Islamic State reorganises to survive after stinging defeats in Iraq and Syria

After losing all the urban centres it controlled in Iraq and being reduced to its last desert holdouts in Syria, IS has changed its administrative structure and is moving away from the state-like apparatus it once ran

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Islamic State militants hold up their flag in a commandeered Iraqi military vehicle in Fallujah, Iraq on March 30, 2014. Photo: AP

Published: 8:45pm, 28 Aug 2018Updated: 9:14pm, 28 Aug 2018

Four years after announcing its cross-border “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria, a stinging string of defeats has pushed the Islamic State jihadist group to reorganise and change strategy to survive.

Having lost all urban centres under its control in Iraq and after being pinned down to its last desert holdouts in Syria, IS has changed its administrative structure and shifted its focus away from operating the state-like apparatus it once ran.

IS will have to find “a new way of doing things, especially to recruit after heavy losses”, said an Iraqi security official, who asked to remain anonymous.

At its peak, the self-proclaimed caliphate included 35 “wilaya” (provinces) mostly set within a swathe of territory spanning either side of the border between Syria and Iraq.

But following major military defeats – including the jihadists’ loss of their de facto capitals of Raqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq – IS propaganda outlets now only mention six “wilaya”.

Former IS provinces like Mosul, Raqa and Kirkuk – an oil-rich province in Iraq – no longer exist.

Instead, the term “wilaya” is now used to refer to large chunks of territory like Iraq and Syria, along with Somalia, East Asia, Tajikistan and the Egyptian Sinai.

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