I regularly read publicly available ISIS rags in order to keep abreast of what they are up to, and what the world looks like from their perspective. One of the most informative, and widely available (despite US government efforts to keep it from reaching general circulation and sounding the alarm) is an e-magazine called "Rumiya" ( formerly known as "Dabiq").
That slick magazine has a regular feature instructing wannabe caliphateers in how to conduct attacks in "enemy" (that's us) territory. A couple months ago, it was a single page advertising the upcoming ISIS Sarin attack on a civilian population (which, paradoxically, got blamed on the Syrian government). Other subjects have included how to proceed with a knife attack, and how to operate a vehicular attack, all of which have come to pass.
In the most recent issue as of this writing (Issue 9), the how-to section has been considerably expanded from a single page to seven full pages (from page 46 to page 51) And is titled "Just Terror Tactics - Hostage Taking". That is what we need to be watching for an outbreak of next. However, to ISIS "Hostage Operations" are not what we would traditionally consider as hostage operations in the civilized world. The article makes plain that maximum hostages should be taken, but that the vast majority of them should be killed out of hand and as soon as possible after being taken, with just a token few to be kept on hand to influence hostage negotiations. In other words, to ISIS "hostage taking" is meant to promote maximum mayhem, death, and destruction rather than as bargaining chips for negotiations. Negotiations are not the priority, killing kafrs is.
The article goes on the advise operatives to take the victims in enclosed places for maximum control of the victims and easier killing of them while preventing escape. Depending on how many terrorists are involved, the number of exits are one of the controlling factors of site selection. Fewer exits are fewer escape routes for victims to exit the mayhem, and fewer egress points for the jihadis to have to cover, giving them more opportunity to kill kafrs without having to worry about the ones that get away, or preventing that. It also works out to fewer ingress points for an assault team to come through, thus bottle-necking their opposition into a manageable attack - more manageable to the jihadis (i.e. "defenders" in traditional parlance), anyhow.
It also advises to select crowded venues away from such things as celebrations, where law enforcement will have a large presence, and to time the attacks to coincide with such celebrations so that law enforcement is tied up elsewhere, and will necessarily have a lag in response time getting to the attack site. So, in contradiction to current established thought in the civilized world, it looks like such celebratory gatherings will actually be safer than, for instance, a shopping mall across town from them. This means that during holidays, it will likely be safer to attend the celebration gatherings than it will be to attend non-celebration gatherings some distance from them. If those non-celebratory gatherings are in enclosed spaces, the danger factor is going to be elevated, since that is a selection criteria for target sites.
The article advises to kill as many kafrs as possible before the law enforcement elements can regroup, arrive, and engage, and to use just a minimum number of survivors to buy time in the negotiations. The end objective is not to release any of the hostages, nor for the ISIS operatives to survive the encounter. In the end, they intend for nothing but dead bodies to remain on-target, including their own. This means that negotiations are useless, and should be used by civilized forces ONLY as a means of buying a little (very little) time to position elements for an assault. That's the ONLY way any of those "hostages" are going to escape alive. Forget talking the enemy down - that's not going to happen, and any agency who thinks it is will be riding for a fall, with lots of dead hostages who may have been saved otherwise. To ISIS, "negotiations" are merely to lure law enforcement in so that they may be engaged. ISIS intends for none of the hostages nor the operatives to make it out alive.
Civilized world "rapid response teams" are going to have to practice for more rapid deployment than is the current norm, and they are going to have to include a negotiator element ONLY as a means of buying time for staging assault elements to unexpected postitions, not as a serious bargaining tool.
The article also gives advice on inflicting mass casualties on victims serially, rather than concurrently. it advises to do so by renting kill zones and then advertising them for rent to others, so that the jihadi can kill them one at a time as they show up to look over the "rental" premises. That section advises having an enclosed space to lure the victims into and prevent their escape prior to killing them, and to have an area on the premises to hide the bodies, to avoid alerting subsequent victims. The same section mentions the utility of "Craig's List" ads in luring victims into the kill zone.
Be forewarned, and avoid traps such as these in the near future.
Other running threads in this current issue are counseling patience in the face of adversity, which indicates that ISIS is having it's ass handed to it in it's core territories, and they are trying to bolster the confidence of the losing ISIS fighters to keep them from deserting. ISIS has had a problem with desertion in the past few months since the tide has turned against them.
Also, there is a running theme against Christians and Jews which is more prevalent than it has been. The Coptic Christians are characterized as "belligerent Christians" for having the temerity to defend themselves against ISIS assaults... imagine that - the DEFENDERS are being characterized as "belligerents" ! This is to justify the unprovoked ISIS assaults against the Copts in Egypt for the benefit of ISIS supporters. Yet another running theme is "justification" against Shi'ite Muslims for genocide against them by ISIS elements.
There is also a promotion of ISIS operations in "East Asia" (i.e. the southern Philippines), and together with rumors that a scared al-Baghdadi is looking at the Philippines closely, may indicate a potential move of ISIS core territory from the middle east, where it is having it's ass handed to it and is rapidly losing territory, to establish itself in the area around Mindanao, where Islamic Jihadi Guerrillas have long been operation and are fairly well established.
Forewarned is fore-armed. Use this analysis as you wish, or don't. Your destiny is ultimately up to only your self.
.
That slick magazine has a regular feature instructing wannabe caliphateers in how to conduct attacks in "enemy" (that's us) territory. A couple months ago, it was a single page advertising the upcoming ISIS Sarin attack on a civilian population (which, paradoxically, got blamed on the Syrian government). Other subjects have included how to proceed with a knife attack, and how to operate a vehicular attack, all of which have come to pass.
In the most recent issue as of this writing (Issue 9), the how-to section has been considerably expanded from a single page to seven full pages (from page 46 to page 51) And is titled "Just Terror Tactics - Hostage Taking". That is what we need to be watching for an outbreak of next. However, to ISIS "Hostage Operations" are not what we would traditionally consider as hostage operations in the civilized world. The article makes plain that maximum hostages should be taken, but that the vast majority of them should be killed out of hand and as soon as possible after being taken, with just a token few to be kept on hand to influence hostage negotiations. In other words, to ISIS "hostage taking" is meant to promote maximum mayhem, death, and destruction rather than as bargaining chips for negotiations. Negotiations are not the priority, killing kafrs is.
The article goes on the advise operatives to take the victims in enclosed places for maximum control of the victims and easier killing of them while preventing escape. Depending on how many terrorists are involved, the number of exits are one of the controlling factors of site selection. Fewer exits are fewer escape routes for victims to exit the mayhem, and fewer egress points for the jihadis to have to cover, giving them more opportunity to kill kafrs without having to worry about the ones that get away, or preventing that. It also works out to fewer ingress points for an assault team to come through, thus bottle-necking their opposition into a manageable attack - more manageable to the jihadis (i.e. "defenders" in traditional parlance), anyhow.
It also advises to select crowded venues away from such things as celebrations, where law enforcement will have a large presence, and to time the attacks to coincide with such celebrations so that law enforcement is tied up elsewhere, and will necessarily have a lag in response time getting to the attack site. So, in contradiction to current established thought in the civilized world, it looks like such celebratory gatherings will actually be safer than, for instance, a shopping mall across town from them. This means that during holidays, it will likely be safer to attend the celebration gatherings than it will be to attend non-celebration gatherings some distance from them. If those non-celebratory gatherings are in enclosed spaces, the danger factor is going to be elevated, since that is a selection criteria for target sites.
The article advises to kill as many kafrs as possible before the law enforcement elements can regroup, arrive, and engage, and to use just a minimum number of survivors to buy time in the negotiations. The end objective is not to release any of the hostages, nor for the ISIS operatives to survive the encounter. In the end, they intend for nothing but dead bodies to remain on-target, including their own. This means that negotiations are useless, and should be used by civilized forces ONLY as a means of buying a little (very little) time to position elements for an assault. That's the ONLY way any of those "hostages" are going to escape alive. Forget talking the enemy down - that's not going to happen, and any agency who thinks it is will be riding for a fall, with lots of dead hostages who may have been saved otherwise. To ISIS, "negotiations" are merely to lure law enforcement in so that they may be engaged. ISIS intends for none of the hostages nor the operatives to make it out alive.
Civilized world "rapid response teams" are going to have to practice for more rapid deployment than is the current norm, and they are going to have to include a negotiator element ONLY as a means of buying time for staging assault elements to unexpected postitions, not as a serious bargaining tool.
The article also gives advice on inflicting mass casualties on victims serially, rather than concurrently. it advises to do so by renting kill zones and then advertising them for rent to others, so that the jihadi can kill them one at a time as they show up to look over the "rental" premises. That section advises having an enclosed space to lure the victims into and prevent their escape prior to killing them, and to have an area on the premises to hide the bodies, to avoid alerting subsequent victims. The same section mentions the utility of "Craig's List" ads in luring victims into the kill zone.
Be forewarned, and avoid traps such as these in the near future.
Other running threads in this current issue are counseling patience in the face of adversity, which indicates that ISIS is having it's ass handed to it in it's core territories, and they are trying to bolster the confidence of the losing ISIS fighters to keep them from deserting. ISIS has had a problem with desertion in the past few months since the tide has turned against them.
Also, there is a running theme against Christians and Jews which is more prevalent than it has been. The Coptic Christians are characterized as "belligerent Christians" for having the temerity to defend themselves against ISIS assaults... imagine that - the DEFENDERS are being characterized as "belligerents" ! This is to justify the unprovoked ISIS assaults against the Copts in Egypt for the benefit of ISIS supporters. Yet another running theme is "justification" against Shi'ite Muslims for genocide against them by ISIS elements.
There is also a promotion of ISIS operations in "East Asia" (i.e. the southern Philippines), and together with rumors that a scared al-Baghdadi is looking at the Philippines closely, may indicate a potential move of ISIS core territory from the middle east, where it is having it's ass handed to it and is rapidly losing territory, to establish itself in the area around Mindanao, where Islamic Jihadi Guerrillas have long been operation and are fairly well established.
Forewarned is fore-armed. Use this analysis as you wish, or don't. Your destiny is ultimately up to only your self.
.
Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’