This book builds upon the past scholarship of many noted authorities. Among those, the ideas and research of Jeffrey Kaplan, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Aaron Zelin, Jacob Zenn, Michael WS Ryan, Brian Fishman, William McCants, Fernando Reinares, Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi and Thomas Hegghammer have been particularly influential. They have provided the corpus of ideas and body of research without which...

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Islamic civilization’s regression after Europe’s Enlightenment contradicted Muslim religious...

The ISIS’s June 2014 Mesopotamian conquests astounded the world. More shocking was ISIS’s announcement that a caliphate [Islamic State-IS] had been established. Self-proclaimed as Caliph Ibrahim Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in July 2014 gave a sermon at Mosul’s Grand Mosque sermon demanded the Muslims world’s loyalty and he proposed mass emigration (hijrah) to his transnational state.11. Bill Roggio, “ISIS announces formation of a Caliphate, rebrands as Islamic ‘State’” June 29, 2014 The Long War Journal accessed at http://www.thelongwarjournal.org/threatmatrix/archives/2014/06/isis_anounces_formation_of_a_ca.php. Assisted by thousands of foreign fighters, advanced weapons captured from a retreating Iraqi army and a revenue base from oil profits and illicit enterprise, the Islamic State pursued a total war doctrine against its enemies.22. Richard Barrett, “The Islamic State” November 2014 The Soufan Group accessed at...

Iraq and Syria center heavily in IS’s worldview. Islamic eschatology, medieval history and jihadist ideology explain IS’s Levant-centric focus. Syria salience lies in tales of Muhammad prediction that an apocalyptic battle between Muslim armies and Roman crusaders will occur in that area.

Egypt and Libya are struggling to combat Islamist insurgent violence. Today’s jihadist activity is not unprecedented. Though previous Islamic revolutionary movements were defeated by Egyptian and Libyan security forces, extremist violence today is propelled by the Arab Spring’s instability. The IS’s presence in these countries, furthermore, complicates an already precarious...

This chapter focuses on West Africa where jihadist insurgencies have exploded in the last two decades.11. Dario Cristiani,...

This chapter concentrates on the jihadist struggle against the far enemy that now is a key part of Islamist total war strategy. Though analysts emphasize AQ’s distinctive far enemy doctrine, historically jihadist...

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Anthony N. Celso is a professor of security studies at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas. He has a PhD in political science at Ohio State University and is the author of Al Qaeda’s Post 9-11 Devolution (Bloomsbury Press: New York, 2014) as well as dozens of articles on jihadism, Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.