Apr 8, 2019
<
Is the
so-called "Islamic State" aiming to use the Philippines as its
bridgehead in Asia? IS took control of the predominantly Muslim city of Marawi
in 2017, and it took the Philippine army five months to take it back.
We report
from a country that the so-called "Islamic State" apparently wants to
use as a bridgehead to spread its ideology in Asia. Marawi's total destruction
made the Philippine state look weak and incapable of defending its own
territory. The IS fighters may have been defeated, but the gruelling
house-to-house fighting against a well-equipped army supported by the USA was a
propaganda coup for the Caliphate.
Martial law
still applies on Mindanao, the second largest island in the south of the
Philippines where Marawi is located. More than 60,000 of the city’s inhabitants
are still living in refugee camps or other emergency shelters, and
reconstruction could take years. The terrorist group’s capture of Marawi was
the climax to an old, religiously charged conflict that IS did not cause but
was able to exploit. A feud between local Muslim inhabitants and Christian
colonial rulers and settlers from the north of the archipelago has been
smouldering in the south of the Philippines for more than 400 years.
Many Muslims
still complain about the discrimination they face from a mainly Catholic
society, which is an ideal environment for the recruitment of new fighters for
jihad. The fact that the Islamists' black flag flew over Marawi for 154 days
could boost radical forces throughout the entire region. IS terrorists are also
targeting neighbouring Indonesia. And Rodrigo Duterte, a president better known
for his toughness than his talent for peace making, is pouring fuel on the
flames.
URL: https://newageislam.com/multimedia/islamic-state-apparently-wants-use/d/123912
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism