tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/daesh-16638/articlesDa'esh – The Conversation2023-07-19T20:41:05Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2092942023-07-19T20:41:05Z2023-07-19T20:41:05ZHealing through witnessing: Documenting the stories of Yazidi refugees in Canada<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537175/original/file-20230712-22-gost18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C0%2C5532%2C4023&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Yazidi refugee woman's upper body is tattooed with the names of her missing family members and fiancé.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Leah Hennel)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/healing-through-witnessing-documenting-the-stories-of-yazidi-refugees-in-canada" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Weeks after Yazidi refugees were rescued from horrific captivity and enslavement imposed by Daesh (also known as ISIS) and <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2021/03/canada-expands-efforts-to-welcome-more-yazidi-refugees-and-other-survivors-of-daesh.html">arrived in Canada</a>, we began to document the harm. </p>
<p>At the <a href="https://mosaicpcn.ca/programs/refugee-health/">Mosaic Refugee Health Clinic</a> in Calgary, we tallied the physical damage, mental trauma and how families were ripped apart. </p>
<p>Our new patients’ intent was clear: They wanted the world to know. They insisted that the atrocities of genocide should never be forgotten and the culprits face justice. Beyond holding the guilty accountable, they also wanted to restore fragments of the familial and communal societies from which they’d been uprooted.</p>
<p>After centuries of religious persecution, their community had been dealt a deadly blow in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/world/middleeast/isis-genocide-yazidi-un.html">August 2014</a>. A massacre — <a href="https://press.un.org/en/2021/sc14514.doc.htm">labelled a genocide by the United Nations</a> — resulted in approximately 200,000 displaced Yazidis, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-017-0965-7">7,000 murdered</a>, 7,000 women and children abducted into <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1002297">enslavement</a>, and the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2018/murad/lecture/#:%7E:text=Thank%20you%20very%20much%20for,solely%20because%20they%20were%20Yazidis">destruction of farms, villages, homes and places of worship</a>.</p>
<p>These are the narratives shared by Yazidi refugees who were resettled through Canada’s <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2017/02/helping_vulnerableyazidiwomenandchildrenandothersurvivorsofdaesh.html">Survivors of Daesh Program</a> in Calgary and three other major Canadian cities between 2017 and 2019. Although our clinic is one of the largest and longest-running specialized refugee health clinics in Canada, the rapid resettlement of 242 Yazidi refugees <a href="https://doi.org/10.7326/M20-0151">nearly broke us</a>. </p>
<p>Their stories were profoundly vivid, their trauma piercing. They gave horrific accounts of Daesh’s invasion and the ensuing genocide, recounting their enslavement, slaughter and forced indoctrination.</p>
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<img alt="Three women on a sofa in a room with a Canadian flag on the wall" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537174/original/file-20230712-23-q1est.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537174/original/file-20230712-23-q1est.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537174/original/file-20230712-23-q1est.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537174/original/file-20230712-23-q1est.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537174/original/file-20230712-23-q1est.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537174/original/file-20230712-23-q1est.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537174/original/file-20230712-23-q1est.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Three sisters, all of whom had been abducted and enslaved by ISIS, were reunited in Calgary.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Leah Hennel)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We tried to listen empathetically, without judgement — unaware that doing so all but guaranteed a crippling <a href="https://doi.org/10.7326/M20-0151">vicarious trauma</a> that led to intense symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder among our physicians, nurses and other health-care staff.</p>
<p>Over time, with immense effort, patients and providers began to heal together. Our Yazidi patients have launched their <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-torn-apart-by-islamic-state-and-reunited-in-calgary-three-yazidi/">new lives</a>, and are chasing ambitious dreams.</p>
<p>As part of this healing, they tasked us with ensuring the world would not forget their plight. As co-directors of <a href="https://www.refugeehealthyyc.ca/">Refugee Health YYC</a> — a research, education, and innovation platform at the University of Calgary — we obeyed. With our research team and <a href="https://www.ucalgary.ca/news/academic-journey-connects-head-and-heart-bachelor-health-sciences-alumna">Nour Hassan</a>, an undergraduate student in the Health and Society program, we began the process of meticulously investigating and documenting the harm through research.</p>
<h2>Documenting genocide</h2>
<p>We reviewed the medical records of every Yazidi patient at the <a href="https://mosaicpcn.ca/programs/refugee-health/">Mosaic Refugee Health Clinic</a>. We recorded the direct exposure to Daesh and nearly universal family separations. We assembled a panel of expert clinicians to review almost 1,400 individual diagnoses and determine which were most likely caused by exposure to Daesh. We found, in addition to the psychological trauma, the physical consequences of violence, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.4782">starvation</a> and rape.</p>
<p>To ensure our findings were accurate and meaningful, we collaborated with the Yazidi community and their leaders, one of whom is still languishing in an internally displaced camp in northern Iraq. The group provided insights, offered recommendations and made edits. We listened and obeyed.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“When genocide is committed, it must be seen.” – Yazidi refugee, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist <a href="https://www.nadiasinitiative.org/">Nadia Murad</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The resulting research is a community- and clinician-engaged cross-sectional study, which was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.23064">recently published</a> in the <em>JAMA Network Open</em>. Though our methodology was simple and the output inefficient from a research perspective — it took us nearly four years to summarize the ordeals of 242 Yazidi genocide survivors — this stands among the research we are most proud of.</p>
<p>We offer it as a testament to the world, documenting the depths of human depravity and its darkest impulses. The horrors of genocide defy comprehension, but in our ongoing struggle for human rights amid increasing global displacement, we must confront them. So far, we are failing. </p>
<p>Yazidi refugees are calling on the world to open its eyes to genocide, while indiscriminate killings and violence against women and children are, yet again, being used as weapons of war in <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/06/afghanistan-talibans-cruel-attacks-in-panjshir-province-amount-to-war-crime-of-collective-punishment-new-report/">Afghanistan</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-un-investigation-report-1.6780600">Ukraine</a> and <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/05-07-2023-sudan-top-un-officials-sound-alarm-at-spike-in-violence-against-women-and-girls">Sudan</a>.</p>
<p>In Calgary, a city leading the country in per capita refugee resettlement among major urban centres, we’ve resettled approximately <a href="https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/4a1b260a-7ac4-4985-80a0-603bfe4aec11/resource/1938d8f2-177c-4f1b-8f6f-1fd7ea1acc78?inner_span=True">24,000 refugees since 2015</a>, surpassing the total for all of British Columbia, and nearly the number received by Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, P.E.I. and Newfoundland <a href="https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/4a1b260a-7ac4-4985-80a0-603bfe4aec11/resource/1938d8f2-177c-4f1b-8f6f-1fd7ea1acc78?inner_span=True">combined</a>. </p>
<p>We’re proud of this work, carried out largely behind the scenes by passionate coalitions across the settlement, health care, public health and education <a href="https://www.ccisab.ca/">sectors</a>. Our efforts are boosted by a welcoming and generous population that opens its doors to those in need, regardless of local challenges.</p>
<h2>Refugee health policy summit</h2>
<p>In the final act of healing, Refugee Health YYC will host Yazidi refugee, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2018/murad/facts/">Nadia Murad</a> in Calgary, a <a href="https://www.refugeehealthyyc.ca/pre-conference">refugee health policy summit</a>, and for the first time, the <a href="https://refugeesociety.org/narhc-conference/">North American Refugee Health Conference</a> July 21-23. </p>
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<img alt="A woman in a light blue jacket, wearing headphones, in front of a microphone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537987/original/file-20230718-19-qf2dvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537987/original/file-20230718-19-qf2dvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537987/original/file-20230718-19-qf2dvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537987/original/file-20230718-19-qf2dvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537987/original/file-20230718-19-qf2dvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537987/original/file-20230718-19-qf2dvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537987/original/file-20230718-19-qf2dvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Refugee Health YYC will host Yazidi refugee, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist Nadia Murad in Calgary during the North American Refugee Health Conference July 21-23.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(The Associated Press/Kay Nietfeld)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These events will bring together health-care providers, researchers, policymakers and refugee leaders to learn from one another and develop new models to improve health care and well-being for the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/global-trends">108.3 million people forcibly displaced</a> around the world. Among these, only two per cent are resettled each year. The rest remain trapped in unstable and unsafe situations, often in countries that are not their homes.</p>
<p>These small offerings symbolize our commitment to work alongside refugees, as <a href="https://www.unhcr.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Seven-Decades-of-Refugee-Protection-In-Canada-14-December-2020.pdf">Canada</a> again led the world in the number of <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/global-trends">refugees resettled in 2022</a>. They underscore our dedication to ensuring the world never forgets the horrors of genocide and its devastating multi-generational impact on the communities targeted. </p>
<p>Our Yazidi patients arrived in Canada, courageously telling their stories. We need to listen. Otherwise, the crimes committed against them, and other refugees, will be repeated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209294/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel E. Fabreau MD, MPH, FRCPC receives research grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Alberta Innovates, MSI Foundation, and the University of Calgary.
The work presented and the study it describes were unfunded.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annalee Coakley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A Calgary refugee health clinic documented the stories of 242 Yazidi genocide survivors, recounting enslavement, slaughter and forced indoctrination.Gabriel Fabreau, Assistant Professor - General Internal Medicine; Depts. of Medicine and Community Health Sciences | Cumming School of Medicine, University of CalgaryAnnalee Coakley, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/521852016-02-23T14:37:22Z2016-02-23T14:37:22ZHow to help the women and girls rescued from Islamic State<p>Violence against women, especially in war, is so pervasive around the world it’s often not considered news. But the barbaric treatment of women by the group known as Da’esh or Islamic State (IS) has for once managed to attract some specific attention. </p>
<p>When IS <a href="https://theconversation.com/isis-sweeps-across-borders-and-takes-grip-of-an-iraq-collapsing-back-into-civil-war-27886">overran the city of Mosul and much of northern Iraq</a> in June 2014, it abducted <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/islamic-state-slaves-yazidi-girls-sold-isis-slavey-bought-back-families-years-salary-1728081">more than 5,000 women and girls</a> of religious and ethnic minorities (the vast majority being <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-who-are-the-yazidis-30280">Yazidi</a>, Turkmen and Christians). They were systematically isolated from their families and many watched other family members being murdered, particularly men and older women. </p>
<p>Women often bear the brunt of war, but IS is responsible for some of the most egregious treatment of women in recent history, with girls and women effectively becoming weapons of war. These young women and girls (some as young as 12) are being systematically raped and assaulted nearly to the point of death, with many being forced into marriage and religious conversion, sold or given as “gifts”.</p>
<p>Initially, IS and its supporters denied that the women abducted were being sexually exploited. But in an <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/10/22/islamic-state-sex-slave_n_6027816.html">October 2014 issue</a> of its publication Dabiq, the group publicly acknowledged it was keeping sex slaves. Justifying it with a predictably narrow and self-serving <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/islamic-state-releases-fatwa-for-male-owners-of-women-slaves/a-18950434">interpretation of Islam and Islamic law</a>, it stated it considers these women the “spoils of war”. </p>
<p>It states that these “apostates” are legitimately enslaved, declaring that “Islam allows it and we will do it”. The group even says that slavery and rape will benefit the girls and young women, as it exposes them to the “true Islam”. </p>
<p>It’s not uncommon for them to attempt suicide in captivity in a bid to end their suffering, and due to the conservatism of their communities, many who do somehow return home are ostracised. They may even face death at the hands of male family members eager to avenge their family’s loss of morality – a woman’s purity and chastity are linked to a family’s honour. This also contributes to the problem that the actual number of victims is unknown, as many rapes go unreported out of stigma and shame. </p>
<p>Sexual violence and physical abuse is one of IS’s key psychological weapons. It has driven thousands of families from the north and west of Iraq, expanding their territory in their wake. Some more <a href="http://icsr.info/2015/09/icsr-report-narratives-islamic-state-defectors/">cynical observers</a> also argue that the promise of sex slaves, cars and houses is a ploy to attract young men from countries where they have no prospects of marriage or wealth thanks to inequality and unemployment. </p>
<h2>Psychological impact</h2>
<p>Several hundred of the captured young women have since <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-33964147">escaped</a> or been <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/02/22/report-islamic-state-releases-43-christian-hostages/80724820/">liberated</a> from multiple locations across northern Iraq and eastern Syria. Those who have returned are in dire need of physical assistance associated with sexual abuse (including unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV) and psychological support. </p>
<p>These women and girls are in a very unstable mental state, suffering from acute levels of stress, anxiety and depression with many showing strong suicidal tendencies. Many victims are unable to comprehend the barbaric treatment they have experienced and witnessed and are unable to sleep more than a few hours at a time due to nightmares and intrusive thoughts. </p>
<p>The precarious and monotonous conditions in the refugee camps are not contributing positively to their mental states either, with many feeling under constant threat of being captured. Because of this, many are desperate to leave Iraq, where they are constantly reminded of their time in captivity. </p>
<h2>Desperate for help</h2>
<p>Plenty of public attention is given to the physical needs of those affected by the conflict in the Middle East, but this often overshadows the scourge of serious psychological trauma.</p>
<p>There is little psychological assistance available for these destitute young women. One organisation that’s stepping in to help is <a href="http://en.wadi-online.de">WADI</a> the Association for Crisis Assistance and Solidarity Development Cooperation. This Iraq-German based nonprofit focuses on women’s rights in the Middle East and is providing psycho-social assistance to the traumatised female survivors of IS’s abuse. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107126/original/image-20160104-11938-xkitcs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107126/original/image-20160104-11938-xkitcs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107126/original/image-20160104-11938-xkitcs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107126/original/image-20160104-11938-xkitcs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107126/original/image-20160104-11938-xkitcs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107126/original/image-20160104-11938-xkitcs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107126/original/image-20160104-11938-xkitcs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">WADIs mobile teams take care of Yazidi girls.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">WADI</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>WADI’s Dohuk teams consist of committed young women who visit refugee camps to offer psycho-social support. WADI has also established a women’s activity centre in Dohuk that provides a safe all-female environment and a break from the miserable conditions in the refugee camps. </p>
<p>The centre aims to make the women feel “at home”, empowering them and encouraging them to have a say in the peace and reconciliation process. The centre also offers referrals for much needed psychological aid and health care. Awareness training into women’s rights is also available. </p>
<p>Sadly, the current efforts are merely the beginning, and funding for such projects is scarce. Every day more women become victims; mental health is a taboo topic in many Arab countries, and efforts to help sufferers are therefore very poorly resourced. Although there has been an international response, it’s been direly inadequate given the scale of the challenges and needs. </p>
<p>And all the while, even though IS has <a href="https://theconversation.com/iraqs-battle-for-ramadi-isnt-just-about-defeating-islamic-state-52617">lost some ground</a> in Iraq and Syria, there’s no indication that this horror story will end any time soon.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52185/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leanne Simpson receives funding from the British Ministry of Defence via their Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. </span></em></p>Domestic and sexual slavery are being used as weapons of war – and the victims are too often forgotten.Dr Leanne K Simpson, PhD Student, School of Psychology | Institute for the Psychology of Elite Performance, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/506172015-11-17T11:28:38Z2015-11-17T11:28:38ZWhile Paris mourns, opportunity knocks for Assad in Syria<p>While so many count their losses after the appalling terrorist attacks on Paris, one man might just be wondering if he’ll find himself on the right side of history. Over the last few days, Bashar al-Assad’s removal from power in Syria has fallen sharply down the list of international priorities. </p>
<p>On November 14, the <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-14/syrian-transition-plan-achieved-by-u-s-allies-kerry-says">Syria talks</a> in Vienna recognised the imperative of joint military action against Islamic State, the group that has taken responsibility for the Paris atrocities that have so far killed 129 people. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/16/g20-barack-obama-and-vladimir-putin-agree-to-syrian-led-transition">Informal talks</a> between presidents Putin and Obama at the G20 summit in Turkey continued on this theme, while <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1588643/france-will-intensify-is-bombing-in-syria">France redoubled</a> its airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria. </p>
<p>These developments have come as the Syrian dictator is on the ascendant. Days before the Paris attacks, his troops scored their first big victory since the Russians intervened in Syria at the end of September. They <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/11/10/syrian-army-breaks-two-year-siege-at-aleppo-air-base.html">broke the</a> siege on the Kweires air base in Aleppo province in the north of the country, which had been surrounded by IS for almost two years. Omran al-Zoubi, the Syrian information minister, spoke of defying the “terrorists”, a category that in government rhetoric includes both IS and the other rebel groups against which Assad has been fighting for the past four years. </p>
<p>Prior to this victory, Assad’s position had looked very weak. The territory the Syrian government controls is down to a strip of land in the west of the country (see rose area in map below). The area still includes Damascus and a few important military bases, but represents only a fraction of the country. </p>
<p>In Assad’s favour, the Western-backed rebel forces are scattered and divided. Their different interests and motivations lack the necessary political identity to build a stable government coalition. One thing the Arab Spring taught us is that a common goal is not always enough to create a stable country – <a href="http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/libya-as-a-failed-state-causes-consequences-options">Libya being the obvious example</a>. </p>
<p>So far the only force that has looked capable of achieving strategic military objectives bears the banner of the caliphate: IS’s <a href="http://freebeacon.com/national-security/islamic-state-gains-ground-in-syria/">conquest of Mahin</a> in central Syria earlier this month opened a clear path to the capital, for instance, and deprived the government of important arms depots. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101710/original/image-20151112-9381-tdlfhr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101710/original/image-20151112-9381-tdlfhr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101710/original/image-20151112-9381-tdlfhr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101710/original/image-20151112-9381-tdlfhr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101710/original/image-20151112-9381-tdlfhr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101710/original/image-20151112-9381-tdlfhr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101710/original/image-20151112-9381-tdlfhr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101710/original/image-20151112-9381-tdlfhr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://iswresearch.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/posture-of-syrian-regime-and-allies.html">Institute for the Study of War</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shifting sands</h2>
<p>So what happens now? The <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-14/syrian-transition-plan-achieved-by-u-s-allies-kerry-says">Vienna agreement calls</a> on the warring Syrian parties to start talking by January 1 2016 and reach a ceasefire within six months. They are then to focus on drafting a new constitution with a view to holding elections in 2017 which will be closely monitored and will need to be free and fair. </p>
<p>This is likely to make a lot of difference. The nations involved – the US, UK, Russia, China, Germany and France – <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Momentum-in-Vienna-talks-on-Syria-after-Paris-massacre-433057">agreed</a> to support a “UN-endorsed ceasefire-monitoring mission” to ensure that both Assad’s supporters and those standing in opposition to him abide by it. This means that Russia and China agreed to go in under the UN blue helmets – having always been opposed to such coordinated efforts in the past. </p>
<p>The fact that Russia and the US appear to be setting aside their differences looks massive and should mean the Russians and the NATO states will cooperate. The proposed peace talks would exclude IS, which would still be open to military attacks even after a ceasefire between Assad and the rebels had been put in place. Though the Russians and US still disagree on whether Assad would lead an interim government ahead of the 2017 elections, they are mainly focused on neutralising IS before the situation gets any more critical. </p>
<p>In the weeks ahead, it looks as though Assad loyalists will now try to take the south-western part of the country from the non-IS rebels, perhaps still backed by Russian air raids. This would give the psychological boost of reversing a failed offensive earlier in the year and ensure that Assad’s forces control a continuous strip of land all the way to the Jordanian and Israeli borders. Assad’s other focus will be to secure the city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest. Where the south-west is a battle against the rebels, Aleppo is partly rebel-held and partly the domain of IS. Both battles look more achievable than before, though it could be especially drawn out – city struggles often are. </p>
<p>On the question of dealing with IS as a whole, its troops are well organised and mostly led by trained generals and officials from the former Iraqi army. Assad will need a tailor-made strategy to push them back over the Syrian-Iraqi border. Into this situation come the French IS airstrikes, which have so far concentrated on the city of Raqqa in the central north. They were backed up on Monday, November 16 by US air raids both on Raqqa and in nearby ISIS areas. </p>
<p>With French president, Francois Hollande, declaring his country at war with IS, France’s UK and German allies are now more likely to follow suit. If so, Assad will get more firepower against his enemies – and note that several groups of other moderate Syrian groups have been joining IS, which presents a wider target than IS was a few months ago. </p>
<p>The downside for Assad is that he will have to take more account of Western requests for a ceasefire against his non-IS enemies, and then the elections. If he looks more likely to defeat his enemies by military means, his bigger challenge will be to keep control of the country. He will need to gain the support of enough moderate groups by committing to a wide reform of the system and to woo the West by talking tough on IS. </p>
<p>The situation is now so much in flux that it is even harder to see what will happen in Syria than it was before Paris. But Assad has certainly been handed a big opportunity. Whether he can use it to shore up his power base will be one of the big questions in the coming months.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50617/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fabrizio Longarzo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Paris atrocities came just as Assad’s military position was improving. Can the dictator harness international fury at Islamic State to strengthen his position in Syria?Fabrizio Longarzo, Pre-doctoral researcher, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/508222015-11-17T11:02:58Z2015-11-17T11:02:58ZIslamic State versus Da'ish or Daesh? The political battle over naming<p>In responding to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/paris-attacks-2015">attacks</a> on multiple sites in Paris, French President François Hollande <a href="http://nyti.ms/1HJgnKf">announced</a> that Da’ish had declared war on France and promised retaliation. But why didn’t he call it the Islamic State? Or ISIL, like Barack Obama would? Or ISIS, as The New York Times or the BBC would? And why does it matter?</p>
<p>After all, all the terms refer to the same group: al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq al-Sham. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/06/18/isis-or-isil-the-debate-over-what-to-call-iraqs-terror-group/">Most English-speaking organizations</a> translate the name into the acronym ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant), while <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27994277">some others</a> translate the name into the acronym ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria). </p>
<p>President Hollande was merely following his <a href="http://www.france24.com/fr/20140916-daech-etat-islamique-EI-hollande-fabius-france/">government’s official policy</a> of using the Arabic acronym of the group’s full name, Da’ish (Daech in French and also spelled Daesh in English). In doing so, the French government joins many Arabic-speaking governments in using the term – including that of Syria. </p>
<p>However, the Islamic State does not really like the moniker. It prefers to call itself a Caliphate or simply “The Islamic State.”</p>
<p>Just what people call this group is important because different names create different degrees of familiarity or foreignness with specific target audiences in order to recruit supporters, identify enemies or persuade the undecided. This, in turn, creates a sense of solidarity for or against that group. </p>
<h2>Not by accident</h2>
<p>By presenting itself as the Caliphate, the group justifies its existence in terms of both religious purity and the restoration of a broken historical continuity. </p>
<p>Initially, the Islamic State made a geographic claim of being in Iraq and Syria, but in the summer of 2014 it abandoned that limitation and now claims to be an authority without any geographic boundaries. This has been reinforced by the granting of allegiance to a diverse array of Islamic militant groups from North Africa to Afghanistan, such as its branches in Libya or the Sinai Peninsula.</p>
<p>That the group’s opponents would like to influence its name also should not be surprising. For Arabic speakers, the term Da’ish invokes plays on words to mean “one who crushes” and “one who spreads disorder.” Both are indicative of the attitudes of Syria’s regime and the different militias that oppose both the regime and the Islamic State. </p>
<p>Pro-Western governments, like Jordan’s, also use the term while bolstering their version of moderate and tolerant Islam. The French government explained the choice in naming as part of an effort to avoid legitimizing the group by denying that it was either a state or Islamic. </p>
<p>The French government’s use of the Arabic acronym, however, also creates an Orientalizing connotation. By using the foreign word instead of translating it into French, the term becomes more exotic and creates a sense of difference. The intent may be to try to drive a wedge between militants “over there” and “good Muslims” at home. </p>
<p>In the fall of 2014, the French government decided to stop <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/09/17/france-is-ditching-the-islamic-state-name-and-replacing-it-with-a-label-the-group-hates/">using Islamic State in favor of Daesh</a>. But the name change was decried by France’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/opinion/marine-le-pen-france-was-attacked-by-islamic-fundamentalism.html?_r=0">right wing opposition</a>, which favors greater restrictions on immigration and minority rights, under the argument that the term denies the reality that Muslims from France have participated in terrorist attacks in France.</p>
<h2>Delegitimizing?</h2>
<p>Part of the confusion in the naming of the Islamic State group comes from the fact that it is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-islamic-state-is-proving-so-hard-to-defeat-50790">new type of organization</a> that is unlike the now-familiar al-Qaida. The Islamic State group is part militia, part insurgency, part terrorist organization, part <a href="http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/irredentist">irredentist</a> movement, and part proto-state. </p>
<p>Taking a step to spread violence in Western Europe demonstrates a new geographic reach. But the Paris assault borrows tactics from previous attacks, such as those in Syria, Iraq, <a href="http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/dramatic-rise-islamic-state-tunisia-2003908909">Tunisia</a> and <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/07/gulf-islamic-state-expansion-sunni-shiite.html">Kuwait</a>. The strategy behind the Islamic State’s actions is to strengthen social divisions among communities and then offer their “protection” to the aggrieved Sunni Muslim minorities.</p>
<p>Different politicians are attempting to legitimize or delegitimize the Islamic State through the process of naming – and use of the word Da'ish is one attempt to take some control from the group. </p>
<p>The fear of the group’s opponents is that by using the group’s own terminology – that is, Islamic State – it will admit that the states of Iraq and Syria failed to offer their citizens protection. Calling Da’ish names, however, won’t solve that problem.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50822/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Russell E. Lucas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The French term for ISIS – known as Da'ish or Daesh – has gathered more interest in the wake of the Paris attacks. Here’s why this battle of naming matters.Russell E. Lucas, Director of Global Studies in the Arts and Humanities; Associate Professor of Arab Studies, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/408382015-05-05T20:15:57Z2015-05-05T20:15:57ZExplainer: ISIS, ISIL, Islamic State or Da'esh?<p>What’s in a name? Australia is at war with a group that has destabilised the Middle East and threatens Western societies yet the international community can’t agree on what to call it. Is it Islamic State, ISIL, ISIS, Da’esh or, as King Abdullah II of Jordan prefers, <em>al-Khawārij</em> (the Outlaws)? </p>
<h2>An evolving name</h2>
<p>Through the course of its history the group has changed its name. In its earliest incarnation in the late 1990s it was called <em>Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad</em> (Organisation of Monotheism and Jihad). </p>
<p>Following the invasion of Iraq by the international coalition and the shifting of its operations from Jordan to Iraq, the group swore allegiance to al-Qaeda and changed its name in 2004 to al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). With the death of the founder, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/jun/09/guardianobituaries.alqaida">Abu Musab al-Zarqawi</a>, the group merged with other militants in 2006, taking on the name Islamic State in Iraq (ISI).</p>
<p>Not until the Arab Spring uprising in Syria and the subsequent descent into civil war did the most recent names appear.</p>
<p>In 2012, ISI established operations in Syria under the name of al-Nusra Front. In the following year, it announced a <a href="http://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/493">merger</a> between the two, rebranding the joint operation as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (<em>ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah fīl-ʿIrāq wash-Shām</em>), or alternatively translated from the Arabic as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The difference arises in the translation of the word <em>ash-Shām</em>, which is a historical designation for the area around Damascus that led some to translate it as Syria and others as Levant. </p>
<p>Despite al-Nusra refusing the merger, the group retained the name ISIS, establishing its own operations in Syria. On June 29 2014, with the capture of Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, and having gained control of substantial territory across two countries, an Islamic caliphate was <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2014/06/iraq-syria-isis-announcement-islamic-caliphate-name-change.html">announced</a>. The self-declared name was Islamic State.</p>
<h2>Current Usage</h2>
<p>The international community has along the way stuck with some of these names, though in some cases adopted new labels. </p>
<p>King Abdullah’s <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/04/13/jordan-king-abdullah-ii-says-airstrikes-increasing-inside-syria-and-iraq/">preference</a> for <em>al-Khawārij</em> was chosen as it has historical connotations reminding Muslims of the first extremist group, the <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/01/islamic-state-kjarijites-continuation.html">Kharajites</a>, who adopted rigid views on who is and isn’t a Muslim as early as the mid-seventh century. Sunni religious establishments in Saudi Arabia and Egypt also use the term to classify the group. </p>
<p>Others prefer to add the qualifier <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/islamic-state-fraying-from-within-20150310-13zk8n.html">“so-called” Islamic State</a>, though this has little meaning as Islamic State is a proper noun and does not necessarily mean an Islamic state. In the same vein, we do not refer to North Korea as the so-called Democratic People’s Republic of Korea nor do Spanish speakers refer to Los Angeles as the so-called City of Angels.</p>
<p>News organisations have each debated and decided on in-house rules. The New York Times, BBC, Australia’s ABC and The Australian have opted for Islamic State. The Guardian has chosen to remain with ISIS.</p>
<h2>Australian government’s preference</h2>
<p>When referring to Islamic State, the Australian government prefers the Arabic acronym for ISIS, which has been transliterated phonetically to Da’esh. The motivation for this shift in language, seen in early 2015, is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com.au/australian-pm-tony-abbott-has-taken-to-calling-isis-by-a-new-name-that-they-hate-2015-1">according to Prime Minister Tony Abbott</a> that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Da’esh hates being referred to by this term, and what they don’t like has an instinctive appeal to me.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The derogatory nature of the term Da’esh arises from its phonetic similarity to the Arabic word “daes”, which means “one who tramples down”. There are unverified reports that the group flogs people who use the term Da’esh.</p>
<p>Another motivation for Australia’s government to eschew the terminology of Islamic State may lie with Muslim community groups objecting to the term. This view was represented in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/13/term-islamic-state-slur-faith-david-cameron">a letter</a> to British Prime Minister David Cameron: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We do not believe the terror group responsible should be given the credence and standing they seek by styling themselves Islamic State. It is neither Islamic, nor is it a state. The group has no standing with faithful Muslims, nor among the international community of nations. It clearly will never accept the obligations that any legitimate state has, including the responsibility to protect citizens and uphold human rights.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In this way both the British and Australian governments are attempting to quash conscious or sub-conscious associations between Islam and the group ostensibly fighting in its name. </p>
<p>This is not an uncommon tactic in politics. We have often seen on both sides of the political divide arguments over whether a levy is a tax, the latter having a negative association in the public eye. Even reaching back historically, our wartime prime ministers did not refer to Hitler’s rule as the “Thousand Year Reich” or even the “Third Reich”, either of which would have legitimated the Nazi propaganda of a historical progression from the First Reich, Holy Roman Empire, through to their rule.</p>
<p>The political use of ISIS rather than Islamic State acknowledges the heavy responsibility politicians carry in shaping public discourse and the importance that words play in influencing community perceptions. Scholars, less burdened by such concerns, tend to refer to the group in its self-designated form, arguing the imperative for an apolitical approach. Journalists appear torn between reporting the facts and playing a role in legitimating the usurpation of a religion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40838/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Denis Dragovic does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The terrorist group now calls itself Islamic State, but the many names by which it is known reflect both its own evolution and the deliberate choices others make in how they refer to it.Denis Dragovic, Honorary Fellow, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.