ISIS in Their Own Words: Recruitment History, Motivations for Joining, Travel, Experiences in ISIS, and Disillusionment over Time – Analysis of 220 In-depth Interviews of ISIS Returnees, Defectors and Prisoners

Abstract

Two hundred and twenty Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) defectors, returnees, and imprisoned ISIS cadres were in-depth interviewed by the author, a research psychologist working for the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE) from 2015-2019. These interviews were conducted in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, the Balkans, Europe, and Central Asia with ISIS prisoners, returnees, and defectors. The purpose was to learn about their recruitment history, motivations for joining, travel, experiences inside the group, disillusionment over time, and defection, return or capture. This article reports on a sample of both male and female former ISIS members representing over 35 countries. It examines their demographics, contextual, and other qualitative variants regarding their psycho-social vulnerabilities and motivations for joining. It then discusses the influences and recruitment patterns drawing them into the group, their roles, experiences, and relationships inside it, variance in their will to fight and support violence, and their disillusionment and attempts to leave (when it occurs)—as well as their advice to others about joining. Although a convenience sample, the findings are consistent with other quantitative studies on ISIS and we believe highly informative on many important topics.

The effects of Assad’s atrocities and the call to foreign fighters to come to Syria on the rise and fall of the ISIS Caliphate

“…ISIS attracted many of its 40,000-45,000 FTFs through slick propaganda videos portraying a utopian vision of their Caliphate, governed purely by Allah's laws, but they also used Assad's atrocities as a foil to draw foreign terrorist fighters into the battleground in Syria. FTFs who left their home countries primarily between 2014 and 2016 were largely convinced that ISIS was going to deliver on its many promises and vision of Islamic living, but many were disappointed by the corruption, brutality and un-Islamic nature of what they witnessed and experienced and they also became disillusioned by ISIS failures to focus on the battle with Assad, even cooperating with his government (Speckhard & Ellenberg, 2020). Those FTFs who came before the establishment of the Caliphate, however, were not necessarily initially drawn by dreams of living a truly Islamic life or building an Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, but by a deep desire to help the Syrian people and to fight against Bashar al Assad, whom democratic leaders around the world also acknowledged was committing atrocious crimes against humanity.…”

“…Thus, some in the present sample were influenced by high-quality ISIS videos advertising an idealistic Islamic life, free of harassment or discrimination. Still others were reached out to by recruiters, friends, or family, promising them a sense of belonging and personal significance (Speckhard & Ellenberg, 2020). Now, many of these ISIS fighters are imprisoned either by the SDF, in Iraq, or by their home countries, and deservedly so.…”

“…The present study involves a targeted analysis of in-depth interviews of ISIS defectors, returnees, and imprisoned cadres about the effects of the Assad regime's atrocities against the Syrian people in how it played into the calls to foreign fighters from ISIS and others to come to Syria, as well as the effects upon these cadres of ISIS's dealings with the Assad regime in regard to the rise and fall of the ISIS Caliphate. As mentioned previously, this research question is examined within a larger study of 245 in-depth research interviews of male and female ISIS defectors, returnees, and imprisoned cadres carried out by the first author, a research psychologist (Speckhard & Ellenberg, 2020).…”

An Explorative Study into the Importance of Defining and Classifying Cyber Terrorism in the United Kingdom

“…Some assumptions can be made based on the implications of these findings regarding gender perception on recruitment and mobilisation within terrorist activity. Due to terrorist groups use of online capabilities, the ability to recruit and mobilise individuals has increased through a greater ease in disseminating information to followers [14,91]. This has especially increased during the pandemic where more individuals have felt anxious, disempowered and alone and have found a sense of community and solace in like-minded groups where inciting violence either in a virtual or physical environment, has been more so attractive than possibly before the pandemic [92].…”

“I Will Tell You a Story about Jihad”: ISIS’s Propaganda and Narrative Advertising

“…This article examined ISIS's magazines through the prism of marketing and narrative advertising, and uncovered another propagandist technique used by the group. It demonstrated that the group relied not only on the polarization of opinions and sparking anger, 83 or offering a utopian idea of a righteous state, 84 or religious rewards, 85 or promising some material benefits and an exciting adventure; 86 it was also speaking to its followers' desires to be a certain type of people, to create a certain image of themselves -powerful, special, strong, etc. -and it successfully used marketing to satisfy this desire.…”