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Four years ago, the global coalition to defeat the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) declared that its mission was accomplished. Indeed, ISIS was military defeated.
However, at least one element of the ISIS strategy is still gaining ground: creating polarisation in the West. This aim was to convince Muslims in the West that the only way to defend themselves is taking up arms and fight.
When Germany announced it would welcome 800,000 refugees, and football supporters held up signs saying “Refugees Welcome”, we saw panic on jihadist networks and this for the first time.
ISIS published 12 video messages in which it tried to convince Syrian refugees to come the Islamic State instead of ‘Islamophobic’ Europe.
It didn’t work. That was a devastating blow to ISIS’ strategy.
The following attacks by ISIS in European cities were meant to create chaos and through that an anti-refugee and an anti-Muslim environment in Europe.
Today we can conclude that the attacks by ISIS and the disinformation campaigns by ISIS, Russia and others have indeed succeeded in increasing fear for refugees and for Muslims in Europe.
