NEW YORK, July 28 (RIA Novosti) – The Sunni hardliners who overran swathes of Iraq and Syria are growing stronger as the world looks the other way, Janine Davidson, a military expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, told RIA Novosti.
“The self-proclaimed caliphate has redoubled its efforts in Syria and launched a series of offensives that now leave it in control of 35 percent of Syria and almost all of the country’s oil and gas fields. The tumor is growing,” said Davidson.
“The group now controls a volume of resources and territory unmatched in the history of extremist organizations. It can threaten its neighbors on multiple fronts, demonstrating a military effectiveness much greater than many observers expected.”
Militants from the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS and ISIL, now control oilfields in Iraq and Syria and sell crude and gasoline to fund rebellions against Damascus and Baghdad and to expand a “caliphate” across the region.
The group benefits from a flow of recruits from overseas – including some 3,000 holders of Western passports – and by a number of US-built battle tanks that were seized during a strike on an Iraqi convoy, added Davidson.
Syrian and Iraqi government forces have failed to tackle the Islamic State, which now operates as a “full-blown army.” The group now runs schools and carries out public executions in its trademark brand of harsh justice.
“ISIS is making progress in governance – although its form of rule may prove too harsh for the communities it seeks to take over. A fractured Iraqi state is possible. It could come about through a massive sectarian struggle, or it could also potentially be brokered,” said Davidson.
