The dream is very nearly over. The Islamic State’s dream of reestablishing the caliphate died relatively quickly. It declared its caliphate on June 29, 2014, and four and a half years later, its aspirations of establishing a vast Islamic empire have come to naught, although that is not to say that the Islamic State is no longer a threat. It very much is, with jihadis all over the West, as well as in the Philippines, Libya, Nigeria, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.
No one expected the Islamic State caliphate to die so quickly. During the Obama presidency, it controlled a territory larger than Great Britain, and looked as if it was here to stay. If Hillary Clinton had been elected President, it is certain that it would still be there, and would be on its way to legitimacy, following the trail blazed by the Palestine Liberation Organization. But she wasn’t, and it isn’t.
Get the full story of the Islamic State, and what it is still capable of doing, in The Complete Infidel’s Guide to ISIS.
Get the full history of the Islamic caliphates, including that of the Islamic State, and their never-ending war against non-Muslim nations, in The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS.
“Syrian Kurdish-led fighters take Hajin, last town held by ISIS,” by Bassem Mroue, Associated Press, December 14, 2018:
BEIRUT — U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led fighters captured the last town held by the Islamic State group on Friday, after three months of ferocious battles in the militants’ single remaining enclave in eastern Syria, activists and Kurdish officials said.
The fall of Hajin marks an end to the extremist group’s hold over any significant urban area, which in three years shrunk from large swaths of Iraq and Syria the militants once held to this small enclave near the two countries’ shared borders.
The capture of Hajin, however, does not mark the end of the group which still holds some villages nearby and has a scattered presence and sleeper cells in both countries.
As the offensive by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces intensified over the past days under the cover of airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition, ISIS fighters withdrew south to areas east of the Euphrates river and west of SDF positions along the border with Iraq. Among the villages still held by extremists in the enclave are Sousa, Buqaan, Shaafah, Baghouz and Shajla.
The latest push has also raised questions about the fate of ISIS leader and founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who has not been seen in public since he announced his self-styled caliphate in 2014 from a mosque’s pulpit in the Iraqi city of Mosul. Last month, ISIS suffered a severe blow when the SDF said it captured Osama Owayed al-Saleh, a top aide to al-Baghdadi.
“It is a very difficult battle,” SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali told The Associated Press by phone from Syria where he said ISIS fighters are still attacking Hajin. He added that most of ISIS fighters besieged in the enclave are among the most experienced gunmen who came to the area from Iraq and Syria.
“There are still villages to be taken but Hajin was the most important as it was the base for commanders from where they directed military operations,” Bali said….
Europe-based activist Omar Abu Layla of the DeirEzzor 24 monitoring group confirmed that the town had been recaptured, adding that some ISIS fighters are still holed up in small pockets on the edge of Hajin.
Abu Layla said that disagreements among ISIS ranks over hierarchy between Iraqi and Syrian fighters helped “speed up the collapse” of the extremist group’s defenses in Hajin.
Nuri Mehmud, spokesman of the Syrian Kurdish militia known as People’s Protection Units, or YPG, also the main component of the SDF, said “intense fighting” is still ongoing in small parts of Hajin.
The area is home to some 15,000 people, including 2,000 ISIS gunmen who fought back with counteroffensives and suicide attacks. Over the past days, hundreds of civilians were able to flee the enclave toward areas controlled by the SDF east of the Euphrates River and government-controlled regions on the river’s west bank….
RonaldB says
How nice that US-backed forces were able to dislodge the fighters of ISIS. Of course, ISIS would never have come close to establishing a foothold, had the US not, without provocation, destroyed the established government of Iraq and Libya, and sponsored a mortal threat to the established government of Syria. But, what’s a few hundred thousand Arab lives when it comes to rectifying the policy blunders of the CIA, State Department, and neocon-influenced Presidents?
Now the US collaborates with Saudi Arabia, our best ally in the region against Iran. Saudi Arabia spends billions of dollars a year infiltrating US educational and political institutions, but at least their minions are not overtly violent…yet.
The Kurdish-identified forces resulted from one of the few things US policy got right. After the first Gulf War, US forces established a protected zone where the Kurds could maintain their own state, protected from the chemical attacks of Saddam Hussein. At that time, the players in the area were Iran and Iraq, deadly enemies balancing each other, Syria, an established state perhaps a bit of a wild card, an independent established Libya intentionally blocking refugees from flowing to Europe, and an independent Kurdistan, an ethnic state allied with the US serving as an irritant to Saddam Hussein.
You can see why the successive administrations of George W Bush and Obama were so eager to upset the situation. Things were actually going rather well, at the cost of a few fighter sorties a month to keep Iraqi forces in their place.
christianblood says
RonaldB posted
(…How nice that US-backed forces were able to dislodge the fighters of ISIS. Of course, ISIS would never have come close to establishing a foothold, had the US not, without provocation, destroyed the established government of Iraq and Libya, and sponsored a mortal threat to the established government of Syria. But, what’s a few hundred thousand Arab lives when it comes to rectifying the policy blunders of the CIA, State Department, and neocon-influenced Presidents?
Now the US collaborates with Saudi Arabia, our best ally in the region against Iran. Saudi Arabia spends billions of dollars a year infiltrating US educational and political institutions…)
You are exactly right, RonaldB!!!
US and its allies fighting ISIS is cover story for the sheep-like US and Western masses! The fact is US and its allies covertly supported ISIS, Al-Qaeda and dozens of other jihadist in their bid to overthrow the Syrian government of Assad and replace it with their Saudi-sponsored, head-chopping jihadist buddies! Now realizing they failed in their original plan to topple Assad, US is illegally occupying large swats of Syria stealing its oil and sponsoring and protecting thousands of ISIS and other jihadist groups in that region. In fact, just today the Russian defense minister has issued stark warning to the US for its dangerous and illegal activities in Syria, please read the minister’s warning below:
https://www.rt.com/news/446533-sergey-shoigu-syria-inf/
Indiana Tom says
US is illegally occupying large swats of Syria stealing its oil
Doubt it. But I would like to swat them. Try swafts.
But I really do think we need to liberate their dang oil to get something of value out of the crappy cesspool we call the Mideast.
Everybody keeps pretending there are good and bad rattlesnakes in the snake pit.
Sons of Liberty says
I agree Indiana Tom . I also agree with President Trump that we should be paid with oil or gold. Most of what RonaldB and christianblood were describing occurred under the disastrous Barack Hussein Obama administration, with Hillary Clinton’s incompetence as Secretary of State leading the way. They also helped the Iranians with BILLIONS of dollars to spend on their missiles and nukes.
Indiana Tom says
Never ascribe to malice that which an be explained by incompetence.
No doubt that there may be some in the USA that think our Middle East policies are benign.
The problem with their thinking is that they project American values onto the locals and what people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt value ain’t the same as what people in Kansas, Iowa, and Ohio value.
Iraq and Afghanistan could have turned out differently with the populace having the culture of the Midwest, but these people are from the Mideast, not the Midwest.
I will give credit that the average person in Iran, seems to be a different cat than the Arab variety. Just need to get rid of the Islamic government.
Notmoron says
Turkey will not be very happy
Indiana Tom says
I had a toy airplane just like that when I was a kid.
Karen says
Ok, that’s nice. I’d just like to point out that they are doing what they, and not us, *should* be doing – protecting their own interests and region from ISIS scum.
So, while I will give a polite golf clap for the Kurds, never will I fall into the trap of believing they, or any Middle East entity save Israel, could ever be an ally.
Buraq says
Caliphate? A phate worse than death. Clowns!