Expert says 'key challenge' being faced by IS 'more internal than external'

Embroiled in dissent, defections and setbacks on the battlefield, the Islamic State (IS) is beset with internal crisis, an expert has said.

Lina Khatib, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said that the "key challenge" being faced by the IS right now was more "internal than external" and added that it demonstrated a failure of the central tenet of IS ideology, which aimed to unite people of different origins under the caliphate. She said that it has made the terror group "less effective in governing and less effective in military operations."

The internal crisis faced by the terror group has defused its strength and eroded its aura of invincibility among those living under its dictatorial rule, reported The Washington Post.

Reports of rising tensions between foreign and local fighters, aggressive and increasingly unsuccessful attempts to recruit local citizens for the front lines and a series of guerilla attacks on IS targets suggest that the terror group is having a hard time sustaining its "carefully cultivated image" of a gruesome, invincible force uniting Muslims under one umbrella.

Reports have also suggested growing signs of friction between foreigners lured by its state-building experiment and local recruits, who have grown resentful of the preferential treatment meted out to the expatriates, including higher salaries and better living conditions.

Public executions, a core component of Islamic State discipline, have been extended to about 120 of its own members, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.