Although ISIS lost control of its strongholds in Raqqa, Syria, in October 2017, and in Mosul, Iraq ,  in July 2017, and US President Donald Trump declared that the group had been defeated in March 2019, it has been rebuilding during the pandemic.

 “Physically, the Islamic State has been defeated in 90% after the losses of Raqqa and Mosul. We cannot say, however, that they have been 100% annihilated because their ideology is still there,” Najad Khouri, specialist in the geopolitics of the Middle East at Fundação Getúlio Vargas, a higher education institution and think tank in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil  said, over the phone. 

 Ever since the coronavirus pandemic started in late 2019, ISIS has been using the crisis to gather its fighters in Syria and Iraq and reorganize to become stronger. A series of coordinated attacks indicate the group’s physical resurgence. A good example was an attack in May 2020, when ISIS fighters invaded a village in Iraq near the Tigris River and killed Sunni Muslims who didn’t support the organization.

 Formed in 2013, the Islamic State expanded rapidly when the governments of Syria and Iraq were weak. Now those governments are organizing themselves again, making it harder for ISIS to expand. However, Rashmi Singh, a specialist in terrorism at PUC Minas university in Brazil, argues that the Islamic State is still a virtual threat and that the organization is still recruiting, not only in Syria and Iraq but also beyond. 

 “We know that the Islamic State has now reached its lowest point since their former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died. However, he is not irreplaceable and other terrorist organizations, such as Al Qaeda, have also had several leaders,” she said. 

 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi committed suicide in September 2019. After his death, a new leader known as Hajji Abdallah took power. He is now being sought by the United States, which offers a US$10 million reward for any information leading to his capture. 

 According to Michael Barak, team leader of the Global Jihad & Jihadi Websites Monitoring Group in Israel, ISIS is interpreting the pandemic as a way to punish infidels. The Islamic State first addressed the coronavirus in its newsletter, al-Naba, on February 2, in volume 220. The organization took strict measures against the virus and issued obligatory instructions to its fighters. 

 “They have had a very strong position regarding safety since March,” Singh said. “They said that people infected should not travel to the places dominated by ISIS and fighters were called out to take social distancing measures and to quarantine.” 

 On March 12, the Islamic State issued guidelines on how to deal with the pandemic, the so called “Islamic Guidance on Dealing with Epidemics.” Restrictions included covering the mouth, washing hands and avoiding areas with potential infections. 

 Another monthly online magazine published by ISIS from Idlib, Syria, called the virus “one of Allah’s soldiers.” 

 “The Islamic State was firstly looking at the virus as a God’s revenge on China because of their treatment against Muslim minorities,” Singh said. “After it spread, it became a punishment for apostasy and crusaders. In Iran, they [ISIS] interpreted it as a punishment against Shia Muslims, seen as not real Muslims.” 

 Both Singh and Khouri say that the Islamic State is also taking the opportunity to conduct more attacks where some governments’ responses to the pandemic have left a power vacuum or political insecurity.

 “Where there is a power vacuum, the Islamic State will grow. They will appear in the light that is the power vacuum,” Khouri said.

 Khouri said that the only way the international community can thwart the reorganization of the Islamic State is to help the economies of underdeveloped countries. [BB9] 

 “Syria is a good example for that,” he said. “The US has adopted sanctions against Syria, which deepens the country’s economic crisis, impoverishes the country and these lead to a weak state. This weak state leaves a vacuum, which is where extremist groups are likely to emerge.”

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by Thom Friend

On the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center today, a group of first responders celebrated their 12th annual gathering at O’Hara’s Pub, steps from Ground Zero and the newly opened 9/11 Museum.

It seems strange to dub their meeting a celebration, but Sly Brown of the Jersey Shore and his fellow 9/11 first responders have found joy from the past 12 years of new friendship and shared remembrance. The group gathered shortly after the tradition of reading off the names of the nearly 3,000 victims of 9/11 attacks.

Brown, who worked for FEMA during 9/11, explained how their meetings have grown in size over the past 12 years through word-of-mouth and social media.

“This meeting is very special for us,” said Brown, pointing out firefighters, police officers, FEMA workers and other first responders hailing from around the U.S.

Their meeting place hasn’t changed over the years. Its appearance, like most of the neighborhood around Ground Zero, has. As Battalion Chief Don Labanca of the Hamden, Conn. Fire Department pointed out, “when we first started coming the street was still torn up” from the aftermath of the attacks, the pub being just a block away from where the South Tower collapsed.

9/11 first responders gather for a group photo at their yearly meeting spot, O’Hara’s Pub, NYC. Photo by Thom Friend.

Inside O’Hara’s, the walls were lined with patches from the uniforms of various first responders, more being added each year, and the bartenders were busy serving a full house.

President Obama’s speech on Wednesday about the rising threat of the group calling itself the Islamic State (ISIS), as well as the heightened security efforts of the NYPD have some wondering if the city is again at risk.

New York City is “still on the list,” said Brown, and that the recent events involving the Islamic State have “made us more observant.” But first responders inside O’Hara’s Thursday afternoon were mostly unperturbed.

The walls of O’Hara’s Pub, NYC, covered in patches from twelve years of first responder gatherings on 9/11. Photo by Thom Friend.

“It’s very disappointing that we’re not there,” he said.
For Brown and the others, though, it is clear that there will always be a place to come back to each year to honor and remember, but also to celebrate life after 9/11.

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