ABSTRACT

In this chapter, Charlie Winter accounts for the changes in IS’s digital strategy after the collapse of the Caliphate, and thus about the interrelation between the online and offline milieu. The study draws on a unique dataset of all the Syria-related propaganda published in the six months that followed the fall of Baghuz in March 2019. Following its defeat in Baghuz, Winter holds that IS entered a new paradigm of insurgent warfare where each attack was hyperactively communicated in order to demonstrate its resilience. Accordingly, IS’s new strategy prioritised brand consistency, as well as political influence, rather than material and territorial gain. The chapter thus concludes that, despite its territorial defeat, IS is likely to remain a persistent global threat for years to come.