Militant Islamist fighters on a tank take part in a military parade along the streets of northern Raqqa province, June 30, 2014. (photo by REUTERS/Stringer)
Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, Al-Monitor: The Islamic State's first year
Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, the spokesman of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), released a statement on June 29, 2014, in which the organization announced that it was becoming "the Islamic State" (IS) and re-establishing the Muslim caliphate under the leadership of "Caliph Ibrahim," Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. A few days later, on July 4, Baghdadi delivered a victory sermon from the mosque in Mosul, a city he and his storm troopers had earlier wrestled from Iraqi soldiers on June 10. Three main lessons can be drawn since these events a year ago: IS had a very good first year; there is an absence of any cogent regional or international strategy to oppose the group; and there are long-term consequences of the transformations taking place in the Levant at the hands of IS.
WNU Editor: It is true what this commentator is noting .... a year ago the prospect of the Islamic State flag flying in Damascus was ridiculed. Today .... no one is ridiculing that possibility.