By Noureddine Omar | 2024-07-14

The fight to eradicate terrorism is being fought increasingly in the electronic arena, as demonstrated by the deluge of content extremist groups posted online during the recently concluded hajj season, experts told Al-Fassel.

The hajj season is one of the largest annual gatherings, and it is therefore not surprising that extremist groups would seek to target pilgrims from around the world during that time, said King Abdulaziz University Center for Social Research and Humanities supervisor Fadel al-Hindi.

Content posted online during the hajj aims "to spread misguided ideology and incite strife, discord and hatred under the guise of religion," he told Al-Fassel.

Terror group messaging "evolved gradually from speeches and sermons to paper publications, then to cassettes and videotapes, and now has reached social media and smartphones," he said.

The Riyadh-based Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology (Etidal) was established in 2017 to monitor content on social media platforms, al-Hindi said.

This year, Etidal and its partners flagged and removed a record two million pieces of extremist content, which "underscores the seriousness of the work," he said.

The online battleground

"It is not a coincidence that the terrorist media machine is active during the hajj season," King Saud University political science lecturer Abdullah al-Dakhil told Al-Fassel.

"Neither is it a coincidence that behind the terrorist content are the three largest groups, Tahrir al-Sham, the 'Islamic State of Iraq and Syria' (ISIS), and al-Qaeda," all of which share similar ideological roots, he said.

"I do not think this is arbitrary but rather organized at the highest levels, with ISIS seen as responsible for the largest share of the content," al-Dakhil said.

These groups initially used the online arena to recruit supporters and fighters and spread their extremist ideology, he said, and have returned to this approach following their successive losses on the ground.

The online battle is more important than those on the ground, he added, noting that confronting the online activity of extremists "will weaken these groups more and more."

In the case of al-Qaeda and ISIS, he said, former "emirs" seek to leverage online content to return to their previous status or to advance in the ranks of these groups now that the previous hierarchy has been upended.

For Tahrir al-Sham, which still has a presence on the ground in Syria, this content "enhances its standing in the areas where it has a presence" and portrays the group as "a refuge for the remnant terrorists on the run," he added.