[Photo by France24/Daesh Propaganda Video]
In The West, Daesh are known as ISIS/ISIL — The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria/The Levant. But they’re just violent, ignorant fanatics.
The Khawarij — The First Extremists
The first sect of Islam are extremists known as the Khawarij — which translates to “those who left.” On the surface they’re hyper-religious, seemingly engaged in nonstop acts of worship. The Khawarij faction formed during the reign of Ali ibn Talib (RA), the 4th Rashidun Caliph, because they didn’t consider him to be the rightful leader. A very knowledgeable Sahaba, Abdullah ibn Abbas (RA), debated with them and convinced 2,000 of the 6,000 Khawarijites to return back to Ali. The others were left to do as they please, long as they didn’t harm Ali’s people.
One day some of Khawarij butchered Ali’s citizens — including a pregnant woman. Since this extremist sect refused to give up the murderers, instead taking collective responsibility, Ali was forced to fight them. Ali’s troops won the war, but that wasn’t the end of the Khawarij. They devised a plan to assassinate Ali and two others — the Sahabas Amr ibn al-As (RA), and Mua’wiya ibn Abu Sufyan (RA). Ali was unfortunately killed by a poison dagger, but Amr ibn al-As and Mua’wiya survived — Mua’wiya founded the Umayyad Caliphate, a dynasty which succeed the Rashidun.
The Khawarji are said to continue existing in some fashion until the end of times. They have the same traits as the initial group who assassinated Ali — extreme views about Islam, especially against other Muslims, accompanied by deplorable acts.
A Brief History of Daesh’s Formation
The precursor group to Daesh was borne from the second US Invasion of Iraq. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi formed Al Qaeda in Iraq to fight against the US troops. After Zarqawi was killed in 2006, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi (Hamid Dawud Mohamed Khalil al-Zawi) took over and was in charge until the US killed him in 2010. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri) took over the leadership after Abu Omar’s death, and this group ultimately become known as Daesh. While both figures took on the surname of “al-Baghdadi,” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the more prolific figure and will be referenced here.
Daesh said it opposed Bashar al-Assad in Syria, but it regularly assassinated Syrian Resistance commanders. They also took over Resistance controlled territories, which strengthened Assad and weakened the opposition. The ranks of Daesh include Saddam Hussein loyalists, and foreign members outside of Iraq and Syria. Daesh has targeted Muslims who don’t ideologically align with them and non-Muslims — the group is known to attack children, women, and journalists. Daesh’s actions tend to aid global and regional powers who seek to divide the Middle East.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Al Qaeda in Iraq
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (Ahmad Fadil Nazal al-Khalayleh) grew up in Zarqa, Jordan and spent his youth in-and-out of prison. After being released in 1999, he traveled to Kandahar, Afghanistan to meet Osama bin Laden. Zarqawi formed the group known as Al Qaeda in Iraq in 2004, which was connected to bin Laden’s group. Al Qaeda in Iraq attacked multiple civilian targets including the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, the UN headquarters in Baghdad, and various NGOs throughout Iraq. The US used Zarqawi to try and make a connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda — in an attempt to tie Saddam Hussein to 9/11, but no evidence for this was discovered.
One plan Zarqawi ran by senior Al Qaeda leadership was to attack a Shia religious site, but they rejected the idea. Zarqawi wanted the Shia to retaliate against Sunni Muslims, and Sunnis would be forced to ally with Al Qaeda to fight back.
“Many of your Muslim admirers are wondering about your attacks on the Shia. The sharpness of this questioning increases when the attacks are on one of their mosques … My opinion is this matter won’t be acceptable to the Muslim populace, however much you try to explain it, and aversion to this will continue.” – Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden deputy, wrote in a July 2005 letter to Zarqawi
https://archive.ph/yrouD#selection-1155.0-1155.307
Despite this, Zarqawi still attacked the Golden Dome in Samarra, Iraq on February 22, 2006. This caused the sectarian war he hoped for.
Zarqawi was killed by a US Air Force air strike in June 2006, and after his death members of Al Qaeda in Iraq broke away. They merged with other groups and Daesh was eventually established.
Al-Baghdadi — First Official Head of Daesh
Al-Baghdadi was born Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri in 1971, in the city of Tobchi, Iraq. He joined Al Qaeda in Iraq in 2005, and took over in 2010 — the group was now known as Daesh. Al-Baghdadi expanded the group into Syria, and at its height in 2015 it controlled an area in Iraq and Syria roughly the size of the UK — it also managed to recruit 40,000 foreign members to its cause.
During al-Baghdadi’s leadership they claimed responsibility for attacks across Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, the US, and the UK. Daesh was known for attacking Shia areas in Iraq, and also conducting bombings in northeast Syria. Al-Baghdadi also attacked the group al-Nusra Front, a Syrian chapter of Al Qaeda in 2013. US military sources claim he was killed via self-detonated suicide vest in Oct 2019.
US Ties to Daesh
Russian Army General Valery Gerasimov claims the US rebranded Daesh fighters under a new banner to fight against Bashar al-Assad — Russia was a military ally of Assad during the Syrian conflict. Gerasimov says Daesh fighters from Al-Shaddadi were moved to a US deconfliction zone in Al-Tanf for training. While the US denies this, a UK Conflict Armaments Research report discovered a large number of weapons transferred from the US to Syrian groups reached Daesh’s hands. The BBC also revealed the US-backed SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) made a deal with Daesh to release hundreds, possibly thousands, of Daesh members.
This wouldn’t be the first time the US worked with extremist groups. The Yakuza worked with the US to impose order in Japan post-WWII. The US supported dictator Augusto Pinochet after he overthrew Chile’s democratically elected leader, President Salvador Allende, and the US has supported far-right death squads throughout Latin America. The US also worked with a Colombian paramilitary group known as Los Pepes, who used brutal methods to fight against Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel — Los Pepes was backed by the rival Cali Cartel. And Osama bin Laden was part of the US-backed Afghan group which fought the Soviets during their invasion of Afghanistan.
Isr–l and Daesh
During the Syrian conflict, the opposition against Bashar al-Assad was treated in Isr–li hospitals. Patients included the Syrian Resistance, civilians, and potentially members of Daesh and Al Qaeda linked groups. Isr–l didn’t question the identities of these people, not knowing what their role in Syria was, but mainly treated them due to Iran and Hezbollah fighting for Assad. Iran and the Lebanese group are enemies of Isr–l, so it can be interpreted as an “enemy of my enemy is my friend” type of scenario.
There was also an incident of a Daesh linked group targeting Isr–li forces in the Golan Heights of Syria. Moshe Ya’alon, former Isr–li Defense Minister, says Daesh apologized for accidentally attacking the IOF, and they, “appreciate [Isr–l’s] military superiority.” The Golan Heights are in southern Syria and have been occupied by Isr–l since the 1980s. During the initial research for this article (November 2024 – December 2024), Isr–l has been bombing and expanding further into Syria — since Bashar fled the country.
Ephraim Benjamin — A Mossad Agent Joins Daesh
An undercover Mossad agent known as Ephraim Benjamin was arrested by Libyan authorities in 2017. He infiltrated a Daesh faction in Benghazi, and went by the name Abu Hafs. This spy became an imam at a prominent mosque, and during his time in Daesh he rose to the rank of commander with 200 fighters under him. Ephraim was chosen for his Arabic fluency and Arab looking physical features. Isr–lis who can pass as Arabs have also been known to infiltrate pro-Palestine organizations with the intention of arresting or even assassination activists.
Daesh in Recent Times
Daesh’s power since al-Baghdadi’s time has significantly decreased, but the group still exists in some form. Before Daesh, the group known as Al Qaeda was the high profile extremist faction. Al Qaeda considered Zarqawi’s methods too severe, Daesh was formed after his death. Members of Daesh splintered off to form their own fanatical groups. There are suspicions of a currently well-known organization taking on the Khawarij mantle, but there true objectives are yet to be seen.
