After defeating Daesh in Iraq and Syria, coalition countries will need a successful communications strategy to keep the peace
UNIPATH STAFF
As Daesh is driven from cities in Iraq and Syria, coalition countries must turn their attention to the foreign fighters who flee the battlefield with instructions to fight another day. Tens of thousands of fighters now face a choice: Continue to follow Daesh’s twisted ideology by carrying out deadly attacks in the countries where they settle, or shun the false narratives spewed by terror sponsors and open their minds to reasonable voices that embrace unity and peace.
Identifying these indoctrinated fighters and reaching them with the right message will be essential in limiting the damage they inflict in the years after Daesh is defeated on the battlefield. Cooperation among coalition countries will be critical to the success of this effort.
Governments must share information about the movements of suspected terrorists and contribute to a global social media component that counters the misguided messages terror networks use to recruit followers. Private companies also play a role. Studies show recruitment by Daesh and other groups is severely disrupted when private social media companies seek out and disable accounts used to foment terror.
Equally important are the activities of anti-terror organizations. The Sawab Center and Hedayah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Counter Extremism Project, the Global Counter Terrorism Fund, and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund all take a universal approach to countering hateful messages and providing the tools to stem the flow of recruits to extremist organizations. Millions of people displaced by war and frustrated with life in refugee camps might become vulnerable to the false promises of Daesh and other terror groups.
In April 2016, Jordan signed an agreement with the United States to expand a joint effort that targets online messaging by extremist groups. The partnership focuses on “presenting independent voices from Jordan and across the region that will amplify moderate and constructive narratives and a positive and peaceful vision of the future,” The Jordan Times reported.
It’s part of His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein’s long-term ideological approach to counter terrorism. “If we don’t look at it from a holistic point of view and realize that this is a global threat which brings us all together, then we will never get it right,” he said.
Saudi Arabia created a center for interfaith dialogue to foster harmony among the world’s religions and helped establish the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Center. Speaking in Istanbul during the 13th Islamic Summit Conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in April 2016, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz urged solidarity and unity among Muslims.
“Our reality today requires us all to come together more than ever to fight the scourge of terrorism and to protect the young generation from being under its fierce attack, which aims to remove it from the logic of the true faith and be driven by those who are wreaking havoc under the name of religion,” King Salman said.
Altered state
Daesh’s mastery of social media went virtually unchallenged early in its existence. By 2014, as it occupied territory in Syria and Iraq, its misleading messaging resonated with disaffected people across the Middle East and beyond.
Images of invincibility were wrapped around ancient religious prophecies. Daesh promised to create a place where Muslims could be safe and practice the purest form of Islam. While its videos of grotesque violence garnered media attention, the terror group also pushed a false narrative about a functioning caliphate. Of the more than 9,000 Daesh visual media releases analyzed in a report by the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at the U.S. Military Academy, more than half focused on governance and the importance of religious practices. It created phony images of families living normal lives in the caliphate.
By the time Mosul and Fallujah fell to the terrorists, tens of thousands of recruits from as many as 100 countries had answered the call to join. But as Daesh’s atrocities piled up, and coalition forces began defeating its fighters on the battlefield, the number of recruits dropped precipitously, along with the content and volume of its messages.
Talk of creating a divine caliphate was replaced by calls for attacks against innocent people in coalition countries. And, according to the CTC report, Daesh’s release of propaganda peaked in August 2015 with the release of 700 separate media products that month. In August 2016, fewer than 200 products were released. “In short, the monolithic image of the caliphate is an illusion,” the CTC concluded.
Coalition countries must magnify that message and others when reaching out to brainwashed recruits — and their children and widows — after winning the territorial battles in Iraq and Syria. This underground population’s capacity to inflict casualties, or to recruit and train others to commit atrocities, constitutes an ever-present threat against all peaceful nations.
“The war in Syria and Iraq has created a significant cohort of lethally trained and networked fighters,” said a Lowy Institute for International Policy report. “These individuals pose a threat not only to the countries to which they return, but all countries whose citizens travel and trade in the international system.”
What comes next?
What can be done going forward? In a 2016 speech, Alberto M. Fernandez, vice president of the Middle East Media Research Institute and former coordinator of the Strategic Counterterrorism Communications office at the U.S. State Department, urged governments to view Daesh as “a political problem with a media dimension and not the other way around.”
He encouraged information campaigns that highlight the stories of Daesh survivors, bringing life to the atrocities. Few dispute that Daesh’s followers are emotionally disturbed killers, he said, and they should be portrayed in that manner.
A Rand Corp. analysis raises similar points. It called on Twitter to continue its campaign of suspending the accounts of those propagating terror. “This campaign likely harasses ISIS [Daesh] Twitter users,” the Rand report said. “It forces them to lose valuable time reacquiring followers, and may ultimately push some to use social media channels that are far less public and accessible than Twitter.”
Another technique, as Dr. Sam Mullins of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies wrote in an essay for Unipath, is to reveal the hypocrisy of their acts compared to their words. “Showcase the reality of life inside a terrorist organization, in contrast to the glossy propaganda and naïve expectations of recruits,” he wrote. He added that education and employment opportunities can also play an important role.
Dr. Hussein Alawi, chairman and founder of the AKKAD Center for Strategic Affairs and Future Studies in Iraq, suggests a need for programs that supplement anti-terror information campaigns, in some cases using a focus on citizenship and national unity. “Build operational, intellectual, judicial, developmental and social lessons to re-instill humanitarian, national and social values in the hearts and minds of those affected by extremist and takfiri ideas,” he wrote.
In October 2016, the Abu Dhabi-based anti-terror center Hedayah launched “Creative Minds for Social Good,” a public-private initiative with Facebook and the U.S. State Department, to counter terrorist propaganda by creating positive online content and promoting credible voices in the Middle East. Experts from advertising, creative, digital and production companies served as advisors on the project. “This pioneering initiative recognizes the growing vital role of communications, particularly social media platforms,” said Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, chairman of Hedayah’s steering board.
Along those same lines, the U.S. is taking an online marketing approach to reaching specific audiences, putting messages on Facebook that target people who have indicated by their online activities that they may be considering extremist ideology. When certain words or phrases are searched that reveal an interest in Daesh or other groups, Google posts ads on the page that link to anti-terror YouTube messages.
Organizations
Governments committed to battling the social media onslaught from violent extremist groups can seek guidance from countries and organizations that have created successful counterterror messaging programs.
The UAE is home to the Sawab Center, the multinational online messaging and engagement program. The center uses direct engagement to counter terrorist propaganda and amplify tolerant voices from across the region in contrast to the hatemongering by Daesh and other terror organizations.
In addition, the UAE established Hedayah to encourage religious moderation and has engaged in the “Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies,” which brings together leading scholars to promote an accurate understanding of Islam.
In September 2011, the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) was created in New York to help countries develop a long-term approach to preventing violent extremist ideologies from spreading. The forum works with partners around the globe to identify critical civilian needs to effectively counter terrorism, mobilize the necessary expertise and resources to address those needs, and enhance global cooperation.
A key GCTF goal is to support the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, including the Secretary-General’s Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism presented to the U.N. General Assembly in January 2016.
Additionally, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), a nonprofit, international policy organization, was formed to help confront extremist groups worldwide. Run by former government officials, policymakers and experts, the group develops counterterror strategies. Among its activities, the CEP conducts media campaigns to counter extremist ideology and disrupt messaging and recruiting. Also, the Global Engagement and Resilience Fund, established in 2014, raises money in support of local anti-extremist initiatives. The group harnesses public and private resources to support community-based projects that help turn people away from extremist agendas.
In Saudi Arabia, the nongovernmental Sakinah campaign, supported by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, uses Islamic scholars who oppose terrorism to interact online with seekers of religious knowledge.
And in Afghanistan, the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program ushers insurgents away from the battlefield so they may renounce violence, pledge support to the Afghan Constitution and rejoin their fellow Afghans with dignity.
Conclusion
These organizations and others are helping to shatter the mystique Daesh and other terror organizations cultivate across the internet. Recent studies show the volume of anti-Daesh content on the internet now outpaces pro-Daesh propaganda by an overwhelming margin.
But it will take a sustained effort by government and private organizations to keep extremist groups from resonating with people who might be susceptible to their false messages. As the CTC found: “The emerging array of counter-messaging efforts needs not only to be endowed with sufficient resources and, where appropriate, political support, but also must have a sufficient amount of flexibility and innovative spirit. The need for both resources and flexibility suggests the importance of a public-private partnership in attacking the Islamic State’s propaganda activities.”
Or as the Marshall Center’s Dr. Mullins wrote: “For too long, terrorists have been given free rein to spread propaganda and ideas, more or less uncontested. That is no longer the case, and the chorus of voices against violent extremism and terrorism is gradually rising.” He adds, “The road ahead will not be easy, but it is one we must commit to nonetheless.”
A sample of government-sponsored & independent programs to counter extremist propaganda
Sawab Center
This multinational online messaging and engagement program is based in the UAE.
The Combating Terrorism Center
This academic institution operates from the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.
Global Counterterrorism Forum
Based in the Netherlands, it helps countries develop a long-term approach to prevent the spread of violent extremist ideologies.
Counter Extremism Project
This nongovernmental organization combats the narrative of extremists and disrupts their online recruitment and support network.
Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies
Based in the UAE, the forum brings together leading scholars to promote an accurate understanding of Islam.
Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund
Based in Switzerland, the fund raises money in support of local anti-extremist initiatives.
Sakinah Campaign
Based in Saudi Arabia, the campaign uses Islamic scholars to spread a message of tolerance online and steer individuals away from extremist messages.
Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program
This organization helps transition terrorists away from violence and toward peace.
Hedayah
The UAE-based center is devoted to countering extremism by promoting religious moderation.