ABSTRACT
Although it was initiated by rapid military conquests in Iraq and Syria, the birth of the caliphate was made official through a video statement by Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, the spokesperson of the Islamic State (IS). The IS’s effort to coin a discourse targeted at delegitimizing its foes in the context of the wars in Iraq and Syria is referred to in this chapter as a ‘discursive offensive’ or a ‘discursive assault’. Language was used as a tool to deconstruct many competing identities as to allow each individual to enter the global and communal culture promoted by the IS. The chapter refers only to those considered by the group as the main enemies and actors of the conflict. The emphasis on Iran and the discursive efforts to delegitimize it fitted into a larger narrative which the IS coined to express the crisis of the Umma.
