The Three Phases of Jihadism
... perspective, as opposed to Al Qaeda which was pre-millenarian. By the same token, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi independently developed a form of jihad that was mostly sectarian. He was far more focused on killing Shias than westerners, targeting the heretics before the real infidels. He failed temporarily in... ... through phishing actions. This allowed them to build a mechanism that would lead to the Islamic State and to the Caliphate which was proclaimed in June 2014. However the post-millenarian... ... led to an increase in foreign boots on the ground: the 2015 JCPOA agreement allowed Russia to increase presence in Syria and send forces to Khmeimim, and Western presence...