THE last caliph to make the Syrian city of Raqqa his capital was a lover of fine wine, art and women. Although certainly brutal (he had his most loyal adviser cut into three pieces in 803), Harun al-Rashid is best remembered for his lasciviousness, which inspired some of the raunchiest tales in “The Arabian Nights”.
By contrast, Raqqa’s current overlord—the self-declared caliph of a self-declared caliphate—will be remembered for unleashing a spasm of grotesque violence that erupted in Iraq and spread as far as the shores of Libya and the mountains of Afghanistan. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi will have also presided over one of the shortest-lived “caliphates” in history.
The fall of the capital of Islamic State (IS), which the extremists captured in January 2014, looks imminent. Since November, a combined force of Kurdish and Arab fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has swept through the desert from the north, sealing the city from the north, east and west. Backed by air strikes from the American-led coalition against IS and supported by American special forces on the ground, the SDF’s closest front line is now just a few...Continue reading
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