- 01 Aug 2017
The Fate of ISIS: Developments in Iraq and Syria
Abstract
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS’s) recent setbacks in Mosul, Iraq, followed by an impending defeat in Raqqa, Syria, while good news, ought to be viewed with cautious optimism. The rise of ISIS from its predecessor, Al-Qaeda, offers valuable lessons. What or who would be primarily responsible for its defeat – could it be attributed to internal rather than external players? Would its remnant elements regroup to form another terrorist organization? Does ISIS still have legitimacy amongst the Sunnis in Iraq and Syria? What is the extent of ISIS’s reach across the globe and as it loses territory in Iraq and Syria? These are some of the questions the lecture will aim to shed light on.
About the Speakers
Martin Chulov is the Middle East Correspondent for The Guardian. He started out as a journalist for Australia’s The Sun Herald and Sydney Morning Herald, and moved on to cover national security issues and the rise of radical Islam in Southeast Asia at The Australian. Chulov has written for The Guardian since 2008, initially as the Baghdad Correspondent, followed by the Middle East correspondent. He has extensively covered the Arab revolts, with particular focus on Iraq and Syria, and the rise of ISIS. Throughout his career, Chulov has won multiple journalism awards, including the Walkley Award in 2003 for covering the aftermath of the Bali bombings and writing on the Al-Qaeda inspired network responsible for the attack. In 2015, he was awarded the Orwell Prize for Journalism, the UK’s most prestigious journalism award, as well as the Foreign Press Association’s Journalist of the Year and Feature Writer of the Year. Chulov makes regular contributions to the coverage of the Middle East on the BBC, CNN and ABC, and has spoken at numerous universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, as well as the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore
