Daesh’s strategy for the recruitment of Egyptians

“Daesh recruits pass by three stages. Sponsorship is the most important of these stages. After arriving in Turkey, new recruits seek an organization senior figure to sponsor them before they are allowed to enter areas under the organization’s control. Once inside the realm of the organization, new recruits undergo psychological tests and then receive training before they are given different tasks.“

Introduction

Daesh works to have presence everywhere. To do this, it tries to attract recruits in each geographical region, using a sophisticated discourse and attractive messages. The organization addresses people of all ages through the Internet and at the mosques. The messages usually focus on political and religious oppression.

To make the idea of the Islamic state more appealing, Daesh also highlights deteriorating economic and political conditions in the countries it targets. It uses a psychological factor, namely justification from the Islamic religion to the ideas it propagates.

The organization succeeded in increasing the number of its members in most countries. In Egypt, several radicals were released from prisons, especially in the wake of the 2011 revolution. These radicals included Aboud and Tariq al-Zomor, both leaders of Jamaa’a Islamiya who were involved in the 1981 assassination of the late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.

Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi, who spent only one year in power, also released a number of takfiris from prisons, including Abul Ela Abd Rabbuh, who killed the late Egyptian thinker Farag Fauda, and Mohamed al-Zawahiri, the brother of the current leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Those who wanted to join terrorist organizations in Syria also found it easy to travel to the war-torn Arab state during Morsi’s rule.

Daesh’s recruitment tools

Media

The media plays an intellectual role in Daesh’s political discourse. This discourse is mainly based on oppression as a claim and proofs from the religious texts. Daesh usually takes religious texts out of their original contexts to justify its actions. It always introduces itself as a defender of weak and vulnerable Muslims. In the context of Syria, Daesh claims that it defends Sunnis against the Bashar al-Assad regime and also against Syria’s Shiites. This is how Daesh is able to draw in recruits.

Daesh has developed a huge and frightening media machine. It uses the Internet to recruit fighters and publish news about its battles and “conquests”. Daesh also uses YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Templar. It recently penetrated the world of smart phone applications.

One Daesh’s programs on Twitter allows organization followers to keep abreast of its latest news. Users can also easily reach the same content by downloading a special application on their smart phones. The application contains images and videos.

Daesh also launched an online magazine, namely Dabiq. The magazine is named after an area in Syria’s Aleppo. The site of the magazine contains videos showing Daesh fighters in action.

The area was called after the Battle of Marj Dabiq (August 24, 1516) between the Ottoman Empire and the Mamluk Sultanate. The war ended in the defeat of the Mamluk army. The Ottomans then entered Damascus and moved on to Egypt.

Daesh also launched its own networking site, instead of Facebook. Called Dabiq also, the site was known by the name the “Caliphate’s Facebook”. It first claimed that the new networking site had nothing to do with it.

The site has its own rules for users: no personal photos are allowed; no personal information should be used; supporters of the Islamic State must use a soft language with opponents of it, and no obscene language should be used.

The site is also available in Dutch, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, and Indonesian. It is not available in either French or Arabic. It does not allow the recording of images or conversations.

Daesh also launched its own channel on YouTube to counter accusations by international media. It used the same channel to attract recruits, improve its image and promote the Islamic State as an idea. The channel was launched in 2015 by the Daesh-affiliated al-Furqan Foundation. The Media Office of Raqqa, the self-styled capital of the Islamic State, also produced a promotional ad for the channel which presents news of the organization and provides information on how new members can join in Daesh.

Religion

Daesh claims to be defending Islam and uses this as a recruitment tool. It tries to convince people that the version of Islam they see in their countries is far from correct. It tells people also that Islam is twisted in their countries in a way that only serves the interests of ruling regimes.

Religion is a recruitment tool of paramount importance for Daesh. In Cairo, the organization uses a number of spots to get in fresh blood. Al-Hussein and al-Azhar mosques are some of these spots. Outside and inside these two ancient mosques, Daesh mercenaries can be found inviting people to the organization. They mainly focus on al-Azhar University students, most of them come from other countries.

Recruitment stages

The recruitment of new members passes through the following three phases:

First, gathering information about targeted individuals

Electronic recruitment begins with identifying the psychological state of the targeted individual. Daesh does this by looking into the childhood of this targeted individual to know his strengths and weaknesses. It also gathers information about this person’s friends, family and academic achievements. It never targets those with a criminal record. It also tries to know the reaction of the same person to specific films or scenes.

After this, Daesh asks the potential recruit to travel to Turkey, but to pass by a number of countries first in order not to raise suspicions about his final destination. Once the recruit is in Turkey, he is given support to travel to Syria and Iraq.

Second, building secure bridges

Once recruits arrive in Syria, they undergo psychological and medical tests. The psychological tests aim to ensure that once they are members of the organization, these recruits will not disclose its secrets. They also take lessons in governance, loyalty, and jihad.

Recruits are then filled with extremist ideas. They are asked to listen to Daesh battle songs. They are taught to look down upon the version of Islam they used to follow back in their own countries.

At this stage, recruits are linked to jihad as a cause, not to people. Then, the new members are distributed to their new positions, each in the light of his abilities. Some people are assigned combat missions, others are assigned security missions and a third group of others are asked to work for the media section of the organization.

Third, military and security preparations

This stage is called the one of “political and legal education”. During this stage, members are asked to stop using Internet for three consecutive days to escape the watch of security agencies.

Egyptian models

Soon after Abu Omar al-Baghdadi promulgated Daesh in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, an Egyptian named Abdel Moneim Ezzeddine Badawi, was named defense minister of the new organization.

Hisham Abdel-Wadud, another Egyptian, also turned into a prominent leader in the new organization. He succeeded in recruiting a large number of people in Daesh. He used money and religion in drawing in these recruits to the organization.

Abuslimi Yak, an Egyptian graduate of Lycee School, also joined Daesh. Yak grew up in an affluent Egyptian family. He was a lone child. He was known by everybody around him to be “kind” and “moderate”.

Money played no role in the recruitment of all these Egyptians, even as it is sometimes instrumental in the radicalization of others. Most of those recruited by the organization were wealthy and pampered. Nonetheless, they were easy to influence and convince that they need to play a role in ensuring that each and every Muslim practices his religion in the correct manner.

Targeted categories

Young people are among the groups targeted by Daesh. The organization made young people and children its main focus recently. It established camps where children between the ages of 6 and 2 receive training in violence. It also established schools to create a new generation of caliphate advocates.

Women and young girls represent an inexpensive human resource for the organization because they are easily attracted and recruited to do many tasks, such as arms smuggling and money transfer.

Daesh also targets mercenaries to benefit from their expertise in combat and their ability to live in difficult circumstances. Some of these mercenaries are characterized by power and ferocity.

Confrontation mechanisms

Since its establishment, Daesh relied on propaganda to attract new recruits, using the Internet as its principal communication tool. This was why social networking sites decided to remove Daesh content. The sites also closed the accounts of most Daesh supporters.

Serious work must be done to renew religious discourse and create strong links between young people and their country. There is an urgent need for national projects, integrating youth into the political process, and ending Sunni-Shiite tensions.

Frustration is a key factor in the success of terrorist organizations in attracting youth, both inside Egypt and outside it. In the long run, school curricula must be reconsidered and economic conditions must be improved. Young people must be prevented from falling prey to terrorist groups.

Egypt follows a comprehensive strategy to combat terrorism. The strategy has a security dimension and a development one. It also includes compensation for affected residents in Sinai. All army units participate in military operations against Daesh in Sinai.

Conclusion

Daesh depends heavily on the Internet and social media in attracting youth. Traditional recruitment points, including the mosques, are taking a backseat in the organization’s recruitment strategy. Daesh also tries to develop its electronic world to use it in spreading its ideas. It introduces itself as a defender of the weak and the poor. It also claims to be defending Islam. This is why there is an urgent need for cracking down on the organization on the Internet and on social media.

Recruits pass by three stages. Sponsorship is the most important of these stages. After arriving in Turkey, new recruits seek an organization senior figure to sponsor them before they are allowed to enter areas under the organization’s control in Syria. Once inside the realm of the organization, new recruits undergo psychological tests and then receive training before they are given different tasks.

Daesh follows an organized plan in recruiting fighters in order to avoid being tracked by security agencies. This very diligent recruitment system shows why the organization is so successful in carrying out attacks in some places.

Egypt’s counterterrorism strategy is three-pronged. It has a security dimension, a development dimension and an intellectual dimension. Terrorism cannot be eradicated via security means only. This is why the civil society has an important role to play in the fight against terrorism. Social institutions must also be helped to educate youth and create strong links between them and their country.

Al-Azhar can play a very important role in the fight against terrorism. Daesh’s ideology is based on wrong religious ideas. This is why there is a role for enlightened scholars to play in showing this to people.

Unity among Egyptians is crucial for the fight against terrorism. The exchange of intelligence with other countries can also be instrumental in this fight.