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BY AMBASSADOR BAYANI V. MANGIBIN (Ret.)
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Friday, November 3, 2017
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IN MY previous articles to this column, I made a scanty background on ISIS’ past, how fast it grew and crashed. ISIS’ fate depicts what Blood, Sweat and Tears conveyed in its song, “Spinning Wheel.”
“What goes up must come down, spinin’ wheel got to go ‘round.” Simply, it is about the fate of rising and falling. Intrinsically, the song has a philosophical undertone. It refers to “karma.” It is a concept not only recognized by Buddhism and Hinduism but also Islam. The Holy Quran acknowledges that life is a circle – “what goes around from good and evil doings does eventually come around to the person.” The Holy Quran, 30:41 states that “Mischief has appeared on land and sea because of (the meed) that the hands of men have earned, that (God) may give them a taste of some of their deeds, in order that they may turn back (from Evil).”
Karma’s basic idea is that the fate of your future is determined by your deeds in the past. Evidently, ISIS’ past showed how fast it has risen to power through evil deeds of terrorism. ISIS immediately controlled several territories in early part of August 2014, only a month from ISIS proclamation of the reestablishment of Caliphate on June 29, 2014. Within a short period of time, it has large number of foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria and has projected straightforwardly its global presence through established networks of inspired sympathizers, enabled allies, and directed affiliates.
ISIS’ declaration of a Caliphate spells purification of faith which is divine and noble. However, its implementation spills blood, sweat, and tears which is evil and ignoble. The Holy Quran made a warning on this matter. Chapter 2, verses 204 to 206 admonish that there will be men who will impress you with their views about life in this world and call Allah as their witness, yet they are the most violent of adversaries who caused mischief and destruction, especially when in power. These men deserve hell!
Karma happened fast. ISIS power began to crash in the later part of 2015. US military and Syrian forces expelled ISIS fighters from several key cities along the routes connecting the two ISIS strongholds of northern Syrian city of Raqqa and northern Iraqi city of Mosul at the end of 2015. Almost 50 percent of the ISIS controlled territories in Syria and Iraq was liberated at this period. This percentage of freed territories went up to 70 percent in July 2017 after the fall of Mosul and more than 90 percent after the fall of Raqqa in October 2017. The series of defeats in the battlefield condemned the ISIS fighters to suffer living in hell.
It was reported that tens of thousands of ISIS fighters have been killed. Over several nights in September before Raqqa’s fall in October 17,” some 10,000 men, women, and children fled areas under Islamic State control” and sought refuge in north western Syria’s Idlib province. This territory is under the control of al- Qaeda who took the opportunity to welcome ISIS members with open arms. In fact, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s successor, dispatched an envoy to Syria to convince ISIS fighters to defect and join back al-Qaeda.
It will be recalled that al-Qaeda disowned ISIS in February 2014 when the latter, who used to be called Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and later Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), extended its terror franchise in Syria against al-Qaeda’s instruction to leave Syria under the jurisdiction of Jabhat al-Nusrah (now Jabhat Fateh al-Sham or the Front for the Conquest of Levant). After the organizational split, ISIS rose up to power while al-Qaeda went down.
In view of this, ISIS became a priority concern of the West and al Qaeda was shoved into the sideline. The intense military pressures of the Global Coalition against Daesh and the Syrian forces have been focused much in defeating ISIS. Al-Qaeda took advantage of this situation to go on low profile while strengthening discreetly its forces and resources. This paves the way for al-Qaeda to rise again as the reincarnated soul of the global terror movement. Al Qaeda’s position is at the top once more while ISIS is down. Many anti-terror experts predict that ISIS terrorism is doomed to six feet under the ground.
On this All Souls’ Day, al-Qaeda wants to pray for ISIS’ eternal rest. It is time to say bye ISIS by al-Qaeda. (ambaniman@gmail.com/PN)
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