Isis' annual report details reign of terror across Middle East | Mail Online
- The annual publication is called al-Naba, which is Arabic for 'The News'
- Reports for 2012 and 2013 were analysed by Institute for the Study of War
- ISIS claims to have carried out 10,000 operations in Iraq last year alone
- These included assassinations, bombings and the freeing of prisoners
- Isis compiles it to attract donors and present themselves as organised
- Details emerged as new information about group's funding came to light
By Leon Watson
Published: 23:50 EST, 17 June 2014 | Updated: 18:25 EST, 18 June 2014
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With its carefully collated facts and figures, it reads like a set of company accounts.
But closer inspection of the 400-page document reveals it is a chilling breakdown of the murderous activities of the fanatics battling for control of Iraq.
For this is the 'annual report' of the Al Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), designed to demonstrate its power and attract funds from potential donors.
Like any corporate document, it uses computer-generated graphics, details a management strategy, lists performance and targets.
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But the jihadists' statistics chart in numerical and geographical detail its lethal operations – bombings, assassinations, suicide missions and cities taken over.
In the latest edition of 'al-Naba' – the News – covering the 12 months up to last November, ISIS claims to have carried out nearly 10,000 operations in Iraq. That includes 1,000 assassinations, planting more than 4,000 roadside bombs and freeing hundreds of prisoners.
ISIS even records the number of people who renounced Islam then repented – and contains one sickening category headed 'apostates run over'.
The report, written in Arabic with a photograph of an ISIS gunman on its cover, has been analysed by the US think-tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which has corroborated much of the information. John Lawrence, of the Washington-based institute said: 'These numbers are not just purely propaganda figures.'
Taking no prisoners: A man is executed by fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as the Al Qaeda-inspired militants continue their march towards Baghdad
Details: The Isis report uses computer-generated graphics to detail the group's reign of terror in the Middle East. This chart shows the number of explosive devices the group detonated in 2012 and 2013
ISIS's aim appears to be to demonstrate its record to potential donors, and ISW says the annual report, the second published in as many years, destroys the myth that the insurgents are a rag-tag band of Islamist militants.
The ISW analysis portrays an organisation 'functioning as a military rather than a terrorist network' with a clear political strategy aimed to eventually set up a Sunni sectarian state run under harsh Sharia laws.
Jessica Lewis, director of research at the institute, told the Financial Times: 'The reports provide measures of performance in the way you roll out details for donors.
Numbers: Another set of graphics in the report shows the weaponry Isis now has in its possession
Isis claims in the 2013 report to have 15,000 fighters who have carried out 1,000 assassinations
'They affirm that the organisation operates like an army and that it has state-building ambitions.' The ISW study concludes: 'This is a military enemy that requires a considered strategy, military as well as involving anti-ISIS Sunni populations, to defeat it, or it will become a permanent fixture in the Middle East.'
The latest annual report does not include the ISIS fanatics' major gains in recent weeks, where they have swept through northern Iraq, carrying out summary executions. They are now battling government forces close to Baghdad.
This year has also been successful in financial terms for the terror group. Its fighters looted hundreds of millions of pounds from banks in Mosul, Iraq's second city which was over-run by ISIS last week.
Shocking footage of militants beating prisoners in Iraq
Social media like this Twitter feed has played a huge role in recruiting members of Isis especially from overseas
The road to Baghdad: Fierce fighting is currently taking place at Baqubah, the last major city before the capital, as ISIS militants seize control of vast swathes of northern Iraq
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, ISIS was already extorting taxes from Mosul businesses before its takeover – to the tune of £4million a month.
In its 2013 document, ISIS says it took over eight cities, compared to one the previous year. The ISW warns that the number of attacks reported by ISIS may be exaggerated but month by month, area by area, the document reveals soaring levels of violence.
In 2013, ISIS claims to have executed 1,083 people – almost double the 585 in 2012. Mortar attacks jumped from 359 in 2012 to 607 last year and the number of houses burned or bombed rose from 648 to 1,015.
ISIS massively increased the use of suicide bombers – either wearing bomb vests or driving bomb-laden vehicles – to terrorise Iraqis, with a six-fold increase in the number of attacks to 238. Baghdad bore the brunt of suicide bombers, with an increase from seven to 81 murderous attacks in the capital.
Targeted killings jumped from 16 to 1,047 and are evidence of a disciplined shift in tactics and techniques by ISIS to wrest control of Iraq, says the ISW.