The Organization of the Islamic State - Research Paper Example

 The Organization of the Islamic State (Da’ash) Approval and Plagiarism Page A thesis submitted to the College of Mass Media and Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Strategic and Security Studies. I hereby declare this work original and that it has not been submitted before for any other purpose or program in the University. The information contained is personal except where due reference is consulted. Abstract The paper evaluates and describes the organizational structure and the impact of the activities conduct by rebel groups or political organizations in Syria. The Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and the Levant, also referred to as Daash is the case study of this paper. Various significant aspects including the organization and the activities performed by Da'ash have been assessed in this thesis with the aim of identifying the prime motives of such rebel groups. This study uses the qualitative research approach, and involves a review of a number of relevant literatures building a case study. The main subjects being studied in this research include how Da'ash is organized, and their particular activities which are always aimed at achieving certain predetermined goals and objectives. The research will assist in understanding the Da’ash society, and the way its activities have hindered the peace process. Consequently, it will provide a good ground to overcome the barrier of peace making process in the Islamic region. 2. Acknowledgement I hereby acknowledge the efforts of my supervisor who supported me through every stage of this work. Also, I recognize the support of my colleagues who contributed in ensuring that this was work is complete. Table of Contents Abstract 1 Table of Contents 3 1.Introduction 6 2.Literature Review 11 2.1 A Brief Overview of the Islamic State (DA’ASH) 11 According to the report published by Bubblews LLC (2014), the "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant" (Da'ash) got translated in the year 2013 from the title ‘Dawlat al-Islam fi al-Iraq al-Sham.' It is worth mentioning that this political organization aimed at forming an Islamic caliphate and most vitally promoting religious aggression by executing the means of military or non-military basis. The origin of Islamic state ideologies and activities can be comprehensively covered by projecting the extremism activities in three distinct time periods since the American invasion of Iraq from 2000 till their current situation. 11 These different time periods were characterized by several changes in their name, structures of organization and activities. Since the end of US invasion, there has been the creation of a group that became Al Qaeda by mergers of Zarqawi's JTJ till his death in 2006. It later descended into setbacks and local hostilities from US-led sensitization and nationalist ideologies through 2006 to 2011. It finally grew into the current extremism that developed from the remains of the Syrian opposition, and the failure of the Shiite-led Iraqi government to control the Sunni majority. 12 The group formed by Al Zarqawi following the Iraq invasion, mostly targeted Shia mosques, government facilities, civilians and the foreign workers and forces who were part of the US-led forces. The group merged with Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda insurgents in 2004 to form Al Qaeda in Iraq also called the Organization of Jihad's Base in Mesopotamia. Later in 2005, under Al Qaeda in Iraq, the group planned to expel the US forces and then attack the neighbors in an effort to expand the Iraq war as far as clashing with Israel which is viewed as a challenge to forms of Islam. These plans were drafted with the goal of carving out a caliphate authority in the Middle East. 13 As from 2006, Al Qaeda in Iraq merged with smaller insurgent groups in Iraq in a move that led to the formation of a more Iraqi terror group called Mujahideen Shura Council that aimed to distinguish itself from the Al Zarqawi's AQI whose attacks including the 2005 hotel bombings were a public image of the group. Thus, forming the Mujahideen Shura Council was more of a public relations activity by the terror group to win the local support of people and get more fighters. After the death of Al Zarqawi from US strikes, the group merged with more Sunni Islamic units that formed a coalition with the aim of restoring the Islam's glory by doing away with the Crusaders and salvaging the Sunni from the oppression of Shiites. Later on, MSC established the Islamic State of Iraq, comprising of six Iraqi Sunni governors with Omar al-Baghdadi appointed the emir and Al Masri as the minister in charge of war affairs. The group had ten cabinet members, including the war ministry. 14 Based on the US intelligence studies compiled in 2007, the Islamic state of Iraq planned on gaining power and establishing a Sunni Islamic state in the western and central parts of Iraq. The group had grown in strength due to the influential gubernatorial of Anbar, Divala and areas of Baghdad (Barrett, 2014). However, the attacks from the US troops captured and killed prominent members of the ISI, which reduced their secure military presence in the Anbar and Baghdad areas. Following 2008, the Iraqi forces with the aid of US troops managed to drive out the Da’ash members from their strongholds in Anbar province and Divala to Mosul in their northern city of Iraq. The ISI later on received cold treatment from the Iraqis because of its violent administrative mechanisms it subjected its supporters in the Anbar province (Smith, 2015). 15 Following the death of almost all its leadership in 2010, the new leadership under Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi replenished the group by utilizing the former Baathists who had been freed from US detention. These Baathists were former military commanders under the Saddam Hussein's leadership that was toppled by the US invasion. Thus, ISI was replenished with experienced military men with hardened animosity towards Western-backed interests and enough skills in recruiting new fighters as well as sourcing financing. Thus, with the renewed strength, Al Baghdadi resorted to breaking the Iraqi's prison wall to free the detained prisoners from ISI, which increased terrorist fatalities in the country ever since 2008. 16 Islamic State of Iraq leadership grabbed the Syrian civil war opportunity by forming the Al Nusra Front that fought alongside other opposition rebels against Bashar al Assad's regime that began in 2011. The Al Nusra front grew into a strong force of fighters with the support of the Syrians opposed to the Assad's ruling government that had lost grip of the majority of the country. 17 The merger between Al Nusra front and ISI took an ugly turn of internal conflicts since their priorities were different. As Al Nusra front together with US equipped Free Syrian Army were focused on fighting to topple the Syrian government leadership of Assad, the Islamic State was focused on establishing their rule in the areas they had secured from the Assad's government forces. Thus, this involved armed conflict in which ISI succeeded by a majority of fighters and its Islamic propaganda of jihadists. Islamic state announced a new coalition referred to as the Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant/ Syria. This followed the defeat of the dissenting voices in Al Nusra and Islamic fronts that later on swore allegiance to the Islamic state under the force of loss and arbitration by Al Qaeda leadership (Lynch, 2004). 18 Following this victory and triumph over the Iraqi troops that saw the group amass swaths of territory extending from Syria through in Iraq, the group renamed itself the worldwide caliphate of Islamic State and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi named its Caliph Ibrahim. This proclamation of a caliphate received a lot of criticism and opposition from governments around the world including the world Muslim community. 19 The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported following the success in grabbing much land in Syria and Iraq, IS attracted more than 6000 new recruits from the Middle East countries of Jordan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia among others and young jihadists from the western countries. This was strengthened by the extreme violence and strict Islamic law interpretations that see the perceived enemies heavily punished by hacking into public. The victory of IS in holding Mosul, in the midst of US-backed Iraqi military and Peshmerga fighters has enhanced their positions attracting allegiance from other crude terrorist organizations in the Middle East and far. 19 Based on the report of the Commonwealth of Australia (n.d.), Da'ash mainly operates within the territory of Greater Syria along with Iraq though their activities traverse the entire Middle East. The report of the Commonwealth of Australia (n.d.) revealed that the organization tends to build effective communication and maintain the greater association between Al- Qaeda affiliate and Sunni extremist group, which mainly belongs to Syria. Da'ash primary motivation is to promote religious violence throughout the globe. This would largely be achieved by establishing a ‘Salafist-orientated Islamist state' in Middle East countries, including Syria, Iraq and several other countries of Levant (Bubblews LLC, 2014). 20 Following the report published by Rogers (2014), the Islamic State has been expanding its verticals from northwest Iraq to Mosul for fulfilling its set targets. It can be ascertained in this similar context that capturing Mosul is one of the most surprising acquisitions for this State in the previous two months. Identifiably, as observed by Rogers (2014) in his study, several attacks were conducted over Syria, Mosul and Iraq during the last 5-7 years. An example of such attacks was the small-scale air attack made by the rebel group upon the Kurdish Administrative Capital of Irbil in 2006. After this small scale air attack, the Peshmerga Kurdish military units, thus became separated from Da'ash and formed a new separate group (Rogers, 2014). 21 2.2 Functions of the Da’ash 21 2.3 The administrative structure of Islamic State 23 3.Methodology 38 3.1 Research Design 38 3.2 Research Approach 39 4. Results 41 5. Discussion 47 5.1 Activities of Da’ash 47 5.2 Impacts of the Activities of Da’ash 50 5.3 Post-Merger Situation 54 5.Conclusion 57 6.Recommendations 59 7.References 64 UMAA-Advocacy. (2014). The Crisis In Iraq. Policy Report. 1-41. 66 8.Appendix 67 1. Introduction About the past decade, starting around 2002, terrorist activities have been on the rise. Since the bombings of Western interests to rebellion against elected governments, terrorism activities have steadily increased in the past two decades. Almost everywhere in the world, the global terror threat is a big talking point. The incidences of terrorism have been witnessed across all cultures, races, religions and corners of the world. People know and talk so much about terror, but they should acknowledge the fact that it continues to change shape, which is the reason it has become so much difficult to rid the world of it. The results of terror attacks are various and numerous, including massive deaths, displacement of people and destruction of property (Transnational Terrorism, Security & the Rule of Law, 2008). Friedland (2015), in his report on the Clarion, considers the Islamic State as more than a terrorist entity, but a political and military organization holding a radical interpretation of Islam as a political philosophy and it seeks to enforce that Worldview on both Muslims and non-Muslims. The Islamic State failed to maintain partnerships with Al Qaeda for being so extreme yet the group tries to appeal to all Sunni Muslims worldwide. Islamic extremism is the global form of terrorism that has been elevated by all forms of expression ranging from uprisings, armed militias interventions, social propaganda over the social media to the current level of enforcing creation of the Islamic caliphates (Bulliet, 2014). The Islamic State/Da'ash is an organization that majorly operates in the Arab nations of Syria and Iraq, which is where they believe a free society has never been achieved. Da'ash is an Arabic acronym of the "Dulat al-Islam fi al-Iraq wal-Sham." Da'ash is thought to be an Al-Qaeda affiliate and operates the Sunni Salafi regime. ‘Da'ash' was founded in the year 2004 in the Islamic State of Iraq. Initially, in this group was formed from mergers and collisions of several insurgent groups that arose from the Iraq invasion by the United States and allied forces to expel the Saddam Hussein regime. The militant groups formed to resist the Iraq invasion repel against the western influences in the region. Thus to achieve this, they resorted to militia attacks on government and Western interests. The primary objective of this rebel group is to establish the Islamic states in several areas where Al-Qaeda operated (Heideman, Kaiser & Romano, 2014). Da'ash was formed as a compromised group between Al-Qaeda and Front Victory. The latter is a rebel group in Syria, whereas the former is a notorious terrorist organization that, until 2011, was under the leadership of Osama bin Laden. From the preceding few years, it can be found that Da'ash has heightened its activities in the two countries captured a significant portion of Iraq and the northern part of Syria. The terrorist insurgency in Syria was facilitated by the lawlessness created by the failure of the Assad dictatorship to control the opposition pressure. Thus, the opposition forces formed into militias to push for the toppling of Assad agenda backed by the Western powers. The inflows of foreign fighters as volunteers who joined the Syrian opposition front diverted the opposition political agenda into secessionist whose efforts were snapped by religious extremists. This particular political organization has spread its power in several parts of Syria as well as Iraq with the motive of destroying the harmony persisting between several religious groups and establishing core Islamic communities specifically in Iraq and Syria (Lewis, 2013). The aim of this study is to understand the organization of Da'ash, and its activities in the Islamic nations of Syria and Iraq properly. For instance, what are the organizational structures in Daash, how are the administrative wings, political structures, and religious courts organized? Da’ash ravages Syria and Iraq with its deadly activities, making attempts at peace a long shot. What exactly is the organization of Da’ash and how do its activities in Syria and Iraq contribute to the current political situation in the two countries. 2. Literature Review 2.1 A Brief Overview of the Islamic State (DA’ASH) According to the report published by Bubblews LLC (2014), the "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant" (Da'ash) got translated in the year 2013 from the title ‘Dawlat al-Islam fi al-Iraq al-Sham.' It is worth mentioning that this political organization aimed at forming an Islamic caliphate and most vitally promoting religious aggression by executing the means of military or non-military basis. The origin of Islamic state ideologies and activities can be comprehensively covered by projecting the extremism activities in three distinct time periods since the American invasion of Iraq from 2000 till their current situation. These different time periods were characterized by several changes in their name, structures of organization and activities. Since the end of US invasion, there has been the creation of a group that became Al Qaeda by mergers of Zarqawi's JTJ till his death in 2006. It later descended into setbacks and local hostilities from US-led sensitization and nationalist ideologies through 2006 to 2011. It finally grew into the current extremism that developed from the remains of the Syrian opposition, and the failure of the Shiite-led Iraqi government to control the Sunni majority. The group formed by Al Zarqawi following the Iraq invasion, mostly targeted Shia mosques, government facilities, civilians and the foreign workers and forces who were part of the US-led forces. The group merged with Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda insurgents in 2004 to form Al Qaeda in Iraq also called the Organization of Jihad's Base in Mesopotamia. Later in 2005, under Al Qaeda in Iraq, the group planned to expel the US forces and then attack the neighbors in an effort to expand the Iraq war as far as clashing with Israel which is viewed as a challenge to forms of Islam. These plans were drafted with the goal of carving out a caliphate authority in the Middle East. As from 2006, Al Qaeda in Iraq merged with smaller insurgent groups in Iraq in a move that led to the formation of a more Iraqi terror group called Mujahideen Shura Council that aimed to distinguish itself from the Al Zarqawi's AQI whose attacks including the 2005 hotel bombings were a public image of the group. Thus, forming the Mujahideen Shura Council was more of a public relations activity by the terror group to win the local support of people and get more fighters. After the death of Al Zarqawi from US strikes, the group merged with more Sunni Islamic units that formed a coalition with the aim of restoring the Islam's glory by doing away with the Crusaders and salvaging the Sunni from the oppression of Shiites. Later on, MSC established the Islamic State of Iraq, comprising of six Iraqi Sunni governors with Omar al-Baghdadi appointed the emir and Al Masri as the minister in charge of war affairs. The group had ten cabinet members, including the war ministry. Based on the US intelligence studies compiled in 2007, the Islamic state of Iraq planned on gaining power and establishing a Sunni Islamic state in the western and central parts of Iraq. The group had grown in strength due to the influential gubernatorial of Anbar, Divala and areas of Baghdad (Barrett, 2014). However, the attacks from the US troops captured and killed prominent members of the ISI, which reduced their secure military presence in the Anbar and Baghdad areas. Following 2008, the Iraqi forces with the aid of US troops managed to drive out the Da’ash members from their strongholds in Anbar province and Divala to Mosul in their northern city of Iraq. The ISI later on received cold treatment from the Iraqis because of its violent administrative mechanisms it subjected its supporters in the Anbar province (Smith, 2015). Following the death of almost all its leadership in 2010, the new leadership under Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi replenished the group by utilizing the former Baathists who had been freed from US detention. These Baathists were former military commanders under the Saddam Hussein's leadership that was toppled by the US invasion. Thus, ISI was replenished with experienced military men with hardened animosity towards Western-backed interests and enough skills in recruiting new fighters as well as sourcing financing. Thus, with the renewed strength, Al Baghdadi resorted to breaking the Iraqi's prison wall to free the detained prisoners from ISI, which increased terrorist fatalities in the country ever since 2008. Islamic State of Iraq leadership grabbed the Syrian civil war opportunity by forming the Al Nusra Front that fought alongside other opposition rebels against Bashar al Assad's regime that began in 2011. The Al Nusra front grew into a strong force of fighters with the support of the Syrians opposed to the Assad's ruling government that had lost grip of the majority of the country. The merger between Al Nusra front and ISI took an ugly turn of internal conflicts since their priorities were different. As Al Nusra front together with US equipped Free Syrian Army were focused on fighting to topple the Syrian government leadership of Assad, the Islamic State was focused on establishing their rule in the areas they had secured from the Assad's government forces. Thus, this involved armed conflict in which ISI succeeded by a majority of fighters and its Islamic propaganda of jihadists. Islamic state announced a new coalition referred to as the Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant/ Syria. This followed the defeat of the dissenting voices in Al Nusra and Islamic fronts that later on swore allegiance to the Islamic state under the force of loss and arbitration by Al Qaeda leadership (Lynch, 2004). Following this victory and triumph over the Iraqi troops that saw the group amass swaths of territory extending from Syria through in Iraq, the group renamed itself the worldwide caliphate of Islamic State and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi named its Caliph Ibrahim. This proclamation of a caliphate received a lot of criticism and opposition from governments around the world including the world Muslim community. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported following the success in grabbing much land in Syria and Iraq, IS attracted more than 6000 new recruits from the Middle East countries of Jordan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia among others and young jihadists from the western countries. This was strengthened by the extreme violence and strict Islamic law interpretations that see the perceived enemies heavily punished by hacking into public. The victory of IS in holding Mosul, in the midst of US-backed Iraqi military and Peshmerga fighters has enhanced their positions attracting allegiance from other crude terrorist organizations in the Middle East and far. Based on the report of the Commonwealth of Australia (n.d.), Da'ash mainly operates within the territory of Greater Syria along with Iraq though their activities traverse the entire Middle East. The report of the Commonwealth of Australia (n.d.) revealed that the organization tends to build effective communication and maintain the greater association between Al- Qaeda affiliate and Sunni extremist group, which mainly belongs to Syria. Da'ash primary motivation is to promote religious violence throughout the globe. This would largely be achieved by establishing a ‘Salafist-orientated Islamist state' in Middle East countries, including Syria, Iraq and several other countries of Levant (Bubblews LLC, 2014). Following the report published by Rogers (2014), the Islamic State has been expanding its verticals from northwest Iraq to Mosul for fulfilling its set targets. It can be ascertained in this similar context that capturing Mosul is one of the most surprising acquisitions for this State in the previous two months. Identifiably, as observed by Rogers (2014) in his study, several attacks were conducted over Syria, Mosul and Iraq during the last 5-7 years. An example of such attacks was the small-scale air attack made by the rebel group upon the Kurdish Administrative Capital of Irbil in 2006. After this small scale air attack, the Peshmerga Kurdish military units, thus became separated from Da'ash and formed a new separate group (Rogers, 2014). 2.2 Functions of the Da’ash Based on the report of Ibrahim (2014), Da'ash is such a rebel group, which mainly constitutes two terrorist groups namely Al-Qaeda and Front Victory. In this regard, as per the report published in Bubblews LLC (2014), it is realized that Da'ash mainly works under the infancy of Iraq by adopting the name of Tawhid and Jihad Group. After a few years of terrorist activities, the group started being referred to as the "Al-Qaeda of Mesopotamia". Szybala (2014) firmly believed that the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) entered into Syria by the merger process in the form of establishing Da'ash. According to Szybala (2014), ISIS has blackout its footprint and effort from the Deir ez-Zour, Aleppo, and Idlib. It can be apparently observed that ISIS mainly operates from the Idlib, but after backing out from the association, it restricted itself towards gaining maximum exposure. It is worth mentioning that within a short duration, ISIS emerged as an active force and conducted resurgence in the eastern part of Syria in the name of Deir ez-Zour. By taking into concern the report of Commonwealth of Australia (n.d.), it can be ascertained that the current leader of Da'ash is Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri who mainly led the group towards fulfilling its desired targets. The head, to satisfy the desired needs behind the formation of Da'ash, tend to conduct several allies and make the above-stated objective purposeful as well as remarkable in the entire world. As per the study of Commonwealth of Australia (n.d.), the ISIL has over 2500 members in its association. The maximum members of this organization can be mainly recognized as young Iraqi Sunni men. Apart from this, it can also be found that the ISIL has around 5000 members in Syria that entail the Syrian nationalists as well as the foreign fighters. The origin of ISIL is in Iraq and thus the major leaders of the rebel group are identified to belong from Iraqi nationalism. According to Rogers (2014), the term Islamic State is originated from a speech of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a leader of ISIL in Mosul . 2.3 The administrative structure of Islamic State The organizational goals of Islamic State are to enforce their hard-line Salafist authority and amass support of the civilians. Both in Iraq and Syria, Islamic State took advantage of failures of the governments to administer their regions with fairness to justify the peaceful coexistence of different tribes and religions. Thus, they promised the captured areas to offer an alternative leadership to the previous corrupt systems of poor governance. To understand the functioning of the Islamic state organization, it is essential to analyze the structures that are embraced in this organization. The current fabric of the Islamic state is a development of the ever-changing ideologies, operations, coalitions and activities this organization partakes. This analysis of the change in the structure as a result of changes in the operations of the organization with time will enhance better understanding of its current hierarchy. According to Barrett (2014), the Islamic state's top leader is the caliph. The Islamic state is a highly centralized and disciplined organization though there is decentralization in its leadership structure. The caliph has two deputies based on territories. One deputy is in charge of Iraq territory and the other in Syria. The caliph and the two deputies handle making strategic decisions. For instance, they set the overall strategic goals that are then communicated to the whole organization down the hierarchy through the semi-autonomous lower ranks. Thus, strategic military decisions are passed by the caliph and his two senior deputies to the local commanders who execute them based on the best strategies possible. Thus through this devolved structure, decentralized units of the Islamic State can operate at different war fronts at the same time. This explains the stability of the group at the pressure from the Iraqi army, tribal revolts, the Kurdish peshmerga, the Syrian army as well as the Syrian opposition insurgents. Thus, Islamic state can handle the attacks at the same time handle administrative duties in the territory they won. The next level of leadership is the councils that coordinate the administrative and military functions. They thus serve as advisory councils to the caliph on strategic planning and implementation of both military and administrative tasks. The Shura Council is the key strategic advisory board that is in charge of overseeing and endorsing the caliph's decisions relating to administrative appointments in the Islamic State ranks. The Shura Council is responsible for holding the caliph responsible for leadership and religious duties as well as theoretical authority to fire the caliph in the event he does not honor his responsibilities as expected as stipulated by the Sharia law. The Shura Council consists of between nine to eleven members who are tasked with disseminating the caliph's directives and ensuring their implementation. The current composition of the Shura Council is made of previous Baathist members from the former Saddam Hussein's party who has valuable military and technical experiences. The members of the Shura Council handle passing laws and ensuring their implementation. The next level of authority in the Islamic State is the Sharia council that is directed by the caliph. The Sharia Council is the stronghold that ties the Islamic State within its Islamic ideologies interpretation. It handles appointing the caliph in agreement with the Sharia law and enforcing the compliance with its Sharia law interpretation among other administrative units and the subjects of an Islamic state. In ensuring compliance with Sharia law, the Sharia council ensures discipline is maintained, forms the laws and the penalties for breaking those laws besides overseeing the propagation of the sharia ideology by the sharia police and courts to all the territories of the Islamic state. Through the Sharia Council, the Islamic state imposes and enforces religious observance among its subjects in their behaviors and way of life. The first and foremost office created by the Islamic state in a new area is the Sharia police force that oversees the Islamic conduct of the civilians. This is followed by the sharia courts that handle the transgressors of Islamic religious laws, ordinary civil and religious torts, which are valued much in the regions that were characterized by corruption and injustices. To enforce its legitimacy of its rule, the Islamic state has sought for religious support from Islamic religious scholars who have helped in recruiting respected preachers to the organization. Through these religious appeals to the Muslim world, the Islamic State has enhanced its recruitment of donors and more fighters. The other key boards of administration in the Islamic state are the security and intelligence council that has many responsibilities ranging from internal to external security. This council plays an essential role in safeguarding the caliph's grip and control of the organization by eliminating internal dissent and plots against the caliph's rule besides his physical safety. The council of security and intelligence has branches across the whole Islamic State territory and is the key asset behind its protective measures. The Security Council handles assassinating defectors and quick elimination of other forces challenging the caliph's authority. For instance, the Security Council handled silencing the dissenting authorities in the captured regions like the local leaders in Mosul, activists agitating for the organization or religious scholars criticizing the caliphate. Barrett (2014) asserts that the military council is the force behind the campaigns that are winning more territories and defense of the caliphate. The duty of defending the territory acquired is reinforced by the provincial council that controls the civilian administration affairs of Islamic State. The military council of the Islamic state is overseen by former Saddam Hussein's military commanders and Chechen Islamists who were behind the onslaught that led to the successful capture of Mosul. The military council deals with military supplies, caring for the families of dead fighters, acquisition and deployment of explosives, recruitment and movement logistics of foreign fighters. Being a new structure and form of government control, the Islamic state structure changes regularly and, thus, it is difficult to verify at any time. The provincial control is vested in the provincial council that governs different territories under the Islamic State. The Islamic state is composed of 18 provinces in Iraq and Syria apart from the other territories that pledge allegiance away from the two countries. Each province in the Islamic State is governed by a governor who oversees the administration of civilian affairs that mirrors the central strategy of the caliphate at the top of its leadership. The other councils are the financing and media council. According to the Financial Action Task Force (2015) report, the Islamic state raised funding through different ways like from activities including criminal and extortion practices among other means in the areas they rule. This presents challenges to the international community aimed at starving it of financial support from their major sources. Considering the Barrett (2014) report, the provincial administration is supported by devolved military commanders, sharia courts and police offices in each province. Similarly, in each province, at district levels the administrative tasks are devolved but supported by the central functions of security and Sharia police with courts that it replicates the structure at the state level. 2.4 Activities of the Da’ash With regards to the report of UMAA-Advocacy (2014), the Islamic State positioned in Iraq and Syria i.e. DAASH is predominantly viewed to be a rebel group, which tends to upsurge religious violence in this entire world either through military or non-military ways. It can be determined that ISIS is responsible for conducting several terror attacks on the US military for supporting its motives and fulfill the same within a specific time frame. Specially mentioning, the report of Courage Services, Inc. (2014) revealed that DAASH is mainly working based on the ideologies of ‘Al-Qaeda', whose prime motive is to conduct terrorist activities for the purpose of attaining its predetermined operational targets. By supporting this fact, the report published by Courage Services, Inc. (2014) demonstrated that the political organization is mainly targeting Syria's armed forces for dispersing the ideologies of ‘Al- Qaeda'. However, according to the Clarion project report, Friedland (2015) argues that the Islamic State is guided by the Salafist jihadism in which they regard the nation and the nation as the same entity. The Salafist makes all decisions based on the strict interpretation of Islamic law which is administered and enforced with brutality in those areas under the organization. Thus, the Salafist ideology is based on the expected returning to the form of Islam practiced by the followers of the founder of Islam, Mohammed. They consider anyone who deviates from their strict interpretation of Islam as a heretic punishable by death. In relation to the above context, according to the report of OHCHR (2014), initially, ISIS started its operations in Iraq. However, within a short period, it translated into DAASH and thus raised its power along with authority towards controlling huge figure of populated areas in Syria and Iraq. As per the report of The Institute for The Study of War (2014), the main objective of ISIS before getting translated in Mosul was to capture the territorial passion of Ninewa region by eliminating the Iraq Security forces from Mosul. The main reasons for targeting Ninewa region by the rebel group in terms of eliminating the Iraq Security forces included expansion of power and attaining a dominant position in the respective area. It can be ascertained that the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham has been targeting in creating violence by promoting media blackout (The Institute for The Study of War, 2014). As per the report of OHCHR (2014), DAASH imposed huge impact upon the lives of the civilians in the form of performing varied anti-social or terrorist activities. There are numerous people in Syria including men along with women and children who become traumatized by terror due to the conduct of such activities. Again, the civilians residing within the ISIS often complained about the violence acts, dangerous attacks and brutally tortured activities performed over them. The previous studies ascertained that the political organization i.e. DAASH controlled varied territories by closely monitoring the activities perform by the local people and taking relevant measures if found any sort of discrepancy. It can be apparently observed that numerous attacks are made by such rebel groups specifically in the regions of Northeastern Syria for fulfilling the desired targets. It is often observed that the rebel group at certain times attack and kill people for preserving their dominant position on the local people (The Study of War, 2014). According to the report of Commonwealth of Australia (n.d.), DAASH is regarded as one of the ambitious rebel groups in this modern world. This can be justified with reference to the fact that the organization, at most of the times, often conducts regular terrorist attacks by considering certain scenarios including festivals and holidays among others. It can be found with respect to the report of Commonwealth of Australia (n.d.) that DAASH, in most of the times, target Central Iraq for performing terrorist attacks. The attacks on the west and the north capital of Iraq are comparatively common than the outbreaks upon the northern area of Kurdish-controlled and the region of Syria. On a further note, the report of OHCHR (2014) elaborated about the violation, which has been conducted by the women and children. In this regard, DAASH mainly established certain rules along with regulations over the dressing patterns of women who mainly resided within Syria. The political organization eventually set up a cultural stereotyping tradition, and wherein the women are dominated. Evidently, several people of Syria, especially the parents of unmarried women are often threatened to marry their daughters forcefully with ISIS terrorist fighters, which can be duly considered as one of the terrorist activities perform by the rebel group. As per the report of Christian Solidarity International (2014), DAASH recently made attacks and killed Mandaeans, Christians and Yazidi civilians to remove them from Iraq and conduct religious violence by including both Sunni and Shia Extremist Territorial Army. This process is mainly known as ‘systematic religious classing.' Again, it was revealed that the rebel group made attacks on Sinjar, which established in Northern Iraq in the year 2014. In providing the pieces of evidence concerning the attacks make by DAASH in order to perform religious violence, its involvement in kidnapping is also worth mentioning. It will be vital to mention that the women who are not being sold have faced several violence including sexual and physical assaults by the DAASH fighters. It is also observed that these fighters have been attacking the Yazidi women living in Syria in the form of conducting sexual harassment over them. Thus, based on reviewing the above literatures, it can be inferred that DAASH, being a rebel group, is deemed to be a potential group, whose objectives have been sent in alignment with its desired objectives. The main activities of Islamic State in their territories include military, Islamic courts policing, administration and service delivery. Since the organization wants to appeal to many people as the best alternative to the corrupt poorly governed leaderships, they replaced, that is, the Syrian and Iraqi governments that had sectarian leaning leaders. The Islamic State or Da’ash has adopted an active presence on media through its operations and activities in its territories. Thus, as Barrett (2014) asserted, the media efforts of Da’ash are as vital as its military activities or administrative efforts. In this case, from the review of the literature, the most used decentralized media is Twitter that has enabled every unit of Da’ash to share information with the outside world. The devolved units of Da’ash were thus using standardized party lines on twitter with videos spread their Salafist ideas. The media has been the most effective warfare employed by Da’ash in spreading their terror messages ranging from messages from the caliph or incidences involving punishing their enemies through hacking. For instance, when the caliph was announcing the creation of a caliphate, the social media namely Twitter and YouTube were used to communicate with the world's major news networks. For example, the murders of American and British workers were posted on YouTube to get the attention of majors news companies of the world. The Da’ash military activities are coordinated by former commanders of Baathist party who are behind the strategic success of its assaults. They generally employ the tactics of the insurgency, terrorism and guerrilla warfare as reported by Barrett (2015). 3. Methodology 3.1 Research Design The thesis has been mainly conducted based on the inclusion of qualitative research approach. In order to provide a rationale about the selection of this particular research method in the thesis, it can be affirmed that the selected method is applied by several researchers to identify the appropriate research process. The prime intention of adopting the qualitative research approach in this study is that it will aid in elaborating the varied facts that have high relevance pertaining to the subject matter. The other rationale of adopting qualitative research method, as this approach is associated with the social structure model. Conceptually, the qualitative research approach deals with believes, emotions, human behaviors and experiences that will find alignment in ascertaining the stated research objectives. This research subject is developed based on social context, which has been proved as quite appropriate for the research method. It is worth mentioning that this research method is found to be suitable for describing several social and human problems. In relation to the thesis concerning the organization of the Islamic State (Da’ash), its activities and implications, the qualitative research method has been taken into concern for ascertaining better results and deriving positive outcomes (Sandelowski, 1991). 3.2 Research Approach Apart from the inclusion of qualitative research method, narrative approach as a research design is also been conducted for the thesis. The narrative approach will be appropriate for analyzing the collected data for the respective research in an effective manner. In order to evaluate the several consequences of the activities of a protestant group, this process will be suitable for this thesis (Sandelowski, 1991). In addition, it will be essential in this research to identify the activities of the rebel group i.e. Da’ash. Since the narrative approach is a process is similar as story telling process, it will be ideal for collecting vital information. It is also stated that this research process is considered to be little sensitive in nature. Projections can also be made in considering varied ethical practices during the conduct of entire research process. In qualitative research method, there lays the requirement of maintaining research biasness by explaining proper information in a proper way. It is also anticipated that no such real data gets destroyed during the research process, which impose considerable impact on the reliability along with the validity of the research study (Sandelowski, 1991). 4. Results By reviewing varied literatures as conducted in the previous section, it can be ascertained that the organization i.e. Da’ash is deemed to be a protestant group of Middle East region mainly operating in Iraq and Syria. In the preceding few years, it can be ascertained that the people who live in Iraq and Syria are continuously suffering from terrorism and insurgency. Through critical reviews of several studies in the form of secondary sources, a detailed understanding can be made regarding the effectiveness of Da’ash in continuously increasing its power between Iraq and Syria. Specially mentioning, these two nations Iraq and Syria have been affected by varied terrorist attacks. Identifiably, the political organization i.e. Da’ash has recently increased its power in Syria and Iraq by capturing the region of Lebanon. Though they do not state it publicly, the main reason behind the formation of Da’ash is to use violence to form an Islamic state or Islamic country with the aim of promoting religious violence within its operating regions. There are 2500 members present in Da’ash, out of which, most of them are young Sunni men having the anger against the political authority or the respective governments (Oui, 2014). Da’ash membership mainly comprises of citizens of Iraq and Syria, with the latter contributing the highest number. It can be apparently observed that recently, Da’ash has been increased its territory from Iraq to Mosul for attaining its desired targets. However, according to Central Intelligence Agency’s estimates in late 2014, the number of the militants in the organization increase sharply to between 9000 to 18000 fighters with the Syrian civil war and following the crude methods employed by Da’ash which earned it followers. However, recent millitary activities and recruitments have increased the man power of Da’ash to around 200000 fighters according to Fuat Hussein, the chief of staff to Kurdish president. On a further note, several attacks have been made by this rebel group upon Iraq and Syria along with other places related to these nations from previous few years. Specially mentioning, the small attack upon Kurdish Administrative Capital of Irbil by the rebel group is one of the most surprising events, which holds remarkable importance in this present political context. The thesis also portrayed several incidents that created a comparative negative impact upon Da’ash. Notably, after the attacks made on Kurdish military units of Peshmerga, the Kurdish military removed its participation from Da’ash (Commonwealth of Australia, 2014). While elaborating the key findings of the thesis, it is to be affirmed that Da’ash is a newly formed rebel group of Iraq and greater Syria. It is mainly formed with the combination of two groups namely ‘Al-Qaida’ as well as ‘front victory’ in the year 2014. The organization operates its respective functions by following the ideologies similar to Al-Qaida. The other affiliate of Da’ash i.e. the front victory can be noted to left the group and thus does not involve itself to perform any sort of activity. Specially mentioning, after the separation of front victory from the political organization, postnatal groups remained under covered and desired to avoid the visibility in radars. While entering to Syria Al-Qaida, the process of merger with front victory eventually formed a new group named Da’ash. It can be apparently observed that the people who live within Syria especially the ISIS affected region often underwent with varied sorts of protested activities for fulfilling desired targets. In order to fulfill the objective of promoting religious violence, Da’ash made several attacks upon the local authority of Syria and Iraq. Justifiably, the tortured level of Da’ash upon the Yezadi community is found to be comparatively higher in Syria than Iraq. The political organization i.e. Da’ash established certain rules along with regulations for dominating the women of Syria. People who live in Syria are facing several terror activities in their normal life. The main problem is that the normal life of citizens of Syria is highly affected by the terrorist activities conducted by Da’ash. It has been earlier mentioned that the prime intent of this rebel group is to establish sole Islamic states with the help of Sunni militants belonging to Iraq and Syria. The Iraq Security Force has restricted the entry of journalists in Mosul, as Da’ash threatened to kill all journalists for publishing any news relating to the attacks made by this rebel group. Moreover, it can be ascertained that the women of Syria are not safe from the members of Da’ash due to increased level of evidences of kidnapping and physical assaults among others (OHCHR, 2014). By reviewing the studies conducted above, it can be apparently observed that the protestant group Da’ash initially targeted Iraq and Syria for spreading terror activities in the Middle East regions. By reviewing varied literatures in the form of secondary sources, it is notified that the rebel group Da’ash is responsible to affect the lives of the people of Iraq as well as Syria due to the conduct of several attacks. As has been mentioned elsewhere in this text, the organization tends to establish an Islamic State with the help of extremist Sunni and Shia rebel groups for promoting religious violence. Iraq is comparatively more affected by the violent acts of terror meted by Da’ash than Syria. In this present day context, both the countries are becoming the victims of violence and political disputes due to the communal unrest prevailing between Iraq and Syria. After taking root in Syria and Iraq, Da’ash has constantly been changing tact. Their attacks in the most recent years take the form of suicide bombing, which makes it more of an Al-Qaeda look-alike. In fact, as Al-Qaeda was disorganized by the murder of its founder and longtime leader Osama bin Laden, Da’ash has looked increasingly more like its successor due to the similar activities, objectives, organization, and command chain. It is often observed that political unrest and economic instability mainly arise due to the conduct of several attacks by the protestant groups (OHCHR, 2014). 5. Discussion 5.1 Activities of Da’ash In relation to the above research findings, it can be clearly understood that Da’ash is a jihadist protestant group. Da’ash has shown a big-headed and aggressive nature upon the other rebel groups of Syria. After entering into Syria, Da’ash crossed all the levels of brutality and cruelty. This can be justified with reference to the fact that after entering into Syria, Da’ash has forced a jihadist protestant group named ‘Jabhat al-Nusra’ affiliated to Al-Qaida for attaining its desired objectives including the promotion of religious violence. After the merger took place between Da’ash and Jabhat al-Nusra, the persistence of huge conflicts between the two is witnessed. Also, Da’ash maintained a better relationship with other rebel groups and thus established a joint ruling territory in certain regions and towns. As per the above discussion, one realizes that the protestant group Da’ash has been able to control several places of Syria and certainly eliminated the military involvement from those regions. In addition, Da’ash also established its operational capital in Raqqa in Syria for performing activities in an effective manner. Notably, Da’ash mainly targets those people who belong to non-Islamic background. Thus, in this similar concern, the Yazidi community belonging to Iraq and northern Syria gets mainly affected by the Da’ash fighters. In order to establish an Islamic region or Islamic state for promoting religious violence, Da’ash has started a campaign in the name of ‘purifying Islamic states from other non-Islamic communities.’ The political scenarios of Iraq and Syria are deemed to be considered as quite unstable and poorer due to adverse impacts made by Da’ash while performing its varied activities. Notably, the Greater Middle East countries are facing several problems such as political unrest, economic instability, social and religious convulsion due to several attacks perform by Da’ash in collaboration with Al-Qaida (Lewis, 2013). The displaced people, including women, children, elders and peolpe with disabilities, and elderly had walked for long distances, many on foot, and were in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, including water, food, shelter and medicine. Some of others who remained trapped in their mountainous villages, in towns of Khocho, Mazar Sharafadin and Solagh, faced similar dire humanitarian crisis as they got besieged by Da’ash. For instance, according to the United Nations International Child’s Fund (UNICEF) report, that families who fled to Jabal Sinjar, with up to 25,000 children, were faced with more humanitarian needs of assistance, including safe drinking water among others. As a result around 40 Yezidi children died from hunger, thirst and severe dehydration. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report, more people are stuck in remote areas in hiding where it is difficult to access them due to intensified fighting. In order to capture the major portion of the territories, several protestant groups are involved in declaring wars for reaching into a solution. Undoubtedly, the continuous conflict prevailing between Da’ash and other protestant groups in Iraq as well as and Syria is not only destroying the way of leading normal life of the people, but also endangering natural resources and ecological settings by a considerable extent. As a result of recurring conflicts between rebel groups of few selected Middle East regions, the developmental path of varied essential services that are duly considered as key influencers for the growth of a country eventually gets restricted. A further observation is that the persistence of poor economic condition is the main reason behind the increasing rate of terrorism, and accounts for several youths readily willing to be recruited into Da’ash and other smaller terror groups. On a further note, the joining of several young Sunni men in diverse rebel groups such as Da’ash also contributes in increasing rate of unrest or conflicts within the nations at large (Lewis, 2013). 5.2 Impacts of the Activities of Da’ash The factors concerning economic instability and high unemployment rate eventually forced the young people of Iraq and Syria to join Da’ash or any other protestant group of Greater Middle East. Da’ash, as the extremist jihadist group following the ideologies of Al- Qaida mainly targets the young Sunni men for accomplishing its desired objectives. It can be found that Da’ash has spread its terror throughout varied regions of the Greater Middle East. The intention of Da’ash is to dominate the women by grasping their independency level. Currently, Da’ash attacks the Yazidi community in the form of forcing them to convert into Islamic religion. Apart from this, the Yazidi woman are being tortured by the Da’ash fighters and also kidnapped for making the desired objectives to become successful. It has been reported that the Yazidi women are kept and are treated like cattle by the Da’ash fighters. In order to establish sole Islamic states, Da’ash has decided to eliminate all other communities from Iraq and Syria. In this regard, the small Yazidi community is being continuously threatened by Da’ash to convert the religion possessed by the members of this community to Islam for attaining its predetermined objectives (Heideman et. al., 2014). Da’ash has led to rise of a great multitude of outflow of refugees from the affected countries, particularly Iraq and Syria. According to the Crownfort (2015), the two cointries have witnessed the worst possible refugee crisis of millions of people displaced as refugees. According to this report Da’ash has caused a great exodus of refugees from Syria to Turkey, Lebanon and the Gulf. Others have risked their lives to look for safety to Europe through Egypt Libya and the Mediterranean. Besides refugees, asylum seekers in European countries have reached the highest point in the two decades’ time. At the same time, more human suffering is witnessed in horrendous activities of people smugglers who have taken the occasion besides the murky situation of the internally displaced people in Iraq and Syria. The Kurdish region is theone that has borne the blunt of refugees with more still moving there for fear of Da'ash and Sunni militants. Thus, Da’ash have contributed to the human suffering in those regions directy and indirectly. Directly, Da’ash ha imposed its strict Islamic laws in the regions it has captured from the Syrian or Iraqi forces. Factors concerning economic instability and high unemployment rate eventually forced the young people of Iraq and Syria to join Da'ash or any other protestant group of Greater Middle East. Da'ash, as the extremist jihadist group following the ideologies of Al- Qaida mainly targets the young Sunni men for accomplishing its desired objectives. It can be found that Da'ash has spread its terror throughout varied regions of the Greater Middle East. The intention of Da'ash is to dominate the women by grasping their independence level. Currently, Da'ash attacks the Yazidi community in the form of forcing them to convert to the Islamic religion. Apart from this, the Yazidi woman are being tortured by the Da'ash fighters and also kidnapped for making the desired objectives to become successful. It has been reported that the Yazidi women are kept and are treated like cattle by the Da'ash fighters. To establish sole Islamic states, Da'ash has decided to eliminate all other communities from Iraq and Syria. In this regard, the small Yazidi community is being continuously threatened by Da'ash to convert the religion possessed by the members of this community to Islam for attaining its predetermined objectives (Heideman et. al., 2014). 5.3 Post-Merger Situation After the merger between Al-Qaeda and front victory, the formation of Da’ash is viewed to be one of the most surprising incidents in this modern political context. However, Al-Qaeda and front victory is working with each other, but after few months, various conflicts can be found to persist between them. The arrogant activity and aggressive nature of Al-Qaeda towards other rebel groups are the prime reasons for raising such conflicts. Thus, these conflicts can be duly considered as the significant factors for the increasing terror activities in Syria and Iraq. Formation of the Islamic state by Da’ash has certainly generated political chaos in the form of causing civil war. Civil war situations help to provide chaotic situations in which Da’ash best functions. As was mentioned in the abstract section, Da’ash majorly thrive where there is political crises and general confusion (Rogers, 2014). Expectations are rife that Da’ash, after raising its power in Iraq, will impose negative impact on Syria. The civil war of Syria can be duly considered as one of the primary reasons for getting affected from the activities performs by Da’ash. Civil war of Syria and the harmful attacks conducted by this rebel group eventually affected the economy of the nations at large. Currently, Jordon and Lebanon are also getting affected from the activities perform by Da’ash. In this context, Syria and Iraq fail to gain adequate support from other countries in order to address as well as mitigate such issues. Da’ash has expanded its territorial power from Iraq and Syria by creating the situation of war within both the countries. In order to expand the territorial power, Da’ash now targeted Lebanon and Jordon (Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC, 2010). The effects of Da’ash in the areas they control are much intolerable. However, though they have no friends or allies, their existence is likely to extend with no likely influential force to uproot them. This is because of some factors underlying the Middle East region that offer Da’ash a good brooding and settling the ground. Among these factors is the lack of confidence in the governments ruling over the people. Thus, focusing on the Iraqi and the Syrian governments whose poor governance led to sectarianism and marginalization of the Sunni Arabs that led to insurgencies that developed over time into Da’ash. The second factor follows the deep sectarian divisions in the Middle East that guides the politics and religion of the region. Despite the dread of Da’ash rule, the Middle East countries will better see their effects than increasing rivalry among them. The third cause of difficulty to defeat Da’ash is the entry of the United States and other western allies whose actions are perceived by the Muslims as a Western-led onslaught against their religion and people. This implies that these efforts will be fruitless given lack of support from the civilians. Similarly, the efforts by the region's leadership to counter the efforts of Da’ash propaganda are minimal compared to the situation. Finally, lack of a better alternative solution to the political and social problems has affected people due to the world’s leadership ignorance of offering a lasting solution. For instance, the case of Syrian government poor governance with the Iraqi government's failure to deal with sectarianism in governance creates a gap in the marginalized groups which is readily filled with the Da’ash. 5. Conclusion Terrorism and violent protesting activities are considered as destroying factors for the entire globe. These factors can affect the normal growth of human life and prohibit individuals to lead a developed and peaceful life. People who live in terrorist control regions become highly affected from the brutal and cruel activities perform by the rebel groups. Like any other attacks by rebel groups, those of Da’ash in Syria and Iraq generally result in the lack of political stability and has adverse effects upon their economic stability. Another concern is that Da’ash as a rebel group mainly operates its rebel activities within the territory of Iraq and Syria by following the ideologies of Al-Qaeda, the parent terror group. By reviewing the studies, it can be ascertained that this political organization has conducted several harmful attacks on the US military as well as common people of Iraq and Syria. The behaviors of Da’ash towards the local non Islamic communities are really terrible and violent. From the observed conduct and behavior of the civilians living in Syria and Iraq, it clearly shows the psychological torture that is daily fates of the victims of the violent activities performed by Da'ash. Especially mentioning, after the separation of Al-Qaida and Front Victory, the level of violent activities has been increased at an alarming rate. Da'ash has conducted several attacks on Syria on a regular basis. It is observed in this similar context that the higher authorities belonging to the above stated two nations failed to control the increasing power of Da'ash. It has been claimed that Da'ash is indirectly controlling several parts of Syria and Iraq by raising violent protestant activities within the two countries. It has also been found out that the Da’ash is organized into a devolved structure based on the territories it controls. Da’ash is structured to facilitate its physical the presence of the state to th civilians through the provincial structures reinforced with sharia courts, sharia policing and military commanders. Further, the organization has devolved its administrative functions to enhance indoctrination of its ideologies into the civilians and young generation through education based on jihadism only. 6. Recommendations The only viable way of suppressing Da’ash and its terrorist activities is to first of all know what they seek to achieve. Secondly, it would be useful to understand their organization and chain of command. This would be the only sure way of identifying terrorists and their sympathizers. The increasing level of terror activities within the border of Iraq and Syria has grabbed global attention. They thrive best in countries where there is unending political unrest. In this regard, the Iraq and Syrian government needs to adopt certain few strict measures for controlling the rising power of Da’ash. To control Da’ash, it would be necessary for the two countries to bring back sanity to the political environment. Obviously, Da’ash will work to make it difficult to bring to an end to the crisis situation in which they best execute their terrorist activities, but it would be achieved if there is goodwill. Iraq and Syria must enlist the support of neighboring countries such as Iran. Iran is one of the countries whose leadership declared never to tolerate the activities of Da’ash anywhere near their borders. Iran is an example of a well-meaning neighbor that could help Iran and Iraq steer clear of the bloody activities of Da’ash. In many cases, radical groups such as Da’ash are made of people who are not educated. This is one of the root causes of widespread terror. People without proper education have probably not learnt about the need to stay in a peaceful environment. They most likely know nothing about national unity. Additionally, they are a group of people who cannot get themselves good jobs because of lack of education. To deal with this, the leadership of the two terror-ravaged nations should stay conscious about the need to educate a people. This sound like a long-term measure, but is very much attainable once a sane political environment is achieved. There should be proper educational structures, followed by sensitization on the need to enroll for education. In the long run, there will hardly be any person left for Da’ash to recruit. With education, people will better understand the importance of peace, and will work closely with the authorities to wipe out Da’ash. Security surveillance at the borders of the two countries needs to be more alert and attentive to detect upfront and thwart any planned attacks by Da’ash and other terrorist groups. People who are living in Iraq need to be more cautious regarding the upcoming conduct of terror activities perform by Da’ash. In order to prevent the conduct of such activities, the recognition of terror signals is deemed to be quite important. More importantly, the common people of Iraq and Syria need to avail proper defensive training to combat with the protestant groups such as Da’ash. The government of both the countries also needs to provide proper protection to all the residents of Da’ash affected regions. This is also recommended that several strict measures need to be adopted by the higher authorities to prohibit varied illegal activities. In this regard, one of such measures can be recognized as prohibiting the scope of raising funds for conducting several terror attacks (Courage Services, Inc., 2014). However, for the above-recommended solutions to be successful, there is a lot that has to be done by both the local governments and the international community. First, the Arab world must embrace each other by reducing religious tensions and sectarian divisions in the governance. This will unite all the people and encourage the spirit of nationalism that will eventually expel the enemy. When the sectarian differences are dealt with in these two countries, the confidence of people in the government will be boosted hence lowering incidences of the insurgency. In this case, the government services will be valued by the citizens therefore lowering the chances of power vacuum or sectarian gaps. Finally, the international society should stand firm and condemn the inappropriate forms of leaderships that create brooding grounds of insurgents. The Iraqi government should enhance sectarian balance among the Sunni and Shiites. The Syrian government should be enforced through economic and political measures to enhance the human rights situation in the country. Concerning religion and extremism, when political reforms are achieved the opportunities of such rebellion. However, for these to be achieved, there is the need for transformation in religious, political, religious, cultural and educational thinking on the youths and all civilians about the freedoms and human rights. 7. References Barrett, R. (2014). THE ISLAMIC STATE. New York: THE SOUFAN GROU. Bubblews LLC. (2014). What Is the Organization "Da'ash"? Retrieved From Http://Www.Bubblews.Com/News/8757860-What-Is-The-Organization-Quotdaashquot-Since-His-Split-From-The-Quotal-Qaedaquot-And-Until-The-Announcement-Of-Quotcaliphate-Statequot> Bulliet, R. W. (2014). Religion and the State in Islam:From Medieval Caliphate tothe Muslim Brotherhood. University of Denver. Christian Solidarity International. (2014). Genocide Alert: The Republic Of Iraq. Report. 1-4. Commonwealth of Australia. (N.D.). Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Explanatory Statement. 1-14. Courage Services, Inc. (2014). The Islamic Front and Jabhat an- Nusra. Services Are.1-11. Heideman, K., Kaiser, M., & Romano, J. C. (2014). Barbarians: ISIS's Mortal Threat To Women. Middle East Program. 1-14. Iraq Business News. (2015). The Cost Of Clearing Iraq's Landmines. Retrieved From Http://Www.Iraq-Businessnews.Com/Tag/Landmines/Page/2/ Lewis, J. D. (2013). AQI's "Soldiers' Harvest" Campaign. Backgrounder. 1-14. OHCHR. (2014). Torture And Ill-Treatment In The Syrian Arab Republic. Open Wounds. 1-7. Lynch, M. (2004). Syria and the Islamic State. POMEPS Briefings, 6-52. OHCHR. (2014). Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on The Syrian Arab Republic. Rule of Terror: Living Under ISIS in Syria. 1-15. Rogers, P. (2014). The Islamic State and Its Potential. Global Security Briefing. 1-4. Sandelowski, M. (1991). Telling Stories: Narrative Approaches Research Qualitative Research. Courses, 23(3), 161-166. Smith, B. (2015). ISIS and the sectarian conflict in the Middle East. London: House Of Commons. Szybala, V. (2014). The Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham and the "Cleansing" Of Deir Ez-Zour. Backgrounder. 1-10. The Study Of War. (2014). Predicting the Rise of the Islamic State. Forecasts and Warnings. 1-5. Transnational Terrorism, Security & The Rule Of Law. (2008). Concepts of Terrorism. Analysis Of The Rise, Decline, Trends And Risk, 1-186. UMAA-Advocacy. (2014). The Crisis In Iraq. Policy Report. 1-41. 8. Appendix Fig.1: Weekly Attacks in Iraq by Da’ash Source: (Iraq Business News, 2015) Read More