Publication

This brief makes ten observations on the activities of and support for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq in June 2014, along with some predictions about what the group may do next. Some of observations are that 1) paramilitary ISIL operations in Iraq have been hugely aided by Ba’athist, clan and other paramilitary groups; 2) ISIL has been a catalyst for a more general anti-regime revolt and may not be fully in charge of captured territory; and 3) ISIL will consolidate while seeking to provoke, an apparently contradictory approach that actually makes sense from its perspective.