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An ISIS convoy with captured Humvees enters Bayji Although much of the captured hardware was in poor quality, and it is still unclear whether ISIS has the capability to use it, pictures of captured US supplied Humvees roaring down the streets of northern Iraq flying the group's distinctive black banner were obviously a bit of a propaganda coup. In a jab at their hated American enemies, ISIS's huge and vocal online fan base advertized the group's capture of US-supplied vehicles by mocking Michelle Obama's role in the #bringbackourgirls Twitter campaign, launching the hashtag #bringbackourhumvee.Charles Lister, a fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, told me that, "ISIS's newly acquire fleets of Humvees, transport vehicles, and other APCs should prove valuable for the group, at least in the medium term. Of course, as time goes by, ISIS will need to maintain and repair the vehicles, which may raise some issues. But in terms of live capacity and coordination, ISIS can certainly make use of such an expanded vehicle fleet and potentially even exploit the more sophisticated radio equipment installed in Humvees.”
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ISIS propaganda video "The end of Sykes-Picot"The ISIS proto state is at its most established in Raqqa city, the group's main Syrian stronghold. This has earned the town the moniker of "Syria's Kandahar"—Kandahar being the birthplace of the Taliban in Afghanistan.The presence of ISIS there is all-pervasive. "They hold an iron grip over all life's aspects,” a local told me. “Wherever you walk on any of the city's streets you'd encounter at least two ISIS fighters walking, driving, sitting, or passing by… ISIS fighters have a strong presence in the city. They control everything. They run most of the former regime service departments, from granaries and bakers, power and transformation stations, water pump stations… They formed an 'Islamic court,' 'Muslim's services office,' an 'Islamic' traffic police department and other posts."Raqqa is also likely to be the operations in Syria. As my Raqqa contact told me, "The organization depends on a rotation system where a fighter might be sent to several provinces in a relatively short time. Also Raqqa is the safe haven for wounded fighters where many come from different ‘Wilayas’ [ISIS' term for its zones of combat] to settle temporarily in new recovery HQs."ISIS now operates with complete freedom on both sides of the old Syria-Iraq border, and can transfer its forces between theaters at will. The future for the new jihadist caliphate in the heart of the Middle East has never looked brighter.Follow Memlik Pasha on Twitter.