Islamic State, writes Amir Taheri, has based its approach to warfare not only on the example of Algerian and Palestinian terrorists but also on the Quran. The U.S. and its allies have the ability to counter its tactics easily, if only they have the will to do so:
IS patterns its military strategy on that of the Prophet Muhammad, which is to say it organizes ghazwa (raids) against soft targets. The Muslim warrior has always been known as the ghazi, a man who takes part in a ghazwa. However, a ghazwa is regarded as religiously permissible only if the ghazis are more than 50-percent sure of victory. Otherwise, they should return and wait for a better day. That is what the prophet himself did in his only attempt at ghazwa against the Byzantines.
Waging at least one annual ghazwa became an almost religious obligation for Islamic caliphs and rulers from the 8th century onward. . . . It took the Persians and the Byzantines almost two centuries to learn the trick [of defeating it]. They understood that, facing no resistance, the ghazi moves rapidly ahead, like a knife through butter, but will come to a halt if he encounters something hard on his way. . . .
Continuing the tradition, IS goes where it is easy to go and flees from where it is difficult to resist. . . . So far, IS has been relatively successful because it has not hit anything hard on its way. The homeopathic air strikes reluctantly ordered by President Obama have boosted IS’s narrative of Islamic victimhood without doing much real damage. . . . If François Hollande manages to create a new coalition, something still uncertain at the time of this writing, the aim should be to wrest the initiative away from IS. . . .
If IS begins to lose its aura of easy winning, it would face numerous hostile armed groups [formerly] allied with it because, in the Middle East at least, everyone prefers to be on the side of the winner.
More about: Byzantine Empire, ISIS, Military history, Politics & Current Affairs, Quran, U.S. Foreign policy
