DUBAI — The US and Emirati governments say they have launched a new digital communications center focused on using social media to counter the Daesh (the so-called IS) group's active online propaganda efforts. The new Sawab Center that became operational Wednesday is based in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, a key American ally in the Middle East and a member of the US-led coalition against the terrorist group. The center released YouTube videos and Twitter messages in Arabic and English announcing its launch, and expects to launch a website and Facebook presence soon. The countries say the aim is to support coalition efforts, challenge Daesh propaganda and “amplify moderate and tolerant voices from across the region.” “The center, named after the Arabic word for ‘the right and spiritual path', will use direct online engagement to counter the terrorist messaging that is used to recruit foreign fighters, raise funds, and terrorise local populations,” the US state department said in a statement. The new center will monitor Daesh content in order to help the coalition generate more research based messaging to deal with the terror group, the local daily The National reported. The center will also develop real time content in response to events on the ground in Syria and Iraq to back the coalition's actions, the report said. The Sawab Centre's launch comes as the US President Barack Obama acknowledged in a recent briefing that the coalition needs to address Daesh's “hateful propaganda” in addition to airstrikes. “No amount of military force will end the terror that is ISIL (Daesh) unless it's matched by a broader effort, political and economic, that addresses the underlying conditions that have allowed ISIL to gain traction,” he said. The US-led coalition has been bombing Daesh targets in Iraq and Syria for a year but the radical group has managed to trump the coalition's efforts as it continues to attract a steady stream of foreign fighters to its cause. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries and their European peers have taken a number of measures including criminalizing travel to areas such as Syria and Iraq. The US had previously established centers to counter Daesh in the online medium but analysts say that such steps were largely ineffective. According to a recent UN report, more than 25,000 foreign fighters from 100 countries have joined terrorist groups such as Daesh and Al-Qaeda. The number of people drawn to such groups saw a sudden surge within the last year, the report added. — Agencies
