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  • Experts

Aaron Y. Zelin

  • Richard Borow Fellow
Also available in:
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Expertise

  • Arab & Islamic Politics
  • Terrorism
Aaron Zelin
Download High-Resolution Portrait

Dr. Aaron Y. Zelin is the Richard Borow Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where he also directs the Islamic State Worldwide Activity Map project. Zelin is also a Visiting Research Scholar in the Department of Politics at Brandeis University, and Founder of the widely acclaimed website Jihadology. He is author of the book Your Sons Are At Your Service: Tunisia’s Missionaries of Jihad (Columbia University Press), which was nominated for the Neave Memorial Book Prize in 2020. Zelin is currently working on a second book tentatively titled Heart of the Believes: A History of Syrian Jihadism.

Zelin’s research focuses on Sunni jihadi groups in Syria, North Africa, and Afghanistan as well as the trend of jihadi governance, online mobilization, and foreign fighting. He has conducted field research in Tunisia, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Turkey. Zelin has also testified and served as an expert witness in front of Congress and in judicial cases.

He is the author of a number of reports including the January 2013 study The State of Global Jihad Online, the June 2014 study The War Between ISIS and al-Qaeda for Supremacy of the Global Jihadist Movement, the August 2015 study Picture Or It Didn’t Happen: A Snapshot of the Islamic State’s Official Media Output, the January 2016 study The Islamic State’s Territorial Methodology, the editor of the June 2017 study How al-Qaeda Survived Drones, Uprisings, and the Islamic State; the January 2018 study The Others: Foreign Fighters in Libya; the September 2018 study Tunisian Foreign Fighters in Iraq and Syria; the October 2019 study Wilayat al-Hawl: 'Remaining' and Incubating the Next Islamic State Generation; the February 2021 study Syria at the Center of Power Competition and Counterterrorism, and most recently the May 2022 study The Age of Political Jihadism: A Study of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

Zelin received his PhD in War Studies from King’s College London in December 2017. There, he wrote his dissertation on the history of the Tunisian jihadi movement, which was nominated for the King’s College London Graduate School Prize for Outstanding PhD Thesis. As part of the PhD program, he was the Sami David Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence from 2013-2015. In 2014, he was also a Gingko Library Scholar in London. From 2020-2021, Zelin was an Associate Fellow with the the Global Network on Extremism and Technology, which is run by the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism. From 2020-2023, he also served on the Advisory Steering Committee for the Group of Experts on the Maghreb for the Global Center on Cooperative Security. Since 2017, Zelin has been an Associate Editor of the academic journal Perspectives on Terrorism.University Press.

Education

Ph.D., King's College London; M.A., Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, Brandeis University; B.A., Indiana University

Aaron Zelin
Download High-Resolution Portrait

Contact

(202) 230-9550 (media inquiries only)
(202) 452-0650 (other inquiries)
press@washingtoninstitute.org

Follow

  • Web jihadology
  • https://twitter.com/azelin twitter

Featured Publications

Islamic State forces, in convoy formation, declare allegiance to new caliph, 2023.
Maps & Graphics
Exploiting a "Vast Jihad Arena":
The Islamic State Takes Territory in Mali
The offensive occurred amid a deteriorating security situation across the Sahel that will require creative U.S. responses.
Sep 26, 2023
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  • Aaron Y. Zelin
  • Sarah Cahn
Screenshot of The Washington Institute's Islamic State interactive map
Maps & Graphics
Introducing the Islamic State Select Worldwide Activity Map
This multimedia tool -- easily the most comprehensive of its kind -- provides a novel, accessible way to understand the Islamic State’s global reach and activities. Beyond a traditional focus on attacks, find content from Islamic State media, designations, and legal cases.
Mar 21, 2023
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  • Aaron Y. Zelin
Your Sons Are at Your Service: Tunisia’s Missionaries of Jihad
How did Tunisia, a democratic bright spot of the Arab uprisings with very little history of terrorist violence within its borders before 2011, become one of the largest sources of foreign fighters for the Islamic State? This groundbreaking book presents the first history of the Tunisian jihadi movement and challenges simplified views of jihadism's appeal and success.
Feb 7, 2020
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  • Aaron Y. Zelin
Leaders of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
Maps & Graphics
The Age of Political Jihadism:
A Study of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
The Syria-based group now functions more like a government than a nonstate actor, portending a reorientation for the larger jihadist movement.
May 9, 2022
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  • Aaron Y. Zelin
Syria chessboard international and local players
Syria at the Center of Power Competition and Counterterrorism
Even as U.S. policymakers must stay focused on the Assad regime’s culpability, they also face a complex web of power dynamics in which Russia, Turkey, Iran, Israel, and other actors are attempting to secure their various interests.
Feb 8, 2021
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  • Aaron Y. Zelin
A view of the Al-Hawl (or Al-Hol) ISIS detention camp in Syria - source: Reuters
Maps & Graphics
Wilayat al-Hawl:
'Remaining' and Incubating the Next Islamic State Generation
Many inhabitants of the al-Hol camp still profess loyalty to the jihadist group and have sought to impose a fundamentalist lifestyle on their fellow residents.
Oct 18, 2019
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  • Aaron Y. Zelin
Maps & Graphics
Tunisian Foreign Fighters in Iraq and Syria
Over the past few years, the influx of Tunisian fighters to Iraq and Syria has rendered Tunisia practically synonymous with
Nov 28, 2018
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  • Aaron Y. Zelin
Maps & Graphics
The Others: Foreign Fighters in Libya
This new study offers a deeper understanding of the foreign-fighter phenomenon, its evolution, and its potential trajectories.
Jan 16, 2018
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  • Aaron Y. Zelin

Recent Policy Analysis by Aaron Y. Zelin

A hotel building in Kabul damaged by a bomb claimed by the Islamic State affiliate ISKIP - source: Reuters
Brief Analysis
The Next Afghan Jihad? Taliban Efforts to Contain ISKP
September 28, 2023, starting at 11:00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT)
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  • Aaron Y. Zelin
  • Amira Jadoon
  • Andrew Mines
Articles & Testimony
The Future of Homeland Security: Addressing the Rise of Terrorism in Africa
Sep 27, 2023
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  • Aaron Y. Zelin
Islamic State forces, in convoy formation, declare allegiance to new caliph, 2023.
In-Depth Reports
Exploiting a "Vast Jihad Arena":
The Islamic State Takes Territory in Mali
Sep 26, 2023
◆
  • Aaron Y. Zelin
  • Sarah Cahn
Articles & Testimony
The Islamic State’s Shadow Governance in Eastern Syria Since the Fall of Baghuz
Sep 22, 2023
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  • Aaron Y. Zelin
  • Devorah Margolin
A hotel building in Kabul damaged by a bomb claimed by the Islamic State affiliate ISKIP - source: Reuters
Brief Analysis
ISKP Goes Global: External Operations from Afghanistan
Sep 11, 2023
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  • Aaron Y. Zelin
A United States Air Force trainer works with soldiers of the Nigerian Armed Forces - source: U.S. government
Brief Analysis
Niger Coup Threatens U.S. Strategy on Counterterrorism and Russia
Aug 16, 2023
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  • Ben Fishman
  • Anna Borshchevskaya
  • Aaron Y. Zelin
All Policy Analysis by Aaron Y. Zelin
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