Friday, October 28, 2016

Fighting ISIS on the Airwaves


As US-backed forces began an offensive in late October to retake Iraq's second-largest city from ISIS, the air war included not only bombs but words and music. CNN and other news outlets reported on a clandestine radio station, Alghad FM (Alghad means tomorrow in Arabic), broadcasting into Mosul. 

Run by 28-year-old Mohamad Al Mawsily (a pseudonym meaning "from Mosul") and two partners, the station not only broadcasts music and information into Mosul, but airs phone calls from listeners who describe minute-by-minute conditions in the city. This, despite a recent ban on cellphones by ISIS, making such calls very dangerous for all involved. However, as the CNN story reported, "(h)ere, there are only two things that ISIS hates: music and truth." Alghad FM is providing both.