Examining ISIS Support and Opposition Networks on Twitter
September 18, 2023
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), like no other terrorist organization before, has used Twitter and other social media channels to broadcast its message, inspire followers, and recruit new fighters. Though much less heralded, ISIS opponents have also taken to Twitter to castigate the ISIS message. This report draws on publicly available Twitter ...
Documenting the Virtual ‘Caliphate’
September 18, 2023
The menace presented by Islamic State’s (IS) self-proclaimed ‘caliphate’ is uniquely challenging on a number of levels. Tactically, its military operations demand lateral thinking, since the group exists as a nebulous, swarming network constantly seeking to expand its reach. Strategically, too, it is pioneering new insurgent methods, establishing numerous, complex administrative and institutional foundations in ...
Becoming Mulan: Female Western Migrants to ISIS
September 18, 2023
The current flow of foreigners to Syria and Iraq is remarkable not only for its scale, but also for its inclusion of many women. Much has been written about the male fighters who migrate to engage in the conflict there; these fighters are prolific on social media and share details of their day-to-day experiences with ...
German Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq
September 18, 2023
This thesis examines why approximately 700 German foreign fighters traveled to Syria and Iraq between early 2012 and late 2015. It presents the author’s original research on 99 German foreign fighter profiles, examining their preexisting network connections in Germany as well as their biographical availability and integration into German society. The study finds that German ...
The ISIS Twitter Census: Defining and Describing the Population of ISIS Supporters on Twitter
September 18, 2023
The Islamic State, known as ISIS or ISIL, has exploited social media, most notoriously Twitter, to send its propaganda and messaging out to the world and to draw in people vulnerable to radicalisation. ...
De leefwereld en denkbeelden van Nederlandse en Belgische Syriëgangers: een analyse van elf Facebook-accounts
September 18, 2023
Content analysis of the posts from eleven Facebook accounts of known Dutch and Belgian foreign fighters (in Dutch). English summary is available here: http://leidensafetyandsecurityblog.nl/articles/foreign-fighters-on-social-media-an-analysis-of-11-facebook-accounts ...
The Virtual ‘Caliphate’: Understanding Islamic State’s Propaganda Strategy
September 18, 2023
For too long, the immensity of Islamic State’s propaganda machine has obscured a rational understanding of it. The organisation’s media strategists are producing high-definition depictions of the most abhorrent brutality on an industrial scale, ensuring that jihadism is digitalised and brought firmly into the 21st century. The days when we saw grainy video footage played ...