As Daesh adopts more desperate tactics, coalition forces must constantly adapt
UNIPATH STAFF | photos by AFP/GETTY IMAGES
It’s no secret that Daesh’s days on the battlefield are numbered: The terrorist group has lost vast swaths of territory in recent months, and Iraqi security forces have liberated Mosul, the group’s last major stronghold in Iraq.
As Daesh has grown more desperate, it has demonstrated a willingness to go to any length to cling to the territory. In Mosul, the group leveled critical infrastructure, using innocent civilians as human shields and rigging drones with explosive devices. That posed challenges to Iraqi and coalition forces fighting to liberate the densely populated city.
In a recent interview with Unipath, Iraqi Staff Gen. Talib Shaghati Alkenani noted Daesh’s attempts to “herd civilians into abandoned homes” to slow the advance of liberating forces.
On the run and rapidly losing territory, Daesh aimed to destroy Mosul’s infrastructure and kill as many people as possible before succumbing, the general said. The highly trained Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS), recognizing the need for precision operations to minimize civilian casualties, underwent specialized training in urban warfare and restricted the use of heavy weapons. It also sought coalition air support for the reconnaissance and targeting of Daesh drones. With the addition of new sensors, platforms and guidance technologies, Hellfire missiles can now track ground targets and deliver highly precise strikes from drones overhead.
Tackling drone swarms
Despite its limited resources, Daesh managed to pose a threat to coalition forces by attaching weapons to commercially available drones. These “killer bees” posed an immediate challenge, said Gen. Raymond A. Thomas III, commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM). Though they may not have the precision or lethality of modern weaponized drones, they can maim or kill. What’s more, these small drones are difficult to shoot out of the air.
Iraqi and coalition forces have taken multiple approaches to overcoming this obstacle. Newly developed technology that detects and jams drone signals is being used, and the shoulder-fired Stinger missile has been modified to target “small, elusive targets,” according to the news website Defense One. With a “proximity fuse” that detonates when an airborne target is detected nearby, the Stingers can now target drones in addition to aircraft and cruise missiles. At the same time, Iraqi Soldiers equipped remote-controlled devices with 40 mm grenades when using drones for reconnaissance and intelligence.
Effectively tackling Daesh’s drones has the additional benefit of weakening the group’s propaganda. The group has aggressively publicized its drone strikes, knowing they serve as a morale boost as the group loses territory in Iraq and Syria. The enemy’s use of drones was a “challenge to our forces” at first, senior CTS leader Staff Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil Arzouqi told Unipath in a recent interview. But “with the support and cooperation of our partners in the coalition, we overcame these obstacles.”
Bolstering cyber security
To combat the growing threat of cyber attacks from a variety of malign actors — and in many cases, having weathered potential Daesh attacks on their infrastructure and energy sectors — countries throughout the region have upped their cyber security training.
Oman, for one, has gained a reputation as a cyber security hub. The United Nations’ cyber security arm selected the Oman’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team (OCERT) in 2012 as the regional center for cyber security for 21 countries. In this position, Oman hosts frequent conferences, workshops and training exercises, and in 2017 sought training from the U.S.-based Raytheon company to implement a cyber education and training program through the Omani National Cyber Academy. In recent years, OCERT has also worked closely with the Ministry of Education to introduce information security curricula into its schools.
Omani cyber security experts have advocated a culture of awareness, warning that cyber attacks will likely intensify. “Attackers tend to underestimate countries in the Middle East,” said Saqib Ali, a professor at the Sultan Qaboos University’s Information Systems department. “They think the countries here are soft targets, but Oman’s prevention mechanisms are pretty good. A lot of people work behind the scenes in government. All the Omanis employed in this sector are experts in their field.”
Saudi Arabia, too, has been proactive in adapting to an evolving cyber threat. In May 2017, the U.S.-based SANS Institute hosted an inaugural cyber security training event in Riyadh, where attendees learned to develop effective security metrics, analyze and assess cyber risk, and create robust security programs.
Combating Daesh online: an ongoing challenge
When it comes to tackling Daesh’s online presence, coalition forces face an uphill battle. Though cyber weapons have been highly effective against fixed targets such as Iranian nuclear facilities, it has become clear that cyber warfare techniques must be refashioned for an enemy that exploits the internet largely to recruit and spread its propaganda, according to The New York Times. With these functions, the enemy can quickly bounce back after coalition forces freeze their computers or manipulate their data.
Though disruptions of Daesh activity are often only temporary, they can leave the enemy more vulnerable by forcing fighters to move to less secure communications. Other efforts — including locking Daesh propagandists out of their accounts or using the coordinates of their phones or computers to target them for attack — are repeated over several days for increased effectiveness. And on the battlefield, cyber operations have been closely integrated with Iraqi ground combat and allied air missions in Mosul and Raqqa.
“We’re either able to blind [Daesh] so they can’t see or make sure they can’t hear us,” Lt. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigan, the allied air commander, told The New York Times. “There are things we are doing both with space and cyber that are being effectively synchronized to achieve important effects even in Mosul and Raqqa.”
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