Islamic State: The short and the long of it

Syria/ISIS

In this very concise video (One Minute ISIL, Al Jazeera, 10 June 2015), Zeina Khodr gives us a basic primer on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Many countries have vowed to destroy them, but they failed. What can stop them? Three words … Sunni, Shia, unity.

For a long and illuminating read, see  How Isis crippled al-Qaida (The Guardian, 10 June 2015).

Isis has not simply eclipsed al-Qaida on the battlefields of Syria and Iraq, and in the competition for funding and new recruits. According to a series of exclusive interviews with senior jihadi ideologues, Isis has successfully launched “a coup” against al-Qaida to destroy it from within. As a consequence, they now admit, al-Qaida – as an idea and an organisation – is now on the verge of collapse.

Tags: Al Jazeera, al Qaeda, al-Qaida, Guardian, Iraq, ISIL, ISIS, Islamic State, Syria, Zeina Khodr