Resources and territory unmatched in history of extremist organizations

Here's an unfolding story which has somehow slipped past while we've all been concentrating on Gaza. From the Washington Post:

What was recently a ragtag cadre of former al-Qaeda operatives has now morphed into a transnational, fully militarized and very rich operation said to control more than one-third of Syria’s territory. It makes al-Qaeda look like a bunch of wannabe jihadists.

It’s “worse than al-Qaeda,” Brett McGurk, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for Iraq and Iran, told lawmakers last month. It “is no longer simply a terrorist organization. It is now a full-blown army seeking to establish a self-governing state through the Tigris and Euphrates valley in what is now Syria and Iraq.”

Some accounts say it’s no longer seeking to do this — but has already done it....

But it’s not just the land itself. It’s what the land holds that suggests the true extent of the Islamic State’s power. It “now controls a volume of resources and territory unmatched in the history of extremist organizations,” wrote defense expert Janine Davidson of the Council of Foreign Relations. She added: “Should [the Islamic State] continue this pattern of consolidation and expansion, this terrorist ‘army’ will eventually be able to exert a destabilizing influence far beyond the immediate area.”

 

Comments

[Dom]

Apparently, ISIS battled the Kurds this past weekend and took three towns and the Mosul Dam, although more recent reports claim the dam is still in the hands of the Kurds. It's hard to keep track of this because everyone is focused on Israel and Hamas. It seems significant to me. First because the Kurds were well on the way to creating a largely secular society, and second because that's way to much to put in the hands of a group that literally crucifies infidels.

[Mick H]

It certainly is significant - especially if they have got hold of the Mosul Dam.