Soldiers of End-Times: Assessing the Military Effectiveness of the Islamic State

by Ido Levy

Overview

In 2014, the Islamic State shocked the world when it defeated national armies on the battlefield and seized large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria. The group’s military success can be traced to four key variables: organizational innovation, shaping operations, will to fight, and a knack for retaining the initiative. The IS military project led not only to the declaration of a “caliphate,” but to the proliferation of jihadist franchises that devastated countries, displaced millions, and killed tens of thousands. Yet the group’s weaknesses ultimately led to the collapse of its territorial achievement.

Expert Ido Levy begins this pioneering study by surveying jihadist warfare from the 1970s to the present. He then incorporates primary sources and interviews with military officers, experts, and journalists to explain how IS used conventional military capabilities to defeat larger, better-equipped state armies and conquer land in Syria, Iraq, Libya, the Philippines, and Nigeria. Anchored by four case studies—Ramadi, Kobane, Mosul, and Baghuz—the volume illuminates potential strategies to prevent a resurgence by IS or similar groups.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538181331
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/17/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	284
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Ido Levy is an associate fellow with The Washington Institute, specializing in military and counterterrorism operations. Formerly editor-in-chief of the Georgetown Public Policy Review, he has written for publications including Studies in Conflict & Terrorism and Middle East Policy.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

Sunni Jihadist Armies Before 2014

Origins and Elements of Islamic State Military Effectiveness

IS Performance in Conventional Operations

Sources of IS Military Effectiveness

IS Military Operations Outside Iraq and Syria

Assessing the Islamic State’s Way of War

Lessons Learned and Policy Implications

Editorial Reviews

Ido Levy’s Soldiers of End-Times is a remarkable book. It is a work combining meticulous research with superb analysis, and thereby provides an outstanding assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the Islamic State in battle. In so doing, Levy demonstrates why the armies of the Islamic State enjoyed such success early on and yet ultimately failed to sustain their caliphate under assault by American-backed Iraqi and Syrian forces. Levy’s insights into IS performance also provide critical lessons regarding how the United States can fight similar nonstate actors waging hybrid warfare campaigns, as well as how the U.S. can better train foreign partner militaries to cope with the challenge of militaries like that of the Islamic State.

Kenneth M. Pollack

This is an exceptional monograph on the Islamic State military’s strategy and tactics—easily the best I have seen. The breadth of sources for this paper makes it the most compelling and comprehensive explanation of the rise of the group that you will find.

Craig Whiteside