ISIS or al Qaeda Unlikely to Expand in Myanmar

By Laith Alkhouri

Laith Alkhouri is a co-founder and Director at Flashpoint. Mr. Alkhouri, a native Arabic speaker, heads Flashpoint's counterterrorism desk and directs the jihadist threat intelligence service. His team works on identifying the latest trends in the Deep Web used by terror groups and their supporters. He's assisted law enforcement in terror investigations and delivered presentations with original research to DoD, DoJ and State Department audiences. Mr. Alkhouri is frequently cited by national and international media outlets and serves as an on-air NBC News counterterrorism analyst.

The struggle of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims is a regular topic of discussion on jihadist online message boards, frequently cited as the ultimate case of persecution against Muslims. For jihadists, it meets the standard of other constant grievances they frequently refer to, such as issues concerning jihadi prisoners, drone strikes, or so-called tyrannical rulers.

Myanmar, though, has never been a fertile ground for a jihadist insurrectionist movement the likes of ISIS, or a place for an al Qaeda branch with any propaganda advantage.

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