‘Makers of Epics 7’: Significance of the timing of new ISIS broadcast on Syria and Iraq

Mohamed Yosry

ISIS has broadcast a new video about its operations in Syria, the seventh in its series entitled “The Makers of Epics”, and the events of this latest version focused on a number of Syrian governorates, especially Deir Ezzor and Daraa, despite the significant decline in its operations within the areas of influence of the Syrian Democratic Forces SDF), in an attempt by the terrorist organization to prove its continued activity in those areas. This raises questions about the timing of the new broadcast and the aim of focusing on the SDF and the Syrian regime.

Broadcast details

The video broadcast by ISIS through its media platforms on Telegram on Sunday, June 25 included a review of a number of operations it carried out in Syria, which consisted of storming military headquarters of both the SDF and the Syrian Arab Army using light weapons and explosive devices, targeting individuals and military vehicles in the vicinity of the governorates of Daraa and Deir Ezzor.

The video then moved to carrying out revenge operations against loyalists of the SDF and the Syrian regime, in addition to a number of loyalists to the factions linked to Iran, whom the organization considers spies for its enemies, which necessitated their liquidation using methods of slaughter or shooting in the head directly after pressuring the victims to extract confessions from them in a coercive manner, such that their last words were regret for cooperating with the enemies of the terrorist organization before they were slaughtered. The broadcast also included the executions of four people belonging to the Alawite sect in the eastern countryside of Hama.

Absence of leaders

What is noticeable in “The Makers of Epics 7” is noticeable the voice commentary of the organization’s spokesperson, whose identity is not yet known, and neither is the identity of the organization’s new leader after Turkey announced the killing of the fourth ISIS leader at the end of last April. The broadcast also lacked the use of the words of the organization’s former leaders, raising questions about this change in the output of visual broadcasts, which came this time in a weaker form.

The broadcast came in light of the noticeably weak pace of the organization’s operations since the beginning of this year, as the screws are being tightened on it, whether by the US-led coalition forces, which also extends into Iraq, or by the SDF.

Significance and indicators

ISIS has recently been living in a state of disequilibrium after the painful blows it suffered and the killing of four of its leaders within four years, including three in less than two years, the last of which was the fourth leader, who did not last in his position for more than five months.

This situation began since the killing of the organization’s first leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in 2018 at the hands of the American forces, followed by the organization’s attempt to hide the true identity of its next three leaders by using code names in order to protect them. But these attempts are no longer useful to the organization, putting ISIS in a critical situation in the event of an attempt to deny targeting the leaders of the organization and its steadfastness in the face of successive strikes.

The organization’s central leadership has now become just a symbolic case, as even the members of the organization’s Shura Council no longer have an influential presence in light of the lack of knowledge about their identities.

Consequently, the non-central leaderships in the different states replaced the central leadership, which has become a symbolic image only for the organization’s elements who have fallen into a severe dilemma that the organization’s leaders are trying to hide or justify with an unknown pledge of allegiance, as most of the organization’s elements do not know the exact personality of the leader since the killing of Baghdadi in 2018.

With this weak broadcast, the terrorist organization is trying to prove that it still has influence and is still active in the areas under the influence of the SDF and the Syrian regime. At the same time, it is not possible to ignore the use of the words of the organization’s historical leaders in the broadcast and the absence of the official ISIS spokesperson, which is something new compared to previous versions. This suggests that there is a new generation of terrorist members, in addition to the lack of agreement on the leaders of the second row within it, including the name and personality of its official spokesman, who has been considered the number two man after the leader since its founding.