World Away From Syria Islamists in the Philippines pledged allegiance to ISIS, devastated a city and built a model for jihadists after the fall of Raqqa Linus Guardian Escandor II
https://www.wsj.com/articles/inside-islamic-states-other-grisly-war-a-world-away-from-syria-1508337872
MARAWI, Philippines—On the third day of his captivity, during one of the most violent jihadist rebellions outside the Middle East and Africa, Ronnel Samiahan watched Islamist militants make an example of a fellow hostage who had tried to break free.
After dragging the conscious man onto the street and pulling his head up by the hair, the militants began sawing at his neck with a knife. Five minutes later, the executioner thrust the severed head toward the remaining hostages, warning, “If you try to escape, this is what is going to happen to you,” recalled Mr. Samiahan, a Christian local laborer.
Islamist militants took over this city of 200,000 people in late May, modeling themselves on Islamic State, or ISIS. Philippine soldiers, assisted by the U.S. military, struggled to reclaim it.
Philippine authorities on Monday said two of the militants’ most senior leaders had been killed, including one on Washington’s list of most-wanted terrorists, and that it was a few days from securing the city. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday declared the city liberated.
The militants’ occupation—and the military’s siege—has left Marawi in ruins, with more than 1,000 soldiers, civilians and militants killed and many neighborhoods devastated by airstrikes. A few dozen militants remain in the city, the military said on Tuesday.
The Marawi battle shows how militant groups outside the Middle East and Africa are finding a template in Islamic State, not just as an exporter of terrorism, but also as a holder of territory. ISIS itself is looking for new beachheads having been pushed out of strongholds such as its de facto capital of Raqqa, Syria, which U.S.-backed forces said they captured this week.
“They look around the globe,” said Colin Clarke, a counterterrorism researcher at Rand Corp., a policy think tank. “They try to find a place where there is an ongoing insurgency, and they latch themselves onto that cause and exploit those local grievances.”
President Duterte has voiced concern that violence could spread from Marawi to other areas in the southern Philippines. Analysts say revenge or copycat attacks are likely to strike Manila or other Southeast Asian capitals.
In mid-2016, ISIS called on potential new recruits unable to join it in the Middle East to look to the Philippines. ISIS media agencies have promoted the Marawi conflict to their followers.
Behind the Battle
A brief history of the Marawi conflict and the Islamist groups that sparked it.
Sources: Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Government, Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict
“It will be difficult to replicate a similar urban assault like Marawi in the short term,” said Francisco J. Lara, Philippines country manager of peace-building agency International Alert. “But the threat of a similar attack in the future remains real.”
Marawi is on Mindanao island, long known as a haven for extremists, from communist guerrillas to separatist Muslims. The U.S. for years has kept a small special forces contingent on the island.
The militants in Marawi, known as the Maute after the brothers who led them, Omar and Abdullah Maute, received funds from ISIS and modeled many of their tactics on the group, Philippine officials say. Their goal was to create a caliphate, or Islamic kingdom, with fighters from abroad including Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, these officials say.
Marawi was once a relatively prosperous trading hub, surrounded by hills and a lake. It is predominantly Muslim, with the minarets and domes of mosques. There is a small Catholic minority.
The siege
The tale of the Marawi battle—told by the Philippine military and witnesses on the ground, including former hostages—shows how ISIS-inspired militants can quickly consume a city far from its base and supply lines in the Middle East.
Abdullah and Omar Maute
- Brothers based in and around Butig, a town near Marawi
- From a wealthy elite family with Middle East connections. Omar studied in Egypt and Abdullah, in Jordan
- In 2016, led a brief occupation of Butig and bombed a market in Davao City, southern Philippines
- Swore allegiance to Islamic State in April 2016
- Abdullah believed killed in August and Omar killed Oct. 16, Philippine authorities say
Isnilon Hapilon
- A faction leader of the extremist Abu Sayyaf Group, which allied with other pro-Islamic State groups including the Maute
- U.S. State Department has $5 million bounty on his capture
- Known for kidnappings, including of Americans in 2001
- Stronghold in Basilan island, southwest Philippines
- Swore allegiance to Islamic State in 2014
- Islamic State in 2016 declared Hapilon its “emir,” or ruler, in Southeast Asia
- Killed Oct. 16, Philippine authorities say
Sources: Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Government, Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict
It began May 23. Soldiers and police moved in on a house after receiving intelligence showing the Maute brothers and another militant leader, Isnilon Hapilon, were hiding there.
The military, which inadvertently interrupted a plan to occupy Marawi, found itself laying a siege that would last roughly five months. CONTINUE AT SITE
Comments are closed.
