By Jennifer Cafarella, Christopher Kozak, and Genevieve Casagrande
Grand Strategic Objectives:
• Rule all Muslims under an Islamic Caliphate
• Provoke and win an apocalyptic war with the West
Strategic Objectives in Syria:
• Preserve and expand territorial control in Syria
• Implement governance guided by Shari’a law and subjugate minorities within the caliphate
• Seize a historic caliphate capital and eliminate the Alawite regime
• Neutralize or absorb the Syrian armed opposition
• Neutralize or absorb Syrian al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra (JN or JAN)
• Stoke regional disorder through sectarian or religious conflict in Syria
