Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS

by Joby Warrick

In fact, ISIS already was moving to settle scores in Anbar neighborhoods that had welcomed the group’s arrival. Abdalrazzaq al-Suleiman, a Sunni tribal sheikh and one of Zaydan’s Ramadi neighbors, happened to be away on business when a truck filled with black-clad fighters drove up to his farm. The jihadists shot several of Suleiman’s bodyguards, destroyed his cars, and then leveled his house with explosive charges. Suleiman’s offense: Eight years earlier he had been a leader of the Anbar Awakening movement that cooperated with U.S. troops in driving Zarqawi’s followers out of the province. “They stole everything that was in my house before they blew it up,” said Suleiman, who moved to Jordan for safety. “It was my duty and honor to work with the Americans as a tribal leader fighting terrorism. But now it feels like we’ve been abandoned. We were left in the middle of the road.”