ALGIERS- The terrorist group ISIS (Daech) cannot recruit Algerian youth as the State and its institutions are strong and the security forces are well equipped, said Dalia Ghanem-Yazbeck, an Algerian researcher and expert on extremist violence and Jihadism.
“When we see where ISIS has succeeded, like in Libya or Iraq, which are ‘Failed States,’ it will be very difficult for the group to succeed in a country like ours (Algeria), which has more than ten years of experience in fighting terrorism,” she said in an interview published Wednesday in the newspaper Reporters.
For the researcher who is based at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut (Lebanon), the reasons why “Daech group has not succeeded to mobilize youth in Algeria are “the experience of the dark decade and the fact that the Algerians remain deeply shocked by what happened during the 1990s.”
She also explained ISIS failure by the images that are broadcast on a daily basis, from Iraq, Syria and Libya and which remind Algerians of the black decade.
However, “zero risk does not exist and therefore, no one is safe from an attack, but it will be all that the group can do,” she added.
“Conquering territories as it has done in Syria or Iraq is quite impossible in Algeria,” says the researcher.
“History showed us that even if we militarily eliminate the terrorist groups, their ideology subsists,” Ghanem-Yazbeck said, warning that “Daech as it is today or its ‘caliphate’ in Iraq and Syria will undoubtedly disappear, but it will return in other forms.”
In this same regard, the expert deems it necessary to reach a solution to the security situation in Libya in order to prevent terrorists enter the territories of the region’s countries.
“Apart from Algeria, no other state in the region possesses the same anti-terrorist capabilities and experience. Unfortunately, this is not enough, a more intense cooperation is required among the Sahelian countries in terms of security, but especially the conditions that make the Sahel a fertile land for “jihadist activities,” notably extreme poverty, exclusion, disastrous socio-economic conditions, lack of governance, are resolved as quickly as possible,” detailed Ghanem-Yazbeck.
“I think that soon the Sahel region will be clear of Daech because of its numerous defeats in Libya. I also think that many will want to return to Tunisia but as many will look to go to the Sahel region, a fertile land for such organizations,” she warned.
“Some groups, already there, will not hesitate to benefit from Daech impact like Boko Haram group did last year. I think that the terrorist threat will continue in its new form set by ISIS since it managed to change the face of jihadism in the world,” added the Algerian expert.
Source: Terrorist group ISIS cannot recruit Algerian youth, says expert
