cnn.com

Its all in a name: ISIS (al-Dawla al Islamyyia) al-Sham or Levant. DAISH is a negative connotative acronym: al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi Iraq wa al-Sham.

The ISIL Ideology: The ideology of ISIL can be traced to the following ideologists. Sayyid Qutb, S.K Malilk, and Abdullah Azzam which served as the basis for the jihadist foreign fighters that flowed into Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghanistan war. The misinterpretation of the Holy Qur’an and the Hadith is compounded by the strict interpretation of Sharia Law. The results of which routinely make the headlines. Ultimtately the Muslim Brotherhood serves as the ideological center for some of the Salafist ideology that has served al-Qaeda well and now DAISH jihadists. Abu bakr al-Baghdadi is the leader of DAISH and his alias is a reference to the first Caliph, Abu Bakr.

cnn.com

Fracture from al-Qaeda and the rise of the black flag: Daish began as a breakaway element from al-Qaeda. Abu Musab al-Zarqawri was the leader of AQAI or the official al-Qaeda in Iraq franchise. Al-Zarqawri’s refusal to lessen the violence against local Iraqis during the height of the insurgency, made AQAI the problem step-child of al-Qaeda leadership. Upon his death in 2006, AQAI became weakened and the tactical defeats on the ground in Iraq forced AQAI to regroup and find new direction. Falling back on safe havens in Syria, AQAI transformed into Daish and used local grievances amongst the Syrian Sunni population to its advantage. The subsequent Syrian Civil War, complete withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq, Iraqi sectarian violence, and most importantly the former Maliki government’s divisive policies set the foundation for Daish to thrive.

dailymail.co.uk, Associated Press

Grievances: Where does one begin, there are many that can be listed and even more that can be confused. I would ascertain that there are a litany of grievances ranging from the youth population bulge, common place in Middle East and North African nations, dysfunctional governments, economic conditions, constant wars, food and water security, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to name a few. Depending on your source of news you will find an unending source of grievances. Also you will find a grievance for every foreign fighter and depending on their nation of origin.

Endstate: The stated desire of DAISH is the return of the Islamic Caliphate of ancient times. The end of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, which was the last Islamic Caliphate, was unfinished business. DAISH seeks the return of the Caliphate and there is no end to its borders unlike the Ottoman Empire. The Caliphate is the world.

I offer no solutions, but a minimum baseline knowledge level in order to understand what is going on. You can read more by checking out the following comprehensive piece in The Atlantic. Linked here. Other good sources of information is the Brookings Institute where you can deep dive on the foreign fighter threat and much more. This is just a starting point on the problem.

Semper Fidelis