Isis Opens 262-Room Luxury Hotel in Mosul

Islamic State has been reported to have built a 262-room luxury hotel in Mosul.

Charlie Winter, a researcher for the counter-extremism think tank, Quilliam, said that the building of the hotel was likely an attempt by Isis to suggest that the bombing campaigns by the US-led coalition had not destabilized it as a group.

He told The Independent: “I think the message the propagandists are trying to portray is that if the coalition is really causing damage then Isis wouldn’t be able to host gala dinners with fireworks at a luxury hotel.”

The US-led coalition launched 12 air strikes in Iraq against Isis targets on Tuesday. Mosul was one of the first cities to be seized by the group during its bloody advance in 2014 and bombing campaigns regularly target this stronghold. Isis has suffered a series of losses of late and militants were recently expelled from the city of Tirkit by Kurdish and Iraqi forces and air strikes.

Winter added that he believed the hotel was for visiting commanders and dignitaries, although this has not been stated by the group’s media arm. The images are a departure from Isis’ typical propaganda, which usually depicts buildings and monuments being bulldozed as opposed to maintained. It is furthermore off-message by showcasing luxurious surroundings that only some can afford, a concept more familiar within Western capitalist society, undermining the notion propagated by Isis of an inclusive caliphate that serves everyone who swears allegiance to it.

Elijah Magnier, chief correspondent for Al Rai Media, agreed that the hotel was an unusual move for the group. “It’s likely an attempt to present life in Mosul as fine and normal,” he said. “But people are not staying in it as they don’t have the money to.”