Arson makes its way into the terrorist repertoire

In disputed territories, around places like Kirkuk, suspicions regarding the arsonists responsible for setting crops ablaze exacerbate already tense inter-ethnic relations. In Syria, communities around Raqqa and other recently liberated areas must now deal with more suffering as their fields burn. 

 

Many suspect remnants of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) for the fires. Many reports coming from northern Iraq about Syria claim that ISIS is setting fire to the fields of farmers who refuse to pay the organization a tax. In this sense, the arson against farmers’ fields seems to function as a sort of mafia-like tactic against those who refuse the ISIS "protection" racket. ISIS militants seem to be targeting in particular the fields of tribes and villages that opposed them and helped the Kurds or the Iraqi government defeat the organization during the past few years.

 

Islamist and insurgent groups also learn from each other. Just as the tactic of suicide bombings and roadside IEDs spread from Hezbollah and the Tamil Tigers to a wide variety of groups, so it seems with arson now. Hamas and Palestinian militants have been using arson against Israeli agricultural fields for some time – most recently via kites and hot air balloons carrying incendiary devices over the Gaza-Israel border to set Israeli fields alight. The example may have now crossed other borders to the even more inventive and destructive imaginations of ISIS terrorists.

 

Since ISIS is itself claiming responsibility for these fires and encouraging others to follow suit, there is little reason to doubt the jihadists’ responsibility for many or most of these fires. While some fires may have occurred naturally or been caused by more run of the mill arsonists or pyromaniacs, it seems that ISIS now has a prominent hand in these crimes. This appears especially true given arson attacks against Yezidi communities. No one should doubt the capacity and willingness of ISIS fanatics to engage in destruction motivated by revenge and sheer spite.

The arson attacks also serve a common objective of terrorists since time immemorial – fomenting instability and popular frustration towards a government incapable of protecting its people or their property. Fields of crops remain impossible for even the most capable security forces to watch over and thus make easy targets for ISIS remnants in Syria and Iraq. Without security from their governments, rural communities lose both their incentive and their means for paying taxes to that government. In such circumstances, some may even reluctantly give in to ISIS demands for protection money.

This forms part of the post-ISIS war problem everyone knew was coming. As fields burn across Iraq and Syria and bombings proliferate in Kurdish parts of Syria, we realize that irregular war has now replaced the conventional war the ISIS jihadists were doomed to lose. 

Despite such knowledge regarding the new kind of ISIS war on the horizon, authorities in both Iraq and Kurdish parts of Syria seem ill-prepared to deal with the new challenge. Local communities must completely reject ISIS and remain willing and able to inform on any ISIS militants in their areas for counter-insurgency to be effective. This has clearly not yet happened in many parts of Syria and Iraq, and we must all ask why. 

Have security forces of the various administrations in both countries not demonstrated a willingness to protect even rural communities for the long-term, both during the day and after nightfall? Has the failure to negotiate political arrangements acceptable to all the communities of northern Syria and Iraq already led to alienation? Or perhaps just a small number of remaining isolated ISIS militants is all it takes for a campaign of arson and roadside bombs?