A man described as Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks, in a photo published in the Islamic State's online magazine Dabiq. PHOTO: REUTERS
Wall Street Journal: Islamic State Tactics Shift, Borrowing From al Qaeda
Extremists are engineering larger, more coordinated plots against the West
U.S. and European counterterrorism officials believe Islamic State has changed its operational tactics by borrowing from al Qaeda’s playbook, deploying trusted lieutenants to engineer larger, more coordinated plots against the West.
The attacks in Paris were the latest and most visible manifestation of this new approach, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials suspect. Intercepted communications and other intelligence analyzed after two other earlier large-scale attacks in Beirut and Ankara, Turkey, similarly suggest those plots were directed by Islamic State leaders in Syria and Iraq and carried out by local leaders empowered to take action in the group’s name, U.S. and European counterterrorism officials said.
While the goal of Islamic State hasn’t changed—build a caliphate in Syria and Iraq, and launch attacks against Western enemies on their own soil—the details of the Paris plot suggest it has moved beyond its early strategy of seeking to inspire plots from a distance, according to counterterrorism officials.
WNU Editor: I am surprised that the Islamic State is shifting its tactics to focus on hitting foreign targets .... I always thought that they were afraid of "blow-back" But by the looks of it .... blow-back is not even in their minds.
5 comments:
WNU Editor,
ISIS is very PR driven, and PR savvy.
In both Iraq and Syria, when they were hit with a defeat in one area, they would attack some "low hanging fruit" somewhere else and market it as a big victory.
Now that they are being squeezed on the ground in Iraq and Syria and there is no "low hanging fruit" to pick, they are attacking "low hanging fruit" abroad.
http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/19201/
Well, if they get squeezed too much in Syria/Iraq, they may have some nice islands to retreat to and regroup.
Why would they be afraid of blowback? It all works in their favour. It provokes Western powers into attacking them on their home turf, making them look more like a legitimate Muslim defense group, while also forcing the Western leadership into irrational decisions at home. It does require a little recklessness, but have they to lose, especially now that they are facing serious armed opposition anyhow?
The next few years will be interesting.
Apologist. It is incredible that you even can write such a thing.
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