Jihadi After Action Report: Syria
Book Details
Author(s)Combating Terrorism Center
PublisherPenny Hill Press Inc,
ISBN / ASINB00F9CELVS
ISBN-13978B00F9CELV5
Sales Rank2,494,203
MarketplaceUnited States 🇺🇸
Description
This country study forms part of a series examining the internal vulnerabilities of the Jihadi Movement in Middle Eastern states.
Based on the assumption that at least half the struggle waged by the Jihadi Movement is an internal Islamic struggle—an assumption drawn from its professed aim to restore a pristine Islamic identity by a return to authenticity—the first aim of this research is to uncover the methodology and contours of this struggle. The task is to draw up a map of the terrain over which the contest is being fought, the intellectual and ideological arena, the mutual points of tension, and the Islamist currents and the leading personalities in the field. Once this is in hand, the second aim of this research is to draw up an accurate, prioritized program on which to build a coherent counter-ideology strategy by examining the points of tension and
mutual antagonism between militant Islamic organizations, non-Jihadi Islamic currents, and the broader public.
The study of Syria is the first of the series, and the choice is deliberate. The Syrian arena is very dynamic since it presents one of the richest sources of historical Jihadi experience (the largest, failed rebellion to date) and the most challenging arena for the Jihadi program of doctrinal re-education (it is one of the Middle East’s most diverse religious, ethnic, and sectarian territories). The experience of Jihadism in Syria provides much in the way of a template for the life-cycle and features of revolutionary Islamism.
The following study is a preliminary survey of the range of documentary sources available on which an eventual counter-ideology program will need to draw. It is based primarily on analyses of the failures and successes of the Jihadi Movement in Syria written by its participants. These “after action reports†provide one of the best sources of information on the internal dynamics of the movement and its vulnerabilities.
Based on the assumption that at least half the struggle waged by the Jihadi Movement is an internal Islamic struggle—an assumption drawn from its professed aim to restore a pristine Islamic identity by a return to authenticity—the first aim of this research is to uncover the methodology and contours of this struggle. The task is to draw up a map of the terrain over which the contest is being fought, the intellectual and ideological arena, the mutual points of tension, and the Islamist currents and the leading personalities in the field. Once this is in hand, the second aim of this research is to draw up an accurate, prioritized program on which to build a coherent counter-ideology strategy by examining the points of tension and
mutual antagonism between militant Islamic organizations, non-Jihadi Islamic currents, and the broader public.
The study of Syria is the first of the series, and the choice is deliberate. The Syrian arena is very dynamic since it presents one of the richest sources of historical Jihadi experience (the largest, failed rebellion to date) and the most challenging arena for the Jihadi program of doctrinal re-education (it is one of the Middle East’s most diverse religious, ethnic, and sectarian territories). The experience of Jihadism in Syria provides much in the way of a template for the life-cycle and features of revolutionary Islamism.
The following study is a preliminary survey of the range of documentary sources available on which an eventual counter-ideology program will need to draw. It is based primarily on analyses of the failures and successes of the Jihadi Movement in Syria written by its participants. These “after action reports†provide one of the best sources of information on the internal dynamics of the movement and its vulnerabilities.
