The brutal Islamic State (IS), formerly known as ISIS, have been reigning their terror down on all non-Sunni civilians across northern Iraq and Syria for months. IS have taken over towns and villages and slaughtered Christians and Yazidis using a terrifying religious fervor as a pitiful excuse for the bloodshed. IS have sworn to continue their mayhem until they have total control of the Middle East and Sharia law can be installed over every human in this, the most unstable region on earth.
IS are facing the pulsing military muscle of the US of A who don’t take kindly to having their citizens beheaded on camera. Iran has offered their military might to the Iraqi forces to help keep this pseudo-Islamic monster at bay and the UK mull over the decision whether to strike alongside our American war chums.
This week a new player entered the foray: Anonymous. In the past, the idea of a cyber hacktivist group making any kind of difference in a warring state might have been laughable, but in these modern techno times it’s not as daft as it sounds.
IS have a startlingly robust and impressively thorough media network. Their self promotion using Twitter and Facebook has won them a lot of support and converted angry young Muslim men around the world, convincing them to go and fight. Their hashtags often trend giving them free and intrusive airtime across global networks. Anonymous plan to curtail this digital advance.
A cyber attack on IS can do little to help those on the ground suffering as we speak; so Anonymous plan to not only attack IS direct, but also the states which are alleged to support IS financially, namely Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The video below explains their intent and their planned targets. It’s very dramatic and very Sci-Fi, but I certainly wish them all the best.
Operation NO2ISIS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kJtvFUMELM
Some pro-IS Twitter users have already mocked the #NO2ISIS campaign…
How much good Anonymous can do remains to be seen, but I hope they have at least some measure of success. A disruptive cyber war is much less bloody than a drone and troop war, but whether it can do enough to curb IS’ growth remains to be seen.
Personally I wish them Godspeed.
