Caliphate slogans shouted at pro-Hamas demonstration

It is feared that Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza may lead to a resurgence of the Islamic State (IS or ISIS), just as America's 2003 war in Iraq brought gains to ISIS' predecessor. According to Canadian Memorial University Assistant Professor Mehmet Efe Caman, PhD, this is already happening in Turkey. 

Gaza as a catalyst

Caman, whose expertise is in Turkish and Middle East politics, reposted a video of a Turkish rally with a caption translated by Google as, “Caliphate slogans were shouted at the demonstration in support of Palestine in Bursa." Caliphate slogans are associated with ISIS, not Hamas.

Notably, the protest took place in the northwestern region of Turkey, far from the relatively more extremist southern areas that border Syria and Iraq.

Commenting on the post as war raged in Gaza, Professor Caman wrote that, “Simultaneously [with pro-Hamas rallies], there is a significant surge in the adoption of the jihadist ISIS ideology within Turkey.”

Iran or ISIS?

In another development stemming from the war in Gaza, U.S. forces stationed in the Middle East to prevent an ISIS resurgence have come under attack dozens of times since Muslims massacred 1,400 Israelis on October 7^th sparking the war. According to the Washington Examiner, various Iranian-backed proxies carried out the attacks.

U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, who are deployed there to contribute to the campaign to prevent an ISIS resurgence, have come under attack by Iranian-backed proxies 55 times in the last month. . . .

In those attacks, 59 U.S. troops have been injured, all of whom have since returned to duty, though nearly half were evaluated for traumatic head injuries. [Emphases added].

Fox News agreed, reporting it to be “likely” that the groups behind the attacks, detailed in the below graphic from the outlet, are backed by Iran. 

If the groups behind the attacks are, in fact, all acting as Iranian proxies, that would exclude ISIS, which is not backed by Iran. To the contrary, the New York Times points out that ISIS leaders adhere to a Sunni Islam offshoot highly hostile to other Islamic groups. That hostility extends to Shiites, who comprise some 90% of the Iranian population and its leadership. However, ISIS is becoming stronger than it has been.

[T]he leaders of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, are open and clear about their almost exclusive commitment to the Wahhabi movement of Sunni Islam. . . . 

Adhering to Wahhabi literalism, the Islamic State disdains other Islamists . . .  [Emphases added].

ISIS comeback

Before the Trump presidency, ISIS controlled 34,000 square miles in the very areas of the attacks against US forces. Had the attacks taken place then, analysts would have been less inclined to dismiss the possibility of ISIS involvement. 

Under Trump, though, the U.S. military removed ISIS from the entirety of those territories, allowing Iranian proxies to dominate. ISIS has, however, made recent gains in the Middle East and far beyond, as depicted in the below graphic from the The American Enterprise Institute. All group abbreviations that begin with IS stand for Islamic State:

Accelerated growth

The fear now is that regional violence centered in Gaza will give more momentum to this ISIS growth. According to Time Magazine, ISIS' predecessor, in fact, “gained real traction” when it changed its name to “al-Qaeda in Iraq” after the 9/11 attacks. The magazine reported that, “The U.S. invasion [of Iraq] destabilized the country and allowed the group to grow.”

Recruiting through violence

Street gangs may not have a formal recruitment department or HR office, but they depend on recruitment as much as any business. And the status quo doesn't send applicants their way; thuggery does. When gangs are political, so is the violence they employ to advance their expansion plans. This is especially true now, with the Gaza war taking place nearby, as Hamas violence begets additional anti-West violence.

59 U.S. troops have been injured, all of whom have since returned to duty, though nearly half were evaluated for traumatic head injuries. [Emphases added].

For now, the violence has spread to groups aligned with Iran. If Professor Caman's warnings are proven correct, the world could see ISIS simultaneously attacking some targets and recruiting others. 

Visit again as we take a closer look at the Islamic State's growth in the Middle East and throughout the world.

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