The recent rise of non-traditional warfare in the Middle East, whether between regional powers or with international powers involved in regional conflicts as well as a number of terrorist groups, appears to have led to the advent of a new form of warfare. This new form of warfare, formed over the last few years, is related to psychological and media wars. Although the mode of warfare itself may be new, it depends on a traditional medium, namely video clips. These videos are posted online to achieve a number of goals, including proving ground control, exaggerating strength, and attracting sympathizers.

Al Qaeda can be credited for starting the trend of spreading over the internet then over television networks. ISIS took on the strategy and started using it much more widely, showing unprecedented vulgarity in killing its victims, and using the latest audiovisual technology to produce its videos. ISIS also went on to own its own media operations specializing in audiovisual technology to produce highly technical and professional videos.

Varying Opinions

Videos produced and broadcast by ISIS have raised wide speculation of their authenticity. The clear editing of these videos, which allows them to reach the professional quality of mainstream movies, has raised questions as to whether or not they are staged, or at least half-true.

Because of that, there has been a lot of controversy around the videos broadcast by ISIS, especially the killing of Egyptians in Libya and the burning of Jordanian pilot Muath Al-Kasasbeh. This is in contrast to the reaction to videos broadcast by Al Qaeda on its website, which had low video and audio quality, were filmed mostly in caves and mountainous areas, and often showed Al Qaeda leaders clearly addressing the camera.

The controversy surrounding the authenticity of ISIS videos, as well as videos broadcast by other terrorist groups, resurfaced when multiple reports were published showing that the US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) had contracted in 2003 – after the invasion of Iraq – with public relations and production firms to produce and disseminate fake Al Qaeda videos. This clearly shows the importance of this tool for terrorist groups on one hand and for the forces engaging in anti-terrorism warfare on the other.

Two Main Goals

The reports that uncovered the above information pointed to two main goals the Pentagon was trying to achieve by producing these videos. First, it aimed to track individuals who watch the videos, which could be done since watching them required logging into certain websites, allowing the tracking of devices and therefore the tracking of users.

There is no doubt that this raises an important point that the war on terror is now taking on methods that are unprecedented. This so-called “video weapon” is no longer the forte of terrorist organizations, which usually use it to spread their message, whether for recruitment or proving ground presence and influence.

The second goal was to justify the war on terror and provide additional rationale and urgency for the US military presence in Iraq. This was done by focusing the videos on Al Qaeda’s continued activities and its attacks on vital targets in Iraq. With that focus, the videos would attract more regional and international support for the war on terror, especially on Al Qaeda at the time, or stem the flow of anti-military-intervention arguments in the US.

It is worth mentioning that the reports of the Pentagon videos elicited strong reactions on social media, with many raising the question of how the object of the war – namely terrorism – can be promoted by these videos, even with the goal of tracking confirmed or suspected terrorists, or even terrorist sympathizers.

Effective Tool

The videos that showed the execution of terrorist attacks or even threats of attacks proved to be very effective. This is mainly attributed to the strong impact they have on the receiving public, be it supporters or detractors of the terrorist groups disseminating the videos online.

According to experts, the most effective video was the ISIS video showing the surrender of Iraqi military personnel to ISIS members, abandoning their vehicles on the side of the road leading to Mosul. This video had a large impact on the fall of Mosul with little to no resistance from its residence after the video increased their fears of standing up to an enemy military personnel had surrendered to.

There now seems to be interest in the same strategy from a number of different groups, aiming to decrease the negative effects of terrorist group videos on public perception. For example, the US has followed this strategy to respond to Al Qaeda attacks by filming its most prominent military activities against the group.

Multiple Motives

In addition to the above, a number of other factors can be said to have pushed various groups to increasingly use the video strategy. These factors include:

1. Limiting terrorist groups’ recruitment activities: In order to address the restrictions and pressure they are under, terrorist groups have moved towards strengthening their capabilities to communicate with their audience and the general public. This is done through owning specialized and highly professional media apparatuses able to spread their ideas in creative ways, showcase their activities professionally, and use them as part of the psychological warfare against the military groups fighting them.
2. The absence of neutral parties: The lack of neutral parties covering events in conflict zones, thanks to the difficulty of reaching them and the high risk associated with it especially in Syria and Iraq, as well as the absence of media correspondents, is an opportunity to increase the credibility of such videos since they are the only source showing scenarios on the ground and cannot be easily verified.
3. Ease of spreading: New media has helped the spread of such videos, with social media websites becoming one of the most important battle grounds between terrorist groups and the powers fighting them. Both parties use social media extensively to reach the largest swaths of the public due to their prevalence and their ability to influence the audience.

Finally, it can be said that the effectiveness of videos spread across traditional and social media makes them the tool most likely to be used in the near future. This is especially true if there is a noted improvement in broadcasting technologies to match the current developments in media technologies.