The leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, did not choose his lieutenants arbitrarily; rather, the appointments followed careful calculations to change his strategy based on stealth and daring guerilla attacks, towards being able to go on the offensive and gain more territory.
Baghdad – Since he was declared emir of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi sought to win the support and loyalty of a large number of experienced former Iraqi army officers, such as Fadel Hayali, aka Abu Muslim al-Turukmani, who once held the rank of lieutenant in military intelligence; Republican Guard Lieutenant Abdel-Rahman al-Beblawi, who was killed on June 5, 2014; and other military commanders who are veterans of the Iraq-Iran war and the first and second Gulf Wars.
Baghdadi’s reliance on highly experienced military leaders made his organization more effective in terms of planning and strategy, particularly through its ability to manage battles on the ground. Shortly after June 10, 2014, Baghdadi transitioned to more organized military tactics based on dividing the battlefield into fronts, each covered by 300 to 350 fighters. In its battles, Baghdadi’s organization uses the tactic of attacking sometimes and retreating at others, to preserve the lives of its soldiers, before attacking the same area again when going on the offensive becomes more advantageous.
On September 5, 2014, the United States announced the formation of an international anti-ISIS coalition, when the radical Islamist group violated the undeclared truce with Erbil, threatening to invade the Kurdistan region. The United States resolved since then to confront the organization and besiege it militarily and economically.
But the coalition’s airstrikes were not damaging and effective enough, as ISIS seems to have had taken countermeasures in advance to prepare for those strikes. Security sources and witnesses say that ISIS fighters, after the coalition declared war on the group, began to alter the ways they control territory and their public appearances.
Hisham al-Hashemi, expert on armed groups, spoke to Al-Akhbar, explaining ISIS’ “preemptive strategy” to avoid coalition plans and strikes.
Hisham al-Hashemi, expert on armed groups, spoke to Al-Akhbar, explaining ISIS’ “preemptive strategy” to avoid coalition plans and strikes.
Hashemi said, “Some thought that Baghdadi and his group would stand idly by and watch the coalition’s strikes,” but that as it turns out, ISIS implemented measures including taking precautions for its financial, communications, and media operations.
ISIS had seized large quantities of military hardware from the barracks of the Iraqi army, including heavy military vehicles and ammunition, which it has now “transported from the border region between Syria and Iraq towards the Baaj and Rabia deserts of the Mosul province,” Hashemi adds. “Fighters were barred from moving in convoys both inside and outside cities, wearing masks was reimposed, and gatherings at mosques, schools, and military barracks were banned.”
Among the most important developments that Hashemi sees is the part related to the organization’s ongoing battles on the Syrian and Iraqi fronts. The organization moved from a front-and battalion-based system, he says, to one based on individual brigades. Hashemi explained, “Battalions were divided into brigades, each consisting of 50 fighters, who move 10 fighters at a time.”
Meanwhile, a high-ranking source in the Iraqi National Security who declined to be named told Al-Akhbar that the Iraqi intelligence services had obtained information indicating ISIS has handed over command of the battles in the Syrian and Iraqi fronts to medium-ranking commanders, as the senior leadership went into hiding.
Regarding ISIS’ sources of funding, the high-ranking source said, “Baghdadi divided the funds he seized from banks in Nineveh, Salahuddin, and Anbar, which are estimated at more than $1 billion, among the states of the self-proclaimed state.” The source also said that Iraqi security services and other international intelligence agencies “were able to obtain information indicating ISIS had smuggled hundreds of millions of dollars into accounts in Europe, Malaysia, and some countries in the Gulf, to invest them in revenue-generating projects, all in order to continue to finance the organization in the event it loses its oil and gas fields.”
While witnesses from inside the city of Mosul said that ISIS stopped carrying mobile phones, a source at the Directorate General of Telecommunications and Informatics of the Iraqi Interior Ministry said that “tracking most communications through mobile phones and e-mail has stopped, after instructions were issued to ISIS members not to carry mobile phones, use the internet , or use GPS services.”
Witnesses in hot spots also reported that members of ISIS, after withdrawing from their main quarters, began digging trenches in the yards of abandoned residential buildings and hid in them, to avoid air strikes.
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
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