Life with ISIS: the Myth Unravelled

People from the Netherlands who travel to ISIS territory are knowingly opting to join a terrorist group and in doing so they support the violent struggle for an Islamic state. But life in ISIS-controlled territory is hard and ISIS is more and more becoming a totalitarian regime. These are some of the conclusions presented in the latest AIVD publication Life with ISIS: the Myth Unravelled.

ISIS propaganda describes life in the “caliphate” as idyllic, but nothing could be further from the truth. Intelligence research shows that conditions are, in fact, abominable. The attraction that the caliphate exerts, however, is kept alive by propaganda. This aim of this publication is to give professionals confronted with this subject something to balance that attraction.