Category: Iraq

This episode features a discussion of jihadi primary sources from June, an interview with Nelly Lahoud, and a new segment: #SocialMedia.
This episode covers jihadi primary source releases related to:

• Anti-Islamic State messages
• IS state-building efforts
• Caliphate declaration anniversary
• Death of Abu Basir Nasir al-Wuhayshi
• Spy games update

Nelly Lahoud is an Associate Professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and Senior Associate at the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point. She spoke to Aaron about a variety of topics related to jihadi ideology including:

• The connection between the the anti-Crusader leader and military commander Nur al-Din al-Zinki and Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi
• A five-year retrospective on her book The Jihadis’ Path to Self-Destruction
• Nelly’s forthcoming research on the original leader of The Islamic State from 2006-2010, Abu ‘Umar al-Baghdadi

Segment start times: primary sources (2:10), the interview with Nelly (24:40), and #socialmedia (57:10).
Links:

• Amazon.com: Jihadis’ Path to Self-Destruction by Nelly Lahoud
• The Group That Calls Itself a State: Understanding the Evolution and Challenges of the Islamic State – Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
• Dr. Nelly Lahoud | Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
• A Review of Nelly Lahoud’s “The Jihadis’ Path to Self-Destruction” by Aaron Zelin – Academia.edu
• Aaron Y. Zelin (@azelin) | Twitter

The show is produced by Karl Morand. If you have feedback you can email [email protected] or find us on Twitter: @JihadPod.
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Click here for the mp3 version.