The two articles that I found are about recent violence that ISIS has inflicted. The first one is ISIS Beheads Blasphemer and the second is Yarmouk Refugees Describe ISIS Raid. In the first it describes how ISIS has recently increased the severity and frequency of their executions. ISIS recently released some of its most graphic videos and this is added to the all ready blown-up reputation behind them. Many believe this is still just a tactic to promote propaganda to others in the outside world. The second article was about the raid on Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee camp, by ISIS. After defeating various militias outside of the town, ISIS the proceeded to raid the town, executing residents along the way. Around 5,000 people have fled while other remain trapped in what are calling the “circle of hell” This town is another example of al-Qaeda and ISIS working together to control other powers in the area. It is estimated that 90% of the town is controlled by these two groups and they are actively removing any other operations.

There are two things that I take away from these articles. One is that ISIS is increasing its propaganda for a reason. They are either becoming weaker because of the loss of personnel and need more recruits or because they’re in-fighting. ISIS has recently began cleansing its inner circle of any remnants of Iraqi officers. Could this new surge of recruitment be an attempt to fill the void that is being made by this split in factions. For me, there is no other reason to ramp up killings and take over a weak town but to portray a sense of power that can be maintained even without the powerful influence of for Iraqi officers. Whether this is true or not, ISIS needs the powerful intelligence apparatus more than the apparatus needs them. If this split continues to go in this direction then we may be looking at new more powerfiul  enemy who was in front of the whole time.