I was a guest on Jake Hanrahan’s podcast Popular Front last week to discuss low-tech ways that non-government forces are catching Islamic State group fighters on the run from their collapsed ‘caliphate’ in Syria and Iraq. Listen to the episode here:
Islamic State group
On the backfoot, IS uses old tactics to gain new strength | AFP
[Published here August 7, 2018]
The Islamic State group is looking to recapture lost power by reverting to the grisly tactics that first propelled it to global notoriety, analysts say, including executions and kidnapping minorities.
In ravaged Raqa, clues to IS’s bygone media empire | AFP
[Published here on October 22, 2017]
“Special operations by the Caliphate’s soldiers!” boasts a torn, blood-stained pamphlet at a bombed-out media kiosk in Syria’s Raqa, a symbol of the Islamic State group’s once fearsome propaganda machine. Continue reading
To beat jihadists, anti-IS Syria force goes back to basics | AFP
[Published here October 16, 2017]
Raqa (Syria) (AFP) – Once the last Islamic State group fighters are ousted from Syria’s Raqa, the unconventional forces battling the jihadists say they’ll have batteries and masking tape to thank for their victory.
Far from front line, volunteers prepare to rebuild Raqa | AFP
[Published here on October 13, 2017]
Ain Issa (Syria) (AFP) – As US-backed forces fight to oust the Islamic State group from its last hideouts in Syria’s Raqa, a city council-in-exile is already working to bring life back to its devastated home town.
After dreams of freedom, a bitter escape from Syria’s Raqa | AFP
[Published here September 27, 2017]
HAWI AL-HAWA (SYRIA) (AFP) – For years, Gharam Habbal and her elderly father had desperately dreamt of escaping the Islamic State group’s hellish grip on Raqa. But when she finally fled, he wasn’t with her.
Returning home, Syrians find Raqa battered beyond recognition | AFP
[Published here September 26, 2017]
Raqa (Syria) (AFP) – Bashar Hammoud thought he knew his native Raqa like the back of his hand, but a months-long offensive against the Islamic State group has scarred the Syrian city so badly he can barely recognise it.
