The leader of the Coordination Framework, Issam Al-Kariti, confirmed today, Monday, that the war with the fourth generation of terrorism is inevitable. Al-Kariti stated that "we confirmed in 2006 that Al-Qaeda was nothing but the second generation of a plan to create chaos in the Arab and Islamic regions by global circles. We predicted the emergence of the third generation, which is ISIS and what happened in 2014."
He added that "it appears that what is happening is advanced scenarios by states through the use of extremism as a geopolitical card to maintain their interests, weaken states, and fragment their components." He continued: "The Syrian Al-Hol camp currently represents the fourth generation of extremism, and the United States along with several Western countries are implicated in its establishment for known purposes. The war with this generation is certainly coming because we are facing an environment that currently harbors more than 15,000 individuals, most of whom are under 30 years old. This must be addressed by enhancing border security."
He pointed out that "what we fear is not Al-Hol camp itself but rather the camps and areas that harbor extremist ideology in secret, which are similar to sleeper cells that activate." He noted that "terrorism has diminished in its capacity, but it has not ended, due to the presence of those who fuel it with money and arms from states and organizations involved in keeping the region unstable."
#### "50,000 Individuals"
Al-Hol camp, which is under heavy guard and supervised by the Syrian Democratic Forces, currently houses approximately 50,000 people, down from 73,000. The majority of the camp's residents are women and children of ISIS, which increases concerns about the emergence of a new terrorist generation. Political and security circles in Iraq fear that ISIS members in Al-Hol will be used by the U.S. as a card to destabilize the security situation once again. Thousands of ISIS members were transferred to Al-Hol after being defeated in Syria in March 2019, which ended their control over large areas of Iraqi and Syrian territory.
#### What Are Fourth Generation Wars?
Fourth generation wars is a term coined by Professor Max Manwaring on August 13, 2012. He is a professor and researcher in military strategies, having worked in U.S. military intelligence, and these wars are of American origin and development by the U.S. Army command.
This generation of wars is managed through specific steps that include:
1. **Coercive Warfare**: The enemy must accept war against their will (the war on terrorism, whether local or multinational organizations).
2. **Destabilization**: This can take various forms, such as using political, economic, legal, and military pressures to create confusion and instability.
3. **Use of Irregular Forces**: This refers to cultural invasion (fragmenting the state and using guerrilla tactics to undermine the state to impose a new reality).
4. **Utilization of Intellectual Capabilities**: This is known as smart power (media warfare and rumors).
All of this is executed using traditional and new media, civil society organizations, opposition groups, intelligence operations, influence, and other means. Observers believe that targeted directed media and intellectual invasion have succeeded in manipulating hearts and minds in a dangerous psychological war via all means of conventional and modern technology, transforming the Arab individual into a tool for the success of this war against himself, believing he is defending his homeland and that he is a soldier in the army protecting his country, without realizing that he has become a soldier in the army of his enemy.
