ISIS & THE CRISIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Introductory Videohttp://

www.vox.com/cards/things-about-isis-you-need-to-know/this-video-explains-the-crisis-in-3-minutes

What is ISIS?

•Militant Islamic group•Known by several different English translations of the Arabic name:

•ISIS = Islamic State in Iraq & Syria

•ISIL = Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

• IS = Islamic State

LevantEastern Mediterranean region that includes: Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and part of southern Turkey.

Who is their leader?•Leader = Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Mugshot while in

US custody

Goal = Create a Theocratic, Sunni, Islamic state across areas of Iraq and Syria

•Theocracy = government in which a deityis recognized as the supreme ruler of the nation. The deity's laws are usually interpreted by divinely inspired leaders

• Sunni = largest branch of Islam• Shia = 2nd largest branch of Islam

What is their goal?

•Control about 35,000 square miles of territory. In Syria and Iraq

•Rule territory by Sharia law - Islamic laws that influence all levels of government, legal code, social issues, etc.

IRAQ

SYRIA

Have they been successful?

• June 2014 – ISIS declared itself a caliphate (Islamic state)

• Desires to erase all current national borders in area it controls

• Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi = self-proclaimed authority (caliph) over the world's 1.5 billion Muslims

Have they been successful?

Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi 2014

HOW DID ISIS BECOME SO POWERFUL SO

QUICKLY?1. ISIS operates in territories with

a majority Sunni Muslim population, which means that the people there are often more likely to support ISIS than the Shia government. • The current Iraqi government &

military leaders are mostly Shia Muslims.

• The Iraqi military, is larger and more powerful than ISIS, but is poorly organized. •Many Sunni soldiers in the military are not willing to fight, let alone die, against fellow Sunnis who are members of ISIS in the name of a government that oppresses them. •Ex: The Iraqi military were routed by ISIS at Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, despite outnumbering them 40:1.

HOW DID ISIS BECOME SO POWERFUL SO QUICKLY?

Percentages of

Sunni & Shia

Muslims in Middle

East

COUNTRY SUNNIS

SHIA

Afghanistan 84% 15%

Bahrain 30% 70%

Egypt 90% 1%

Iran 10% 89%

Iraq 32-37%

60-65%

Kuwait 60% 25%

Lebanon 23% 38%

Jordan 92% 2%

Saudi Arabia 90% 10%

Syria 74% 16%

Turkey 83-93%

7-17%

United Arab Emirates

81% 15%

Yemen 70% 30%

2. Syrian Civil War

HOW DID ISIS BECOME SO POWERFUL SO QUICKLY?

2. Syrian Civil War• Gave ISIS access to weaponry &

combat experience.• ISIS took over territory that

includes many of Syria’s oilfields, which helps to fund ISIS operations.

3. ISIS has advanced its territory and agenda through incredible brutality.A. Mass killings & public executions

• August & September 2014 – Beheaded 3 Westerners, earning international attention

• James Foley & Steven Sotloff (US) and David Haines (UK)

• Warning to Western nations (specifically the US & Britain) to stay out of Middle Eastern/Islamic affairs.

3. ISIS has advanced its territory and agenda through incredible brutality.

Most recent: January 2015 – Japanese Hostages and Jordanian Pilot

"To the prime minister of Japan: Although you are more than 8,000 and 500 kilometers (5,280 miles) from the Islamic State, you willingly have volunteered to take part in this crusade," says the knife-brandishing militant, who resembles and sounds like a British militant involved in other filmed beheadings. "You have proudly donated $100 million to kill our women and children, to destroy the homes of the Muslims ... and in an attempt to stop the expansion of the Islamic State, you have also donated another $100 million to train the (apostates)."

B. Persecution against minority groups to purify region of non-Islamic influences.•Christians, Yezidis, & other minority groups have fled areas of Iraq due to ISIS violence.

•Yezidis = Kurdish religious group

• After ISIS slaughtered large numbers of Yezidis, thousands tried to flee to Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous region of N. Iraq.

• Route to Kurdistan was blocked by ISIS, so they fled over the Sinjar Mountains with little food or water, creating a humanitarian crisis.

• Many Yezidis & Christians are now living in refugee camps in Kurdistan, having abandoned their homes under the ISIS warning to convert to Islam or die.

Kurdistan IRANSYRIA

IRAQ

TURKEY

JORDAN

SAUDIARABIA KUWAIT

Mt. Sinjar &

Yazidi Communiti

es

Raqqa

Baghdad

Damascas

Erbil

ISIS & Historical Sites• ISIS has destroyed historical & religious sites all over Syria & Iraq in an effort to rid the region of all non-Muslim influence.

•Specifically, anything that contradicts ISIS’ interpretation of Islam.

•Countless Christian churches & Shia mosques have been destroyed.

•According to ISIS beliefs, all religious shrines (Islamic, Christian, Jewish, etc.) are idolatrous & must be destroyed.

• This region of the Middle East is considered to be the cradle of civilization, so the potential for ISIS to destroy major historical sites is tremendous.

• Some reports say that al-Baghdadi has looted artifacts from museums & shrines in both Iraq & Syria to sell on the black market to fund ISIS operations.

Mesopotamia = land surrounding

the Tigris & Euphrates Rivers

ISIS Fighters•September 2014 – CIA reported that ISIS has an estimated 30,000 fighters.

•Approximately 2,000 Western members

•Makes it difficult to track ISIS terrorists traveling with legitimate Western passports to places like the US & Britain.

•Approximately 100 Americans•The man who beheaded the 3 Westerners on video is believed to be British.

Why is the US involved?

1. The current Iraqi government came to power with US backing after the Iraq War.• Does the US have a responsibility

to the people of Iraq? Syria?• Is the US involved only because it

wants access to Iraq’s oil fields?• Iraq = 5th largest oil deposits in

the world (app. 4% of the global supply)

2. Massacre of religious minorities, executions, & other cases of ISIS brutality• Due to the intense

news coverage, a large percentage of the American public have called for US action.

3. Self-defense• ISIS has made threats

against the US and Americans, both in the region and stateside.

• President Obama has stated numerous times that the US would not stand idly by when the security of our citizens and/or homeland is threatened.

US OPERATIONS1. Targeted US airstrikes2. Provision of weapons &

training to allies on the ground:A. Kurdish peshmerga (militia

groups)B. Iraqi MilitaryC. Moderate Syrian Rebels

•No US troops on the ground in combat roles at this time