BEYOND SYRIA IRAQ

About the Workshop
The crusaders and their apostate clients are under the illusion that, by expanding
the scope of their military campaign to include, in addition to the provinces of
Iraq and Sham, the provinces of Khorasan, the Sinai, and West Africa, as well as
the Libyan provinces, they will be able to eliminate all of the Islamic State’s provinces
at once, such that it will be completely wiped out and no trace of it will be
left. In this, they are neglecting an important fact, which is that the whole world
after the announcement of the Caliphate’s return has changed from how it was
before its return, and that by building plans and developing strategies in view of
a previous reality, they are making plans for a world that no longer exists at present,
and will not exist in the future, God willing.
—al-Naba, The Crusaders’ Illusions in the Age of the Caliphate
IN NOVEMBER 2014, the Islamic State (IS) announced the addition of new
provinces outside its core territory in Syria and Iraq. Over the next year
and a half, the fortunes of these affiliated groups—some preexisting, others
not—varied considerably. The international community became greatly
concerned that IS would be able to replicate the strengths of its “core” in
Libya—perhaps the most “successful” province, based on a steady stream of
seasoned jihadists from Syria and Iraq and access to substantial resources—
and to undermine stability in North Africa.
On June 9, 2016, The Washington Institute convened a group of scholars
and practitioners focused on the Islamic State and its global affiliates for a oneday
workshop to discuss the rise of these so-called IS provinces. The Chatham
House Rule event gave scholars and practitioners an opportunity to compare
and contrast IS provinces, both within the Arab world (in Libya, Yemen, Sinai,
and the Hejaz) and beyond (Caucasus, Afghanistan/Pakistan, and Nigeria).
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