this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023
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[–] fosforus@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This culture of extreme jihadist violence is not something that suddenly came to being.

A Shia Islam sect called Hashshashins were carrying out terroristic assassinations in late 11th century. But in contrast to current islamistic terrorists, they were quite a lot more civilized, as their targets weren't so much civilians. But they did carry out asymmetric strikes from a position of weakness, which sounds similar to how current radical islamists fight.

Whether this has anything to do with the current strikes is questionable, but I thought it's an interesting history which might hint at some underlying meme.

Being disgusted by warcrimes is the privilege of an army that is able to still do war without commiting them. With the massive power imbalance comes a genuine desensitization of the underdog to violence, as they feel no other way to fight and have a chance at winning or making a difference.

I'm obviously not a military tactician, but I cannot see how a war like this could be waged without causing civilian casualties -- when the enemy is deliberately using civilians and civilian structures as shields like Hamas.