Encounter Battle: Engaging ISIL in Cyberspace
By Dr. Chris Bronk, Gregory S. Anderson
| July 31, 2018
Although the United States withdrew its last remaining combat forces from Iraq in December 2011, a significant insurgency spanning the territory of Iraq and Syria has evolved under a variety of names including the Islamic State, Islamic State in Syria (ISIS) and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)—for this work, we choose to employ the title ISIL. Since ISIL’s break with al-Qaeda in February 2014, it has become the chief standard-bearer of a Salafi jihadist movement set upon forming a trans-regional caliphate. In its activities, ISIL has extended its territorial reach across North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula as well as claiming credit for terror attacks from Belgium to Bangladesh. As much as a movement, ISIL is the contemporary brand for Jihadist insurgency in the Middle East and beyond.
Encounter Battle: Engaging ISIL in Cyberspace