For the Islamic State, Paroxysms of Violence Portends Apocalypse
In light of the recent attacks in Paris, Craig Whitlock and Ellen Nakashima of The Washington Post report on what seems to be an irrational strategy of the Islamic State. Whitlock and Nakashima write, “According to the group’s extremist ideology, the caliphate will eventually triumph in a great war against infidel forces, culminating in a final end-of-days battle in Dabiq, an obscure Syrian town near the northern city of Aleppo.” According to Matthew Henman, managing editor of HIS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Center in London, “The more the West strikes, the more people are killed [in Syria], it only builds into the narrative that the end is coming.”