A nation must think before it acts.
Senior Fellow Barak Mendelsohn Quoted in Al Bawaba on ISIS
Barak Mendelsohn, a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, is fast to point out ISIS’ reaction to losing Dabiq–the key to unlocking its supposed apocalyptic vision: “Just look at the way ISIS brushed aside the loss of Dabiq or how quickly it switched from Dabiq,” named after the town, “to Rumiya (its current magazine).”
ISIS gave up Dabiq much easier than it did any of its major cities like Raqqa, Mosul or Deir Ez-Zour, knowing that if they did, they would essentially be giving up their ability to precipitate the end of days.
And when it did lose Dabiq, they simply switched the name of their propaganda magazine from Dabiq, to Rumiya, a subtle disavowal of the primacy of their doomsday vision.