Violence and Security

Data on Defeat of IS Are Sobering in Complexity and Time Horizon

November 25, 2015

Comparative, longitudinal data on resolving civil wars suggest that building a durable post-Islamic State ("IS") security order in Syria will require a long time horizon and a complex diplomatic strategy involving multiple stakeholders, making the military solution to the IS threat the least-complicated aspect in a successful strategy.
Extremist Islamist Groups Top Global Terrorism Index

November 20, 2015

Boko Haram and the Islamic State ("IS"), both extremist Islamist groups aiming to impose sharia law in Africa and the Mideast, topped the Global Terrorism Index for 2015 and are expected to continue to lead global violence metrics in 2015, according to the respected global think tank Institute for Economics and Peace.
Paris Attacks Lead to Focus on Belgium's Serious Jihadi Problem

November 20, 2015

Last week's brutal Islamic State attacks in Paris underscored Belgium's serious problem with radical Islamism and jihadis, given that the country has sent more jihadis per capita to Syria than any other country in Europe and in light of comparatively high rates of foreign-fighter returnees to Belgium.
Latest Attack Pattern Suggests IS Is Globalizing Jihad

November 18, 2015

The attacks in Paris by Islamic State ("IS") supporters follow IS attacks on pro-Hezbollah neighborhoods in Beirut and the downing of a Russian airliner over the Egyptian Sinai, signaling a new pattern of globalized jihad operations against civilian targets and a likely uptick of Syrian refugees fleeing the brutality and fanaticism of the caliphate territories in Iraq and Syria.
Fear and Welfare Are the Linchpins of Life in the Islamic State

November 18, 2015

The Islamic State ("IS") relies on cultivating a culture of fear and on implementing welfare state policies as the main control mechanisms for running the IS caliphate.
Jihadist Assault in Paris Raise More Questions About How to Combat Violent Islamism

November 18, 2015

Experts at London's Quilliam Institute, a think tank focused on analyzing Islamist extremism, argue that the Islamic State ("IS") jihadi attacks in Paris highlight the futility of an exclusively military approach to the need to counter Islamism, and instead highlight the urgent need for sustained, non-military strategies that combat Islamist extremist ideas and actors now indigenized in Western societies.
Islamist Radical Groups Denounce IS Terror Attack in Paris

November 18, 2015

An array of Sunni and Shiite Islamist radical groups - Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad - have condemned the recent terror attack against civilians in Paris by Islamic State ("IS") actors, suggesting that IS is viewed as a pariah and global destabilizer by a notable cross-section of radical Islamist organizations in the Mideast.
Islamic State Threatens Revenge Attacks Inside Russia

November 18, 2015

Russian security officials are analyzing the credibility of a newly released video in which the Islamic State ("IS") threatens terrorist attacks on Russian soil as revenge for Moscow's military action against IS targets in Syria, which would follow on IS's downing of a Russian passenger flight over the Egyptian Sinai.
IS Attack on Paris Reveals Terrorist Strategy Aimed at Aggravating Mistrust

November 18, 2015

The lethal terrorist attack in Paris by Islamic State ("IS") cells reveals the deep logic of the global Islamist organization, which calls for the "management of savagery" by using violence to generate mutual mistrust and suspicion between Muslims and non-Muslims and by manipulating media to amplify messages of alienation and marginalization of Muslims in Western countries.
Evolving IS Strategy Suggests a State with Global Reach

November 18, 2015

The evolution in the Islamic State's ("IS") jihadist strategy over the past few weeks, including shocking assaults on civilian targets, from a Russian airliner over Sinai to pro-Hezbollah neighborhoods in Beirut to social sites in Paris, suggests the IS leadership's confidence in acting like a state with global reach beyond the core caliphate borders in Iraq and Syria.