Author Description

Jihadists have long presented a threat at sea as well as on land but although jihadist military strategy has been the object of considerable analysis and writing over the years, it has been the land-based aspect that has drawn the most attention, while the jihadists’ maritime strategy has been relatively neglected. The present study seeks to focus attention on and to better understand the maritime component of jihadist military strategy in order to stimulate thinking and discussion that will help formulate more effective responses to this threat.While there are many militant jihadist groups, the emphasis in this study is on al-Qaeda and on the Islamic State (or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria—ISIS) since the latter’s appearance in 2014. Themselves in a sense coalitions of component organizations, these two groups have been the largest and most prominent actors, including in the maritime arena, in what has been a global insurgency, while other significant jihadist groups such as the Taliban or the ones in the Caucus or Turkestan— not least because of their land-locked geography—have been land-centric and not globallyoriented. To be sure, the focus of effort even of al-Qaeda has been primarily land-based (and even more so for ISIS), with the maritime component only a supporting effort in their overall strategy. Nevertheless, jihadists regard the maritime effort as important in terms of its potential to harm its adversaries, as well as of its benefit to the overall jihad. And, conversely, the West and, in particular, the United States should also view this facet of the jihadist threat as significant, given the importance of the maritime factor for international security and economic well-being.