A new way to inspire jihad 

Although it is widely documented that tens of thousands of foreign fighters have crossed the Turkey-Syria border in search of the group, Muslims in the West don’t need to travel thousands of miles to become a part of the Islamic State. By opening up its arms to any disenchanted or troubled individual who is willing to sacrifice himself in the name of the caliphate, ISIL has changed the way that future Islamist terrorist works will fight jihad.

For those who are either unable or unwilling to hop on a plane to Turkey and drive to its southern border, young men and women in Europe or the United States can still attract ISIL’s support through acts of individualized violence. In other words, you can be a part of the caliphate without traveling to the caliphate at all.

Lone-wolf terrorism, where a self-radicalized individual who is not a formal member of a terrorist group decides to conduct an attack on his or her own, has become one of the top concerns of the FBI. The Islamic State, however has only made the lone-wolf phenomenon worse by trading respect and membership in the caliphate for an attempted attack on a western target. Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, ISIL’s top spokesman and day-to-day manager, has incited young Muslim men in the West who may be tired of their circumstances to take matters into their own hands. No religious justification is necessary, Adnani argues, because the justification is always there. “Do not ask for anyone’s advice and do not seek anyone’s verdict. . . . Kill the disbeliever whether he is civilian or military, for they have the same ruling.”

To boil it down: the Islamic State is open for business to anyone who is able to kill a westerner. If the old Al Qaeda under Osama bin Laden was guarded and insular (cherry-picking the most dedicated and elite recruits for admission), the Islamic State under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is adopting a far less discriminatory tactic. Those who are willing to pick up a gun or a knife and kill an American, French or Brit are granted the entry into the organization. A recruit doesn’t need to possess special military training or advanced religious knowledge to become a servant of the caliphate; all that needs to be done is to show the fortitude to kill an infidel. 

Daniel R. DePetris is an analyst at Wikistrat, Inc., a geostrategic consulting firm, and a freelance researcher. He has also written for CNN.com, Small Wars Journal and The Diplomat.

Image: Flickr/Thierry Ehrmann