Media report for the Focus Group Discussion “The Future of Extremist Thought after Daesh and Mechanisms of Dealing with it”
The recent appearance of the leader of the Daesh organization, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, led to the return of debate over the future of this organization and extent of ability to renew its ranks once more and return to its old strategy of focusing on guerrilla warfare, or its ability to in the future turn to new strategies, such as “lone wolf attacks” or “sleeper cells” or even move to a new geographic locale.
While some insist that Daesh has ended geographically, others see that this extremist organization while remain alive in its ideology and thought and will still have the ability to polarize and recruit especially in burning conflict areas.
Seeing as the importance of this subject in the Syrian context, and seeing as how a large portion of those holding extremist ideas “the remains of Daesh, the elements and leadership of Hayet Tahrir al-Sham, etc.” have gathered in Northern Syria, the Syrian Dialogue Center held in Istanbul, on Saturday, Shaban 29 1440/May 4, 2019, a focus group discussion under the title of “The Future of Extremist Thought after Daesh and Mechanism of Dealing with it.” It was attended by a number of activists, politicians, researchers and academics specialized in Sharia studies.
The participants discussed the future mechanisms of Daesh, the possibilities of it renewing military or intellectual activity within Syria, as the group also presented the effects of declaring the end of Daesh after the battle of Baghouz and the social, intellectual, security and political effects of this announcement on Syria. The participants concluded their discussion with suggesting a number of tools and means that would fortify Syrian society in its confrontation with extremist organizations and their ideas.
مؤسسة بحثية سورية تسعى إلى الإسهام في بناء الرؤى والمعارف بما يساعد السوريين على إنضاج حلول عملية لمواجهة التحديات الوطنية المشتركة وتحقيق التنمية المستدامة
