And they are gaining strength by the day.
IRBIL, Iraq (WaPo) – The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, an al-Qaeda splinter group with a goal of creating a new country based on a radical interpretation of Islamic law, has launched a major campaign to establish control of territory in several provinces of Iraq.
For more than a year, the group, known as ISIS, has shown a rising determination to undermine the Iraqi state while building its military capacity through jailbreaks and recruiting drives. The organization began in Iraq, but fueled by the civil war in neighboring Syria, it has expanded its ambitions to encompass both countries.
The militant group has claimed responsibility for many, though not all, of the hundreds of attacks that have claimed more than 6,200 lives this year in Iraq, the worst violence since 2008.
Now the group appears to be entering a new phase of its evolution. In some parts of Syria, it already claims to be setting up the rudimentary elements of government — including courts, schools and civil bureaucracies — and it appears to be making a bid to do the same in Iraq.
“We’re seeing sustained gun battles with Iraqi security forces,” said Jessica Lewis, research director of the Institute for the Study of War, who has studied the resurgence of the group that began by calling itself al-Qaeda in Iraq. “This shows they want to stay, to stake out their turf. If you’re moving in on a territory, this is what you do.” […]
Iraq’s western desert in Anbar province, which has a long and porous border with Syria, has been dubbed the “Jazeera Emirate.” Militants have launched an especially relentless wave of attacks on the city of Fallujah over the past two months, including the assassination of its mayor, Adnan Hussein, who was shot Nov. 13 by a rooftop sniper.
“Al-Qaeda controls 40 percent of the desert area of Anbar province,” said Sabah Karhout, the chairman of the Anbar Provincial Council.