ISIS IN THE LEVANT
HISTORY
As a consequence of Lebanon’s long civil war and raw sentiments among its participants generally along religious lines, Lebanon’s Shi’ite population backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assadin the 2011 Syrian civil war.288 The Iranian-backed Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah became involved in the Syrian civil war in 2013, on the side of the Syrian government.289 Many in Lebanon’s non-Sunni population fear the turmoil that ISIS may spread and are arming themselves or expressing a desire to fight ISIS.290 In Ras Baalbek, the Christian Militia and Hezbollah have made an unlikely mutual defense pact in the event of ISIS incursion.291
Due to Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria, Lebanese Sunni elements have retaliated by bombing Hezbollah areas in Lebanon through 2013–2014, but it is unclear whether those elements were ISIS-affiliated.292
In 2014, ISIS led assaults on the Lebanese border city of Arsal and in Tripoli.293 According to Major General Abbas Ibrahim, head of the Lebanese Directorate of General Security, ISIS troops infiltrated villages and areas around the Qalamoun Mountains bordering Syria in late 2014 and early 2015 to obtain advantageous positions for the fighting in Syria.294 While ISIS has expressed a desire to invade Lebanon, its rival Jabhat al-Nusra does not want to fight the Lebanese government, as many of its fighters’ families are refugees just over the Lebanese border.295 There are 1.1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon at this time.296 Relations between al-Nusra and ISIS in that area are respectful due to a personal relationship between al-Nusra’s Abu Malek al-Telli and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and a tentative cease-fire with the Lebanese government remains, al-Nusra’s influence in the area is waning.297 Jabhat al-Nusra’s Lebanese ally is the Abdallah Azzam Brigade.298
Major General Ibrahim has stated that there are more than a thousand ISIS fighters in Lebanon, drawing from the country’s disaffected Sunnis, Syrian civil war veterans, and from Free Syrian Army units based in Homs.299
An invasion and subjugation of Lebanon could be said to be aspirational for ISIS, since Hezbollah’s presence, and Iranian government backing, would be a serious obstacle to this goal.
ISIS PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
In June 2014, the “Free Sunnis of Baalbek” pledged allegiance to the Islamic State via Twitter:
We announce our allegiance, with all pride, to the Mujahid Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as Caliph of the Muslims… We also announce our full support for what [ISIS] is doing for Islam… [it is] the duty of all Muslims to work toward finding a caliph who can set up rule by sharia law.300
ISIS ORGANIZATION
ISIS leadership has not formally recognized a Lebanese affiliate at this date.301 There is speculation that Sheikh Abu Abdulah al-Maqdisi is the ISIS “Emir” of Lebanon.302 According to Lebanese security forces, ISIS was forming a military committee to undertake a military campaign in Lebanon, and the effort was supervised by Syrian ISIS commander Khalaf al-Zeyabi, a.k.a. Abu Musaab Halous.303
CAMPAIGNS
ISIS led a joint campaign with al-Nusra in August 2014 to take the Lebanese border city of Arsal, in retaliation for the arrest of Imad Ahmad Jomaa, a former al-Nusra commander who had defected to ISIS. The Lebanese Army retook the lost terrain after five days.
On November 12, 2015, ISIS operatives conducted a series of suicide bombings in Beirut against civilians, killing 43 and wounding 239. A day later, ISIS operatives conducted the infamous terrorist attacks in Paris. It is unclear whether this is the beginning of a sustained suicide bombing campaign.
November 2013
Iranian Embassy in Beiruit is struck by two ISIS suicide bombers of the Abdullah Azzam Brigade, killing twenty-three and wounding 160.304
January 2014
ISIS claims responsibility for a suicide bombing against Hezbollah in the Haret Hreik district of Beirut, which killed four people. The bomber was a nineteen year old from Northern Lebanon.305
The “Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade” threatens to kill Maj. Suzan al-Hajj, Internal Security Forces chief of Cyber Crime and Intellectual Property bureau. The Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade pledged their allegiance to ISIS in late June 2014.
June 2014
A suicide bomber attempts and fails to assassinate Major General Abbas Ibrahim, head of Lebanese Intelligence, the Directorate of General Security.306 ISIS declares the intention to expand into Lebanon, among other countries.307
August 2014
Lebanese security forces arrest al-Nusra–affiliated commander Imad Ahmad Jomaa, a.k.a. Emad Gomaa. In retaliation, al-Nusra and ISIS storm the Lebanese border city of Arsal and take dozens of Lebanese Army soldiers as prisoner.308 After five days, the forces withdraw from Arsal.309
Lebanese soldiers relay ISIS demand to release prisoners from Roumieh prison. If the prisoners were not released in three days they would be executed.
August 30, 2014
ISIS releases a video recording of Lebanese soldier Ali al-Sayyed, a Sunni captured during the fighting around Arsal earlier that month. Another video posted later depicted nine of al-Sayyed’s comrades begging for their lives, with instructions to protest against the Lebanese government’s incarceration of ISIS militants, including ISIS commander Imad Ahmad Jomaa, a.k.a. Emad Gomaa.
December 3, 2014
Lebanese authorities announce the arrest of Saja al-Dulaimi, a purported former wife of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.310
January 2015
ISIS states the intention to declare an Islamic State of Lebanon.311
February 23, 2015
Lebanon’s Daily Star cites Lebanese security sources as saying that ISIS was recruiting suicide bombers for targets against Shi’ites in Beirut, “as well as French and Western interests.”312
March 2015
ISIS shells a Christian church in Ras Baalbek during a wedding ceremony. The event precipitates a mutual-defense pact between Hezbollah and the Christian militias in Ras Baalbek.313
November 12, 2015
ISIS claims responsibility for two bombings in the southern Beirut suburb of Burj al-Barajneh, a Hezbollah territory, killing 43 and wounding 239. One attack was a conducted by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle outside a Shi’ite mosque, while the other detonated himself outside a bakery, within fifty yards of the first bomber. A third bomber died after losing his legs from the detonation of the second bomber’s explosives; the third bomber was unable to carry out his attack. All three bombers wore explosives vests.314
December 1, 2015
The Lebanese Army conducts a prisoner exchange with the al-Nusra Front in Labweh, a village in the Bekaa Valley. Under negotiations mediated by Qatari officials, sixteen Lebanese security personnel were released for twelve al-Nusra militants, as well as Saja al-Dulaimi, a purported former wife of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.315
CASE STUDY: ISIS SUICIDE BOMBING IN BEIRUT
At approximately 6:00 p.m. on November 12, 2015, a motorcyclist stopped his bike outside a Shi’ite mosque on Hussaineya Street in the Burj al-Barajneh neighborhood of Beirut and detonated a suicide bomb. Approximately five minutes later, as neighborhood residents attempted to help bomb victims, a second suicide bomber detonated his vest in a bakery about twenty meters away from the first blast.316 Adel Termos, a thirty-two-year-old auto mechanic, tackled the second bomber before the suicide bomber detonated his vest, thereby possibly sparing many lives. He died from the subsequent explosion. Termos was married and had two children.317 Another victim of the second bomb was a third bomber nearby, who lost his legs and expired before detonating his explosives vest.318
ISIS claimed responsibility in an online statement. The intention was to kill Shia with the first bomb, then cause as many casualties as possible among responders with the next bombs. 319 Among the 43 dead and over 160 injured were several children.
Lebanese security forces arrested eleven people in connection with the attack within forty-eight hours of the detonations. Nine were Syrian and two were Lebanese. The Syrians had been in a Palestinian refugee camp in Burj al-Barajneh. One of the suspects was identified as a smuggler, who secreted the terror cell across the Syrian border. Another suspect had intended to become a suicide bomber.320
According to Lebanese Interior Minister Nuhad Mashnuq, the bomb makers prepared the explosives belts at an apartment in the Ashrafieh district of Beirut. The planners had intended for five of their number to detonate suicide bombs at a hospital in the Burj al-Barajneh neighborhood, but the high state of security led them to detonate their bombs in a busy street instead.321
HISTORY
Jordan’s government has been allied with the US for decades and its US-supplied military is strong and disciplined, making the kingdom a difficult military target for ISIS. In 2014, the Jordanian military repulsed a tentative incursion by ISIS forces into the kingdom. ISIS forces attempted to cross the border and seize the Turabil/Karame border post.322 Despite the kingdom’s alliances and military strength, the population has a low opinion of the US, and was internally susceptible to the ISIS message, until the burning death of a Jordanian pilot. ISIS has now stirred Jordanian outrage. Zarqa a poverty-stricken city north of Amman, remains a hotbed of unemployed young men and Islamic radicals.323 Ma’an and Rusayfa are similarly sympathetic to Jihadi sentiments.324 Although over three thousand Jordanians have traveled to Syria to fight, many have joined ISIS’s rival al-Nusra Front.325
JORDANIAN PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
According to an ISIS-affiliated Twitter account on May 7, 2015, the “Shahids Battalion of Ma’an in Jordan pledged allegiance to the Caliphate around a year ago.” If this occurred, it deviates from the customary video recordings of ISIS pledges and subsequent acknowledgment by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, during which al-Baghdadi announces leadership of the new group.
ORGANIZATION OF ISIS IN JORDAN
Little is known about the ISIS command structure in Jordan, or whether it is informal. Jordanian security forces appear to have successfully suppressed overt participation in ISIS. Since Jordan has supplied many recruits for the fight in Syria, it stands to reason that ISIS has recruiters in the area, as well as facilitators to transport recruits across the border. Despite this, there have been remarkably few ISIS-sponsored attacks in the kingdom.
OTHER SIGNIFICANT EVENTS
January 3, 2015
Jordanian pilot First Lieutenant Muath al-Kasasbeh is immolated alive in a cage. ISIS releases a video depicting the event on February 3, 2015.326 On news of his death, the pilot’s tribe erupted in protest chants against King Abdullah II.
February 4, 2015
Jordan executes Iraq-born suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi in retaliation for the execution of pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh.327
Early February, 2015
Jordan deploys a large contingent on the border with Iraq as a show of force and to stem infiltration. The Jordanian Air Force begins to fly twenty sorties a day to bomb ISIS targets in Syria.328
ISIS Al Furqan Media Foundation released “Healing The Believers’ Chests” after murdering Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh.
The Al-Minbar al-I’lami al-Jihadi web forum announces that “The Lone Lions in the Ma’an Province,” an ISIS-affiliated group, conducted an attack on a military intelligence facility.
May 7, 2015
The Al-Minbar al-I’lami al-Jihadi web forum announces that “The Lone Lions in the Ma’an Province,” an ISIS-affiliated group, stole a pickup truck from Jordanian security forces. During the operation, three police were injured, and the truck destroyed by burning.
WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT ORDER OF BATTLE
The only weapons used thus far in attacks by ISIS-affiliated groups have been small arms, though proximity to the conflict zone may give access to assault rifles and heavier materiel.
ISIS IN GAZA
HISTORY
The Gaza Strip has a long history of Salafist jihadi organizations and support. Although many such Salafists may be ISIS sympathizers, few have traveled to Syria to fight, and the Hamas authorities have been quick to stamp out any overt support for ISIS.
ISIS operatives appear to play Hamas against Israel, especially by firing impotent rockets into Israeli territory. Whereas Hamas sees ISIS as a threat in Gaza, it may coordinate with ISIS in the Sinai peninsula to traffic arms across the Egyptian border. In late 2015, the ISIS beheading of an Hamas leader at the Yarmouth Palestinian refugee camp in Syria set off a tit-for-tat series of reprisals between ISIS and Hamas in Gaza.
Although little is known about ISIS’s strength in Gaza, the increasing number of attacks against Hamas indicate that it may be growing in popularity in the region, and may pose a threat to both Hamas and Israel.
ISIS PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem issued a statement on February 2, 2014, stating that they were “committed to helping ISIS and bolstering its ranks,” and that internal conflicts within the jihad in Syria were due to “an unfair view toward ISIS and its emir, the Prince of Believers Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.”329 Ansar Beit al-Maqdis pledged allegiance to ISIS in November 2014, changing its name to “Sinai Province.”330
ISIS ORGANIZATION
ISIS in Gaza is the self-styled “Gaza District of the Islamic State.” Little is known of senior membership; Abu Qatadah al-Filistini appeared in a video calling on Gazans to “join the convoy of the mujahideen and to join the State of the Caliphate.” Another Gazan, Abu Azzam Al-Ghazzawim, appeared in the same video.331 Ansar Beit al-Maqdis is affiliated with ISIS.332
CAMPAIGNS
ISIS has not conducted a concerted campaign in Gaza. Most of the recruitment for fighters in Syria appear to be over the Internet, followed by travel to Turkey.
OTHER SIGNIFICANT EVENTS
April 2015
ISIS beheads captives from Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, including a Hamas leader.333
Hamas arrests Salafist imam Adnan Khader Mayat from the Bureij refugee camp in Gaza.334 ISIS retaliates by bombing Hamas’s Internal Security Headquarters at Sheikh Radwan in Gaza, though there are no casualties.335
May 4, 2015
Hamas arrests Salafist Sheikh Yasser Abu Houli, and demolishes a mosque in Almtahabin used by Ansar al-Bayt al-Maqdis, a group that has pledged allegiance to ISIS.336
May 31, 2015
ISIS militants assassinate Hamas commander Saber Siam by car bomb. A statement on the killing read that Siam was “a partner in a declared war against religion and against Muslims, working for the heretical government in Gaza,” also warning Gazans of future bombings at Hamas facilities.337
August 19, 2015
ISIS-affiliated group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, or “Province of Sinai,” asserts that Egyptian Intelligence has abducted four Hamas naval commandos, Abed al-Daim al-Bassat, Said Abdullah Abu Jbin, Yasser Fathi Zanun, and Hussein Hamis al-Thbada, from a tour bus.338 The abductors wore shalwar kameezes, characteristic Pakistani apparel, and checked the passenger manifest on laptops.339
WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT ORDER OF BATTLE
ISIS militants in Gaza have fired rockets into Israel. They have also successfully used car bombs against Hamas personnel, as well as bombings against Hamas buildings and offices. In videos, they pose with AK-style assault rifles.