the Legal Council of the Islamic State and the High Military Command. The structure of the Ministry of Propaganda included the media department, the main and auxiliary media agencies, as well as relatively independent media offices inside and outside the IS - more than 30 structures in total with their own staff. Information products were disseminated through traditional media and the Internet, with the latter given priority.

“The salaries in the ISIS media structures far exceeded the allowance of terrorists risking their lives on the battlefield”

By mid-2015, a huge community had been created by caliphate technicians and IS supporters in various countries, which distributed terrorist propaganda materials around the world. He was opposed by intelligence agencies and Internet control agencies in many states, who regularly deleted accounts associated with the Islamic State, but those were quickly restored, often under the same names. The technical department of the Ministry of Propaganda began to widely use bots, which constantly sent out extremist materials to users.

All this allowed experts to talk about the emergence of the Virtual Caliphate in the global Internet space. Through it, supporters of terrorists in foreign countries, Muslim youth with radical views, could get acquainted with the materials prepared by the media department of the caliphate, as well as communicate with each other, listen and read sermons of extremist preachers. The US State Department estimated that in early 2015, more than 90,000 tweets and social responses were generated daily on behalf of IS.

It should be recognized that all IS propaganda materials were produced with high quality, were distinguished by intelligibility and clarity, contained infographics, and other means of attracting the attention of readers and users. The texts were supplemented with photo and video materials from the scene, which created the effect of presence, even more interested in the audience.

According to available information, IS has spent tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars on propaganda activities. Several hundred highly qualified specialists worked in the information bodies of the caliphate: journalists, cameramen, editors, and representatives of other specialties. Among them were representatives of different states preparing materials for the audiences of their countries and regions, who promptly translated from Arabic into other languages ​​the materials prepared by the Ministry of Propaganda. In 2016, content was translated into 40 languages, including quite rare ones, which made it possible to introduce IS to a large number of Internet users.

The salary of such employees far exceeded the allowance of the infantry of the IS, risking their lives on the battlefield. It should be noted that the employees of the Ministry of Propaganda worked on the most modern equipment and office equipment, which ensured the high quality of the materials produced.

Another feature of the propaganda work of the Ministry of Propaganda of the Caliphate was the creation of a corporate style - the unification of logos and fonts, methods of presenting materials. Particular attention was paid to the operational coverage of major terrorist attacks. They were presented as official press releases similar to those used by the world news agencies.

The following information and propaganda structures were most active in the IS propaganda ministry:

• Al-Khayat Media Center specialized in spreading extremist ideology among foreign citizens, published propaganda magazines Dabiq, Istok, Dar al-Islam, Constantinople, Rumiya and a number of others in foreign languages, including Russian ; as well as feature films;
• the Aamaq news agency provided daily text and video reports from combat areas in Iraq, Syria and other countries;
• the news agency Nashir News published news and photo reports on subversive actions carried out by IS militants and their supporters;
• the al-Bayan news agency distributed audio reports on the combat activity of IS units via the Internet, and also published the weekly newspaper al-Naba;
• media agency "Furat" prepared and distributed videos about the "happy life" of the inhabitants of the caliphate, as well as materials of religious content;
• Al-Himma publishing house distributed religious extremist appeals for the inhabitants of the caliphate and Arab countries;
• regional media agencies in Egypt (Sinai Peninsula), Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Philippines, Nigeria, Somalia and some other countries distributed reports, photo and video reports from the areas of actions by militants of groups that swore allegiance to the Islamic State;
• media center "Ashkhad" was engaged in replication of electronic posters, leaflets and infographics;
• media agency "Rimah" was responsible for the distribution of video propaganda materials;
• the Ajnad media center prepared and posted on the Internet video materials with extremist religious chants.

Keep up with the times

The nature of the propaganda content, in accordance with the instructions of the leadership and ideologues of the IS, underwent changes in accordance with the evolving situation. Initially, the main attention was paid to showing and praising the "ideal state formation" created on the basis of the experience of the Arab Caliphate that existed in the 7th-9th centuries, which belonged to the largest empires in world history.

“The number of those wishing to become suicide bombers not only did not decrease, but at certain moments even increased”

ISIS propagandists prepared materials under headings such as "Ideal Caliphate - Paradise on Earth", "Successful Administration of Territories Within the Caliphate", "Unconditional Rule of the Sharia". Specially filmed stories were circulated about the daily life of cities and villages with happy people living in a festive atmosphere, about just officials who successfully managed the daily life of the caliphate and followed morals.

Then more and more stories began to appear about super-harsh reprisals against those who committed "religious crimes", enemies of the ISIS, prisoners who did not agree to join the ranks of the organization. The demonstration of executions with naturalistic details was intended to intimidate the enemies and force them to abandon the fight against the Caliphate.

At the height of the hostilities against ISIS in Iraq and then in Syria, special attention was paid to stories about the consequences of air raids by "ruthless crusaders" on peaceful cities and villages, showing a large number of victims, mostly young children and women. These materials were accompanied by calls for revenge on those who ordered the strikes, as well as on the direct perpetrators.

To attract volunteers from abroad who wanted to participate in the armed struggle against IS opponents, special films were created, which combined fragments about the great history of the caliphate, its “happy life”, as well as the crimes of “enemies-crusaders” who seek to destroy this “paradise”. on Earth" and all its inhabitants. At the same time, examples of "charity and camaraderie" were shown among those who participated in the battles. Such materials were prepared in many foreign languages ​​and, admittedly, were effective, as they contributed to the arrival of several tens of thousands of recruits from abroad.

When the course of hostilities began to turn unfavorably for IS, a large number of propaganda materials began to be produced calling on militants and supporters to commit suicide terrorist acts. This content, especially the videos, was prepared at a high artistic level using special techniques and, as far as one can judge, had a great emotional impact on the audience. For this reason, the number of people wishing to become suicide bombers not only did not decrease, but even increased at certain moments. Recently, such materials have been prepared for teenagers and women.

The defeats in Iraq and Syria have changed the content of IS propaganda. Reports and films showed the "exploits and valor" of the militants who successfully resisted the superior forces of the enemy. Materials were being prepared for foreign audiences, calling for a transition to the "lone wolf" tactics, the use of new methods of attack in urban environments.

The greatest scale of activity of the IS propaganda ministry was noted in 2015 and especially in 2016. Up to 80 different text, audio, photo and video materials were released daily, more than 10 thousand posts related to IS appeared on social networks, and up to a thousand new accounts were created on Twitter alone. The virtual caliphate, despite the opposition it received, did not slow down its activity.

Fragments of a media empire

The main propaganda structures of the Ministry of Propaganda were located in Iraqi Mosul and Syrian Raqqa. They managed and coordinated the activities of all media agencies, publishers and regional organizations. After the loss of these cities, centralized leadership ended, some structures closed, others switched to an autonomous mode of operation. The publication of all magazines has ceased, the number of videos has significantly decreased.

In January-October 2017, about seven thousand various reports and information materials with the IS logo were produced. Their quality has deteriorated significantly. Almost ceased to publish materials in foreign languages. Most of the footage featured footage of individual fights or a compilation of scenes that were used in films from 2015-2016.

In November-December, there was a further decline in the information and propaganda activities of the defeated terrorist group. The appearance of short reports by the Aamaq agency about individual attacks by surviving IS units in desert areas in Iraq and Syria was noted, photo and video clips became a rarity. Volumetric propaganda materials have disappeared from the Web, the number of accounts and posts of supporters of the terrorist group has decreased. To date, information activity has been reduced to leaflets, often of poor quality.

It can be stated that along with the defeat of the military core of the Islamic State, serious damage was also done to the Virtual Caliphate, which lost the ability to carry out subversive work on a global scale. However, information battles are not over yet. Attempts to recreate a new terrorist propaganda center can be expected where favorable conditions are created for this.

Image caption ISIS propaganda stories often feature children living in the territories it controls - they are shown happy

Idyllic pictures of life in the territory occupied by the terrorist organization "Islamic State" underlie the propaganda of extremists on the Internet. But as IS loses territory in Syria and Iraq, is its "virtual caliphate" disappearing?

The Islamic State group banned in Russia is on the verge of collapse in Syria and Iraq.

Just a few days ago, ISIS, its last stronghold in Syrian territory. The loss of the city was preceded by defeats, Tal-Afar and.

The "Islamic State" as a kind of "state" no longer exists - today it exists in the form of a handful of territories held by the rebels.

Click How IS-controlled territories have changed since 2015

2017

2015

Territory is important to IS, but to an organization that has maintained a strong online presence for many years, it is not critical. However, it is also impossible to say that ISIS will be able to fully exist only thanks to its online presence.

ISIS will not disappear, but it will not prosper as it has for the past few years, not least because its propaganda machine has been virtually destroyed.

Carnivals and bags of money

For the past three years, I have been monitoring the Arabic-language media associated with IS and trying to catch new trends in the group's propaganda.

Today, its propaganda system is in a more depressed state than ever.

For several months now, ISIS has been trying with all its might to divert the attention of its supporters from the loss of territories by the "caliphate".

When I first started studying in the summer of 2015, the group produced over 200 pieces a week—videos, radio programs, articles, and photo essays.

Every day, dozens of news outlets covered, often with false facts, the situation on the battlefield.

IS was not just mindlessly making propaganda, it was building a brand.

The people who controlled the propaganda system of the group could go directly to the "caliph" and were related to all aspects of life in the occupied territories.

They have been involved in everything from military affairs and terrorist operations outside the controlled territory to irrigation projects and traffic control on the roads.

They were responsible for creating a utopian picture of life in the "caliphate" - bright and saturated with falsehood.

To this end, the IS produced stories about fairs where children play carelessly, about the distribution of modern medicines among the sick and the elderly, about the poor and destitute, who were given huge sums of money.

Today, ISIS propagandists struggle to produce 20 stories a week.

And that's not all that has changed - the message of a joyful and well-fed life in the "caliphate" has disappeared from their propaganda materials almost completely.

In recent weeks, they have managed to release only photo reports about the grape harvest in Egypt and the fight against drug trafficking in Afghanistan.

The main component of the IG brand today is war, and the style of materials has become very one-sided.

Instead of shots of children on inflatable slides, there are shots of teenagers in trenches or driving car bombs.

The goal of IS propagandists is to boost morale by showing that the group's fighters are willing to go under bullets and shame those who still have doubts.

The new "norm"

This shift in tone came about under the influence of three important factors.

The first of these is the loss of the conquered territories: it is almost impossible to disseminate materials about "normal" life in the occupied territories in a situation where those who live this "normal" life are increasingly difficult to find.

Even in those cases where this is possible, the production of a propaganda story requires a lot of work.

When ISIS lost control of the major cities in Iraq and Syria, where media centers were located, it lost the ability to produce propaganda on an industrial scale as before.

Several propaganda production centers are probably still operating along the border between Syria and Iraq, but they are getting slower every day.

Because of this, stories that make the territory occupied by the group outside the main massif begin to play an increasingly prominent role - recently, the share of content that is produced by IS-affiliated groups in the Sinai region and in Afghanistan is increasing.

The second factor is the shortage of personnel.

Like the group's main field commanders, its high-ranking members who control the propaganda system have long been targeted by the international coalition and its allies.

Last year, airstrikes killed the group's spokesman and its "propaganda minister" Abu Furqan.

The coalition airstrikes targeted many of the cameramen, editors and producers who held positions at various levels in the ISIS propaganda system.

Many of them were killed, which could not but affect the general state of the IS propaganda system.

The third factor is that the Internet has ceased to be a "safe space" for extremists.

Whether thanks to informational counterattacks by coalition experts on the Internet, or self-regulation by ISPs, IS can no longer use the major social networks and file-sharing services to spread propaganda.

Serious threat

The result of all this was a gradual but obvious change in the content of IS propaganda.

This is an important point, and not only because IS can no longer claim to have such a strong influence on the information sphere as before.

Propaganda always reflects the overall viability of the organization that produces it, so the collapse of the IS brand does not bode well for the group's fate in Syria and Iraq, at least in the short term.

This is encouraging, but there is also bad news.

IS produces less propaganda than at any time in its existence, but the quality and ambition of its material is still head and shoulders above those of its rivals.

Despite the losses that the group is suffering on the battlefield in Syria and Iraq, materials continue to appear on the Internet with instructions for preparing terrorist attacks.

This is a serious threat.

Another threat is active supporters of IS, who continue to exchange instructions for making explosives and poisonous substances.

The danger has not disappeared, it has simply changed.

It is still too early to talk about the end of ISIS - in Syria, in Iraq, or in the virtual space.

But do not ignore the fact that the foundations of the group are beginning to stagger.

Charlie Winter - Sr.andand Fellow at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King's College London.

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