
Between 20, the group was infatuated with its mission to create a state. The total ISIS war chest is estimated at $25 million. Each cell consists of safe houses to hide leaders, a mailbox for messengers, a warehouse for weapons and ammunition and a war chest. Despite their enthusiastic use of these tactics, both Islamic State and al-Qaeda have failed.Īs the ISIS caliphate collapsed, its survivors set up sleeper cells in its former Syrian strongholds of Raqqa and Palmyra, and in smaller urban centers such as al-Bab. Bin Laden envisioned a global organization that condemns the “evil” and “impure” to summary executions. Radical jihadists have been forced to admit that the model devised by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed in 2011 by American forces, does not work.

Islamic State, also known as ISIS or Daesh, has reorganized itself since its military defeat in 2019, curtailing a 15-year run of terror in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. The Middle East, the cradle of armed jihadism, has become the scene of its mutation.

