Homegrown Islamic Terrorism Examples

Homegrown Islamic Terrorism

Though there are many homegrown terror cells operating in Syria ever since the Syrian Civil War began, and the definition of what constitutes a terror group vastly differs from each side in the conflict, there are two main examples which help display the conflict:

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is a terror group located in the southern-most section of Syria. They originally emerged from al-Qaeda’s Syrian wing. They were formed relatively recently, in early January, 2017, but though brute force and winning the hearts and minds of the public, were able to make gains in specific areas. Their main goal is to establish an Islamic Caliphate based in Sharia Law. Since their formation, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has

The Islamic State has been known by multiple names since their inception, mainly ISIS, IS, and ISIL. Starting out as an al-Qaeda splinter cell, they have since grown into one of the most powerful forces in Iraq and arguably the most powerful and influential terror group in the world. Their main purpose is to increase the size of their territory into a majority of the Middle East and create an Islamic Caliphate, though their man holdings include mostly Syria (Kajtar, 2017).

Though they do have a considerable number of foreign fighters joining their ranks from across the globe, the majority of their numbers come from Syria and Iraq. A majority of attacks they carry out on Syrian soil can then be considered, in the loosest sense, “homegrown terrorism”. At the height of their power and influence, the controlled a total of 34,000 square miles and had thousands of fighters in their ranks. The have continually carried out attacks and bombings of against all sides in the Syrian conflict, mostly within the borders of the nation but have even carried out attacks abroad (Clapperton,

There is no one set policy goal for one specific terror group, more so, there is a broad goal of surviving and eventually, when they have consolidated enough power, crushing all factions that oppose The Arab Republic of Syria.

The conflict seems to be finally coming to a head. Syria was able to negotiate a cease-fire with the major players in the war. But Syria’s total economic loss is a 468% drop in GDP, only 56% of children are attending school, almost 7 million people have fled the country, domestically, all they can do is sit and wait. The targeting of Islamic State leaders and strongholds still continues to this day, though the number of operations carried out has decreased dramatically in part to the aid and training received by Russia and Iran (Sly, 2017).

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