(New York Times) Hassan Hassan - If the Islamic State loses Mosul, the group has a clearly articulated contingency plan, a strategy it has frequently broadcast on multiple platforms for the past five months: inhiyaz, or temporary retreat, into the desert. Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the group's spokesman who was killed by an American airstrike in August, said in May that territorial losses did not mean defeat and that militants would fight until the end and then retreat to the desert, preparing for a comeback, just as they did between 2007 and 2013. The writer is a resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy.
2016-11-18 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive