When IS in Syria was defeated in 2019, the terrorist group’s project to build a caliphate there was demolished. But IS supporters still remain, especially in the eastern parts of Syria facing Iraq.
– Dormant cells and pockets remain and may well begin to act again. We have seen that they have done it in Syria, Iraq and other parts of the Muslim world, says Mohammad Fazlhashemi, professor of Islamic theology at Uppsala University.
The jihadist group HTS has said it should distance itself from IS, but Mohammad Fazlhashemi sees risks with the upheaval political situation and points to the example of Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood took power after the fall of dictator Hosni Mubarak.
– Then you saw how sympathy for fundamentalist Salafist groups began to grow and that the Muslim Brotherhood began to turn in that direction in order to attract voters. The risk that the same thing could happen in Syria is very high, he says.
Orwa Ajjoub, who has studied jihadist groups in Syria, calls the now ruling group HTS “IS’s sworn enemy”.
– I think HTS intends to wipe out the IS presence in Syria, says Orwa Ajjoub, who is a doctoral student at Malmö University.
He believes that a calm domestic political landscape and good international relations would increase the chances of succeeding in this.
Bearers of the IS symbol deny collusion
The black flag with the Muslim creed written in white, IS’s hallmark, he has seen many times during his fieldwork in Syria. According to him, some conservative Muslims wear it without necessarily being IS supporters.
– Some of them are ultra-conservative and for them it’s about Muslim identity, not affiliation with IS.
Mohammad Fazlhashemi does not think that one can escape so easily.
– There are thousands of different designs of this creed, but there is only one that is the IS trademark. If you wave it, you are either clueless or you are a supporter or sympathizer with IS, he says.
In the clip: See where in Syria the IS flags have been seen.