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Danger in Syria, Iraq threatens RI's backyard
Avoiding violence: Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect flee violence from forces loyal to the Islamic State in Sinjar town; they walk toward the Syrian border near the Sinjar Mountain next to the Syrian border town of Elierbeh in Aug
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span class="inline inline-center">Avoiding violence: Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect flee violence from forces loyal to the Islamic State in Sinjar town; they walk toward the Syrian border near the Sinjar Mountain next to the Syrian border town of Elierbeh in Aug. 11, 2014. Reuters/Rodi Said
The Islamic State (IS) movement, a radical group that has seized large swathes of territory in eastern Syria and across northern and western Iraq, dominated the world's headlines during the year 2014.
IS emerged onto the global stage on June 10 when its fighters seized Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq, after moving from their base in Syria.
Subsequently, on June 29, the group's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate, a pan-Islamic state last seen in Ottoman times. During a sermon at the Al-Nur mosque in Mosul, Baghdadi, who proclaimed himself caliph, called on all Muslims to obey him.
IS has become notorious for atrocities including mass killings, crucifixions and abductions of members of religious and ethnic minorities, as well as the beheadings of soldiers and journalists. These actions have sparked fear and outrage across the world and prompted US military intervention.
Meanwhile, Muslims across the world have denounced the group. Even Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri disavowed IS for its actions in Syria, saying that such brutality lost Muslim hearts and minds.
The New York Times, in its report on IS' power structure, wrote that Baghdadi had a preference for military men, recruiting many officers from Saddam Hussein's long-disbanded army. The strategy combines military skill with terrorist techniques refined through years of fighting US troops. With its deep local knowledge and contacts, IS is in effect a hybrid of a terrorist group and an army.
Instances of IS brutality include the horrors it inflicted on women and girls from Iraq's minority Yazidi community when its fighters overran their towns. Hundreds of Yazidi women and girls were abducted and given to extremists as slaves. A recent report from Amnesty International said the captives ' including girls as young as 10 to12 years old ' endured torture, rape and sexual slavery, and that several abducted girls had committed suicide.
Despite its atrocities, IS has been so successful in attracting followers that it could have as many as 31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria.
Iraq expert Hisham al-Hashimi said about 30 percent were 'ideologues', with the remainder joining out of fear or coercion. The Soufan Group estimated that more than 12,000 foreign nationals from at least 81 countries, including 2,500 from Western states, had travelled to Syria to fight over the past three years.
Indonesian is not immune to IS' influence. The group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, had attracted a number of Indonesians long before Baghdadi's declaration of a caliphate, as far back as the beginning of the Syrian conflict in 2011. A source said a number of Indonesians had joined the group and adopted aliases, such as Abu Muhammad Al Indunisiy alias Riza Fardi, who died as a jihadist in Ghoutta, Syria, in November 2013.
Newly appointed National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) chief Comr. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution said that recruitment of IS fighters from Indonesia had jumped by more than three times in just a few months.
'In June 2014, the number of IS followers embarking from Indonesia was 86. The number soared to 264 in October,' Saud said, adding that the most recent IS recruits were a whole family living in Tangerang, Banten.
The Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict's director Sidney Jones said that some Indonesians had joined IS after studying abroad in countries like Turkey, Yemen or Pakistan, making their departures harder to track. Moreover, many Indonesians chose to travel first to Malaysia and from there fly to Turkey, in order not to arouse suspicion.
The concern is that Syrian and Iraqi exposure will add combat experience, weapons knowledge, ideological commitment and international networks for jihadists to bring home to this country.
Jones noted that even if they were no more than a handful of people, these returning militants could provide leadership for the tiny extremist movement here.
Saud urged all stakeholders, therefore, to bolster their efforts to prevent the proliferation of IS ideology, which could end up posing a serious threat to security in Indonesia.
