On the morning of Monday, October 2, 2017, Americans were struggling to understand the mass shooting that took place in Las Vegas the night before. And as the public received the first details about attacker Stephen Paddock, a 64 year old with no known history of radicalism, people were (and still are) far from certain of his motives.
It has been a horrific few days since Stephen Paddock committed the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on Sunday night. But when the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed the attack just hours after it had taken place, the tragedy took on a strange new dimension. How could Paddock, a 64 year old man with no criminal history or known radical beliefs, and whose crime police had not initially investigated as a terrorist attack, have acted on behalf of ISIS?
The Islamic State (IS) promotes the month of Ramadan as a time of increased spiritual rewards for terror attacks, asserting that its followers should "yearn for martyrdom" during this time. The group and its supporters thus reserve attacks, military advances, announcements, and leadership speeches for this time, making Ramadan a month of high safety and stability concerns in various regions.
In 2008, German nationals Jurgen Kantner and Sabine Merz were sailing not far from the Gulf of Aden when they were captured by Somali pirates.The two were released safely, only to be confronted once again in November 2016 during an excursion off the coast of the southern Philippine province of Tawi-Tawi, this time by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). Members of the Philippines-based jihadi group attacked the sailing partners, killing Merz and capturing Kantner on November 7, 2016.
2016 was another year of conflicting narratives regarding the Islamic State (IS). On one end, the Obama administration continued to mischaracterize the threat, painting a picture of IS in retreat amid ongoing attacks from coalition and Iraqi forces. On the other end, there was reality, which spoke loudly to anyone willing to listen.
