Kyle Orton Journalist Profile

Articles

Islamic State Explains its Policy Towards Lone-Actor Attacks Like New Orleans

Jan 12, 2025 | kyleorton.com | Kyle Orton

The Islamic State (IS) released the 477th edition of its weekly newsletter, Al-Naba, on 9 January. The main editorial was devoted to the New Orleans terrorist attack that took place in the early hours of New Year’s Day. IS explains its relationship to that specific attack, and sets it in the context of a broader explanation of its current policy towards lone-actor terrorism in the West, including how it chooses which attacks to officially claim. A translation of the editorial is given below.
The Uses and Meaning of History and Biography for the Islamic State

Jan 11, 2025 | kyleorton.com | Kyle Orton

Shortly after the Islamic State (IS) announced the appointment of its fifth “caliph”, Abu Hafs al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi, in August 2023, a Facebook account devoted to IS messaging appeared and started publishing a series of short biographies of the group’s leading members—some past, some present; some dead, some alive—that doubled as a potted history of the organisation, particularly in the early phase after it moved to Iraq in 2002.
British Islamists React to the Fall of Syria’s Asad Regime

Jan 3, 2025 | kyleorton.com | Kyle Orton

Read the article over at the Middle East Forum.
Syria’s New Rulers Are on the Terrorism List. Should They Stay There?

Dec 11, 2024 | kyleorton.com | Kyle Orton

Ahmad al-Shara (Abu Muhammad al-Jolani) delivers a speech at Umayyad Mosque after the fall of the Asad regime || 8 December 2024Read the article over at UnHerd.
Syria is Free of Bashar al-Asad

Dec 9, 2024 | kyleorton.com | Kyle Orton

In the early hours of yesterday morning, 8 December 2024, Bashar al-Asad gave up his rule of Syria in the face of a ten-day insurgent offensive that had reached Damascus. It seemed for a time Asad had been killed as he fled, but it has since been announced he arrived in Moscow. In either event, it brings to a close nearly fourteen years of war and bloodshed, and opens a new chapter, not only for Syria but the whole Middle East. It Can Always Get Worse is a reader-supported publication.
Islamic State: Happy to See Asad Lose, Unhappy His Opponents Are Winning

Dec 7, 2024 | kyleorton.com | Kyle Orton

In the 472nd edition of Al-Naba, the Islamic State’s (IS) weekly newsletter, published on 5 December, the main editorial gives IS’s view of the dramatic events in Syria over the past ten days. It Can Always Get Worse is a reader-supported publication. To receive notification of new posts, become a free subscriber. Consider becoming a paid subscriber to access all posts.
Syria Enters Uncharted Territory, But The Core Truth of the Conflict Remains

Dec 2, 2024 | kyleorton.com | Kyle Orton

Read the article over at Engelsberg Ideas.
The Syrian war never really ended

Dec 2, 2024 | engelsbergideas.com | Kyle Orton

Syria’s war seemed to have its ending. The uprising that began in early 2011, as the contagion of the ‘Arab Spring’ spread, threatened for a time to undo the dynastic despotism of Bashar al-Assad. But after Iran summoned its jihadist legions and the Russian air force made its presence felt, the tide was turned, culminating in the scorched earth campaign at the end of 2016, which broke the back of the rebellion in its final urban bastion, Aleppo.
The Israel-Hizballah Ceasefire in Lebanon is Deeply Flawed

Nov 27, 2024 | kyleorton.com | Kyle Orton
Did the Qur’an Exist Before Muhammad?

Nov 19, 2024 | kyleorton.com | Kyle Orton

It Can Always Get Worse is a reader-supported publication. To receive notification of new posts, become a free subscriber. Consider becoming a paid subscriber to access all posts. The most basic questions about the Qur’an’s origins remain contested. Where and when the Qur’an comes from, how it was formulated, when and how it was first written down, even what language it was in: nobody knows.