"How ISIS Wages "Intelligence War"" Topic

The purpose of this piece is not to analyze tactical scenarios for possible developments on the ground, but rather to study a few cases of ISIS operations that are not strictly military, but focus instead on another of the organization's tactics, as a follow-up to last week's piece about the Caliphate's ground troops. The aim is to give the reader an insight into one of ISIS most potent weapons, one that has a direct bearing on the outcome of a battle, but one that remains mostly in the shadows, only to be seen by its results and effects.

In fact, ISIS' strategy for winning over cities like Ramadi earlier this month, or Mosul last year, is based a lot on what happens in the weeks and months before the actual military attack. This "intelligence war" that ISIS has mastered much more than combined arms in the conventional sense is interesting as so far as it could give a few pointers regarding how the organization might try to react to the government's offensive that is supposed to start soon.

turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2015/05/isis-a-black-hole-in-the-heart-of-the-middle-east-intelligence-war-and-the-counter-offensive-in-rama.html#more