In this great interview from New Books in National Security, Omar Ashour, author of How ISIS Fights: Military Tactics in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt, talks to host Jeffrey Bristol about his work.
They discuss the origin of Ashour’s study and how ISIS franchises spread. The interview also explores the potential threats of ISIS as an international terrorist organisation and why it grew as quickly as it did. They also look ahead to what the future might hold for ISIS.
Find out more about the interview over on New Books Network, or listen below:
God, Guns, and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America with Jacob Ware (Columbia UP, 2024) – New Books in National Security
- God, Guns, and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America with Jacob Ware (Columbia UP, 2024)
- Compromised Coalitions: The Paradox of Postconflict Power Sharing in Africa with Alexander Noyes (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026)
- The Return of the Great Powers with Brendan Simms (Basic Books, 2026)
- Stefano Recchia, "Strategies for Approval: Building Support for Military Intervention at the UN Security Council" (Yale UP, 2025)
- Francesca Lessa and Sebastián Santana, "Operation Condor: The Pact That Terrorized a Continent" (Storia, 2025)
About the Author

Omar Ashour is an Associate Professor of Security and Military Studies and the Founding Chair of the Critical Security Studies Programme at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. He is the author of How ISIS Fights: Military Tactics in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt (Edinburgh University Press, 2021) as well as the editor of Bullets to Ballots: Collective De-Radicalisation of Armed Movements (Edinburgh University Press, 2021).





