Syria's Dabiq Central to IS Vision of Apocalypse

W460

The northern Syrian town of Dabiq, which Turkish-backed rebels seized from the Islamic State group on Sunday, has major symbolic importance for the jihadists.

According to a Sunni prophecy, the town will be the site of an apocalyptic battle between Muslim and Christian armies.

The Muslim army will be decimated but ultimately prevail, ushering in the end of days.

The town in Aleppo province has little military value compared to the IS strongholds of Raqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq.

But Dabiq has become a byword among IS supporters for a struggle against the West, portraying Washington and its allies as modern-day Crusaders.

IS has also named its online magazine after the town.

The Dabiq prophesy, mentioned in canonical sayings of the Prophet Mohammed, is told in several different versions, but all feature a great battle between a Muslim army and the forces of "Rome", a reference to the Christian west.

IS supporters have taken a wide range of recent events as further evidence of its truth.

Some have kept a close count of the U.S.-led coalition's members -- now at 64 countries -- in anticipation of when the prophecy's "80 banners" are reached.

Others have seen Turkish participation in the fight against IS as proof of the prophecy, which says Muslim victory in Dabiq will be followed by an assault on Constantinople, the former capital of the Christian Byzantines and present-day Istanbul.

Situated 38 kilometers (28 miles) north of Aleppo and close to the border with Turkey, Dabiq is a small rural town of low brick houses, surrounded by flat agricultural land.

The area was the site of a key battle in 1516 between the Ottoman Sultan Selim -- also known as Selim the Grim -- and the Mamluks who ruled Egypt. 

Selim's forces smashed a Mamluk army there and went on to conquer much of the Middle East.

In August, Turkey launched an unprecedented operation inside Syria to fight IS, 500 years to the day after Selim's forces beat the Mamluks.

Earlier this week, IS downplayed the importance of the rebel advance on the town.

"These hit-and-run battles in Dabiq and its outskirts -- the lesser Dabiq battle -- will end in the greater Dabiq epic," it said in a pamphlet published online Thursday. 

The group's propaganda videos frequently use an audio clip from a speech by slain Jordanian jihadists Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose Al-Qaida in Iraq evolved into the Islamic State group.

"The spark has been ignited in Iraq, and its flames will grow, God willing, until they burn the Crusader armies in Dabiq," he is heard saying.

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