Tracking the Islamic State group on Twitter

Tracking the Islamic State group on Twitter
Here are some of the best Twitter accounts that give up-to-date information on the IS group, and those living in the territory it controls.
3 min read
20 Nov, 2014
Abu Bakr Baghdadi, Islamic State group leader, is not thought to use Twitter himself [Getty]
Getting updates on the Islamic State group through Twitter often depends on what hashtag you use. If you want insight into how fighters and supporters think, search with #islamicstate, #is or #khilafah. If you want to see a more critical approach, search for #ISIS - the former name of the IS group.

Below are accounts for researchers and activists  who mainly tweet in English. Following news about the IS through social media is a fluid business - Twitter often deletes pro-IS accounts due to their content.

al-Araby al-Jadeed has no editorial responsibility for the opinions expressed on any of these links.

@Raqqa_SI is the account of activists who run a "Syrian people's campaign against ISIS in Raqqa", the stronghold of the group in Syria. The account offers incredible insight into life in the city and is updated every day.

#Raqqa video from Raqqa to Alsaa Square shows the life in the city after airstikes #exclusive #today #ISIS http://t.co/Sv6z2CyWZQ @MosulEye was created by an "independent historian inside Mosul", and one of only a few accounts that relays information in English about this IS-controlled city in northern Iraq. The author also runs a blog: http://mosuleye.wordpress.com




@RudawEnglish describes itself as the leading English-language source of news for Kurds and Kurdish affairs. It is based in Irbil in the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq and has produced some great work on fighting between IS and Kurdish Peshmerga. This account is written from a Kurdish perspective.

@ShamiWitness says he writes about "Bilad ash-Sham [the Levant], Sunni revolutions, economic collapse, post-industrial society, technology, history." He has good insight on IS military updates and runs a blog: http://shamiwitness.blogspot.co.uk/



@zaidbenjamin
is a journalist based in Washington, who works for Radio Sawa. He is quick to report IS activity and news from the Middle East. An account worth following.

@ajaltamimi is the account of Aymenn al-Tamimi, a young Oxford graduate who follows violent jihadi movements. He is often quoted in the Financial Times and other media outlets but has been criticised for being close to his sources in Syria. 



@Charles_Lister
is currently a visiting fellow at Brookings Doha Centre who has written extensively on the Syrian civil war and the various groups doing the fighting.


@cwhooper
is the account of Charlie Cooper, who researches jihadism in Syria and Iraq at the Quilliam Foundation in London.