Fully Revised & Updated Edition of the New York Times Bestselling and Highly Praised Book on ISIS With newly added material and breaking news including: —Interview with a former ISIS spymaster —Why ISIS is targeting Europe and the US —What Russia wants in Syria —Revelations on the brutal ideology of ISISWith brutal attacks in last year across the globe—Brussels, Paris, Beirut, Egypt, Turkey—the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has proved itself the greatest terrorist threat in the world today. They have conquered massive territories in Syria and Iraq in a bid to create a new Muslim caliphate under the strict dictates of Sharia law. In this fully revised and updated edition of ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, American journalist Michael Weiss and Syrian analyst Hassan Hassan explain how these violent extremists evolved from a nearly defeated Iraqi insurgent group into a jihadi army of international volunteers who, with slickly produced murder videos, are spreading violence and mayhem across the globe. Beginning with the early days of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of ISIS's first incarnation, Weiss and Hassan explain who the key players are—from their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to the former Saddam Baathists in their ranks—where they come from, how they have attracted both local and global support, and how they operate—from their social media strategy to their illicit oil revenues. As money and matériel continue to flow into the region to combat the ISIS's spreading terror, other forces—Assad's regime, Russian planes, Iranian Quds Forces, and other Shiite militias—are gaining power and using the fight against ISIS as a means to leverage their agenda in the region. Political and military maneuvering by the United States, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Russia have fueled ISIS's explosive expansion. In five new chapters, the authors delve further into the inner workings of the Army of Terror and what it is like to live under their ever-tightening rule. With invaluable and exclusive insider information, the authors explore the Islamic State's enigmatic recruitment and training methods, the impact of their military successes and failures, and how they structure and empower home-grown cells worldwide to carry out their terror. Drawing on original interviews with former US military officials and current ISIS fighters—and brand-new interviews with a former ISIS spy, as well as Kurdish and Yazidi survivors of the ISIS's assault on northern Iraq—the authors reveal the internecine struggles within the movement itself, as well as ISIS's bloody hatred of Shiite Muslims, which is generating another sectarian war in the region. A new generation of terror has dawned in the world and to understand how to stop it, we must understand who they are.

Weiss, Michael (Michael Douglas), author; Hassan, Hassan, 1982- author

Weiss, Michael, Hassan, Hassan, Michael Weiss

Second edition ; revised and updated, New York, 2016

United States, United States of America

Second edition, New York, NY, 2015

Updated, Revised, 2016-03-29

xviii, 411 pages : 24 cm
In ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, Syrian journalist Hassan Hassan and American analyst Michael Weiss explain how the terrorists of ISIS evolved from a nearly defeated insurgent group into a jihadi army--armed with American military hardware and the capability to administer a functioning state. Weiss and Hassan, who have both been on the frontlines of the Syrian revolution, have interviewed dozens of experts, American military and intelligence officials, and ISIS fighters to paint the first comprehensive picture of the rise and expansion of America's most formidable terrorist enemy
Hardcover edition has a map on the endpapers
Includes bibliographical references (pages 367-402) and index
Introduction -- 1. Founding father : Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi's jihad -- 2. Sheikh of the slaughterers : Al-Zarqawi and Al-Qaeda in Iraq -- 3. The management of savagery : birth of the Islamic State of Iraq -- 4. Agents of chaos : Iran and Al-Qaeda -- 5. The awakening : Iraqis turn on ISI -- 6. Withdrawal symptoms : ISI and Al-Maliki wait out the United States -- 7. Assad's proxy : Syria and Al-Qaeda -- 8. Rebirth : Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi takes over-- 9. Revolution betrayed : jihad comes to Syria --10. Divorce : Al-Qaeda splits from Isis -- 11. Converts and "five-star jihadists" : the management of hype -- 12. From Twitter to Dabiq : recruiting the new mujahidin --13. Shakedown of the sheikhs : ISIS co-opts the tribes -- 14. Al-Dawla : the Islamic "state" sleeper cells -- 15. Loyalty and disloyalty : Isis ideology in theory and practice -- 16. Back to Iraq : Isis comes home -- 17. At war in Syria : remaining, if not expanding -- 18."we will conquer your Rome" : a year of Isis terrorism -- 19. Confessions of an Isis spy : a meeting in Istanbul --Epilogue

"How did a group of religious fanatics, clad in black pajamas and armed to the teeth, manage to carve out a violent, fundamentalist "Islamic state" in wide swaths of Syria and Iraq? How did the widely celebrated revolution against Syrian dictator Bashar Assad descend into a movement led by a psychopathically violent band of Jihadists dedicated to the destruction of America? And just who are these brutal Islamic militants--many speaking unaccented English and holding European passports--beheading Western hostages in slickly produced videos? In ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, Syrian journalist Hassan Hassan and American analyst Michael Weiss explain how the terrorists of ISIS evolved from a nearly defeated insurgent group into a jihadi army--armed with American military hardware and the capability to administer a functioning state. Weiss and Hassan, who have both been on the frontlines of the Syrian revolution, have interviewed dozens of experts, American military and intelligence officials, and ISIS fighters to paint the first comprehensive picture of the rise and expansion of America's most formidable terrorist enemy. ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror is destined to become the standard text on a terror group that, unfortunately, shows no signs of going away"-- Provided by publisher

2023-06-28