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WASHINGTON President Donald Trumps comments about the state of the war on terror, along with the policies his administration is rolling out in his first week in office, have left longtime analysts alarmed over the possibility that the very groups he wants defeated will instead be further emboldened.

Its not probably enough to dramatically expand their relatively minuscule base of support in the Muslim world, but for a group like [the Islamic State], they dont have to mobilize 1,000 people, J.M. Berger, fellow at the International Centre for Counter-terrorism in The Hague, Netherlands,and author of ISIS: The State of Terror, wrote in a Tuesday email. If they mobilize an extra 10 so-called lone wolf attackers in the course of a year, thats a big deal for them.

Trump has long pledged a more blunt, confrontational approach to militant Islamist groups. But his first few days as president have highlighted the challenge of using campaign-trail rhetoric while actually running the U.S. government.Since Friday, the president has embraced positions that past commanders in chief have long avoided.

In his inaugural address, Trump broke with his two predecessors by declaring a war on radical Islamic terrorism, thereby conflating the religion of Islam practiced by over 1 billion people with vicious fringe groups exploiting controversial interpretations of Islamic teachings. The next day, he told an audience of cherry-picked supporters and some CIA staff that previous administrations should have stolen oil from Iraq. The U.S. could still do so, Trump suggested, raising the specter of a renewed confrontation between Iraqi militias, strongly supported by Iran, and the more than 5,000 American troops stationed in Iraq to help the countrys government defeat ISIS.

On Wednesday morning, The New York Times reported that Trump is considering reopening secret CIA black sites that the Bush administration used to hold and torture primarily Muslim terror suspects. And later this week, the president is expected to impose harsh new measures against refugees, visitors and potential immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries justifying the move by implying that those people were likely terrorists.

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Taken as a whole, these policies and utterances risk straining critical alliances and prompting blowback, terrorism experts argue. Researchers in the field have warned for years against creating the impression of a broad clash of civilizations, with the U.S. as a Christian superpower battling Islam. They note that Trumps rhetoric on the campaign trail already showed the risks inherent with such a framework.

When Trump says hateful things about Muslims, it proves that jihadists are right to fight against the West, because the West is against Islam, one ISIS fighter told researchers writing for Foreign Affairs magazine last summer. Earlier in the year, The Associated Press found that an al Qaeda-affiliated recruitment video featured footage of Trump suggesting a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. And the then-candidates constant questioning of Muslims place in Western societies has lined up neatly with ISISs long-stated goal of destroying the grayzone of religious coexistence and convincing more and more Muslims to see violent radicalism as their only chance to assert themselves.

Prior to Trumps inauguration, ISIS had used his image twice in montages showing Western leaders whom Muslims should oppose, according to Charlie Winter, a senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation.

After Trumps election, observers hoped that the gravity of the office would dull his rhetoric. But the first week has only worsened matters, analysts say.

Trump has offered renewed hope to terror groups weakened by a two-year U.S. campaign in Iraq and Syria, according to Clint Watts, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute think tank and veteran of the U.S. Army, FBI and Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. He believes that both al Qaeda and the Islamic State could feel incentivized to attack the West in hopes of provoking an overreaction, drawing the U.S. into unwinnable wars and proving themselves more worthy of fresh support than groups more concerned with local conflicts in the Muslim-majority world. Watts also called Trumps selection of aides with hard-line views on Islam, likeNational Security Adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a worrying sign.

It creates this clamping down it confirms al Qaeda and ISIS narratives, he told The Huffington Post. The Trump narrative really entices the globalists [in the terror movement who say] you cannot go at this without taking the West out, dismantling and pushing back the West.

Previous administrations have struggled to balance their rhetoric on the terror threat. Shortly after 9/11, former PresidentGeorge W.Bush spoke of confronting an axis of evil, for example, while early arguments for going into Iraq stoked Muslim fears that religious hatreds and a greed for oil were motivating factors. Over time, Watts noted, the Bush administration walked back some of its more strident rhetoric, with the president going out of his way to disassociate mainstream Islam from extremists claiming to embody the religion.

Trump has been far less precise in his approach. And thats the concern here making enemies out of people who were not enemies before, Berger wrote. That doesnt mean that Muslims are going to flock to ISIS or al Qaeda as a result of Trumps rhetoric, but it does complicate our ability to win support and recruit allies in the battle against extremist groups.

US AIR FORCE / Reuters

As Berger notes, one of the risks Trump runs with his aggressive approach is discouraging Muslim-majority countries from being associated with the United States. Nations like Iraq, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain all work closely with the U.S. on combating ISIS and other groups.

The Bush and Obama administrations were able to cajole positive steps from Muslim-majority countries, in terms of cracking down on terrorist financing and travel, and in many other areas, Berger wrote. If the United States is not seen as a friendly partner, those gains are at risk.

With less bigotry and bluster, the new presidents approach might have some value. Some Muslim scholars believe it is fair to say there is something Islamic about the terror groups the U.S. is fighting in the Middle East and elsewhere. They say peaceful Muslims and their defenders go too far in distancing militants from Islam, and they urge more honesty about the dangers of fundamentalist interpretations of the religion.

Rasha Al Aqeedi, a fellow at the Al-Mesbar Studies and Research Center in Dubai, believes using the term radical Islamic terrorism could actually encourage stronger internal resistance to terror groups in the Muslim-majority world. It forces the hundreds of millions of Muslims who wholeheartedly reject ISIS to do some soul-searching. ISIS, al Qaeda, and other groups are hybrid in their nature: political, psychological, and economic reasons contribute to their rise, but so does ideology stemming from radical interpretations of Islamic and calls to politicize faith, she wrote in a Wednesday email.

And Trump could take valuable steps if he sticks to his promise to end ISISs control of territory, Watts said, torpedoing the groups boast of controlling a caliphate a major source of its recruitment success and shoring up U.S.-friendly governments.

But theres a growing sense the new president will not take a nuanced look at the fight against militants or the way the U.S. should treat Muslims. A native of the Iraqi city of Mosul, which the U.S. and Iraq are trying to win back from ISIS, Al Aqeedi slammed Trumps Iraq comments and condemned rumors of his proposing a ban on visas for Iraqis, which she worried could prevent analysts like her and thousands of U.S.-friendly Iraqis and Syrians from traveling to the U.S. to offer their expertise.

The statements are very unfortunate, Al Aqeedi wrote. Its clear that Trump doesnt see Iraq as [an]ally, nor acknowledge that it has been fighting ISIS with all its resources and blood more than any other country in the world. Iraq was supposed to have been liberated by the U.S., not conquered.

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Trump's Talk On Terror And Iraq Has Experts Worried About A Coming Backlash - Huffington Post

Middle East Eye

A not-so-historic settlement: Iraq's post-IS vision runs into trouble Middle East Eye A political reconciliation plan, spearheaded by the leader of Iraq's Islamic Supreme Council Ammar al-Hakim, promises to heal Iraq and unite its warring factions. Named the 'historic settlement,' the initiative is built on the areas around which Shia ...

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A not-so-historic settlement: Iraq's post-IS vision runs into trouble - Middle East Eye

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Jan. 24, 2017 After more than 100 days of hard urban combat, Iraqi officials announced the liberation of eastern Mosul today.

While clearance operations are ongoing, the Iraqi security forces control all areas inside the city east of the Tigris River, the east bank of the river around all five bridges crossing the Tigris River, Mosul University and the Ninevah Ruins.

During their offensive to liberate the city of more than one million residents, which was held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant for more than two years, the Iraqi and peshmerga security forces fought through an elaborate defense formed over the past two years to not only keep the Iraqi security forces out, but the residents of Mosul captive. Through it all, the Iraqi security forces displayed their professionalism by placing the lives of citizens before their own and taking precautions to protect the citizens of Mosul while battling a brutal and fanatic enemy, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials said.

Meanwhile, they added, ISIL resorted to using children and other civilians as shields against coalition and Iraqi air and artillery strikes and used protected facilities such as hospitals, mosques and schools as weapons storage facilities and bases for its terrorist operations.

Air Strikes

Since Oct. 17, the coalition has conducted 558 air strikes in assistance of the Iraqi forces, using 10,115 munitions against ISIL targets. These munitions have destroyed at least 151 vehicle bombs, 361 buildings/facilities, 140 tunnels, 408 vehicles, 392 bunkers, 24 anti-air artillery systems, and 315 artillery/mortar systems.

During the offensive, the Iraqis fended off an average of five vehicle bombs a day, and endured daily mortar and sniper attacks, as well as surveillance and frequent attacks by ISIL unmanned aerial systems dropping grenades on friendly forces.

This is a monumental achievement for not only the Iraqi security forces and sovereign government of Iraq, but all Iraqi people, said Army Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, the commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, the multi-national counter-ISIL coalition tasked with the military defeat of ISIL in Iraq and Syria.

This would have been a difficult task for any army in the world, Townsend said. And to see how far the Iraqis have come since 2014, not only militarily, but in their ability to put their differences aside and focus on a common enemy, gives real hope to the people of Iraq that after years of fighting and instability, peace and security are attainable.

There is still a long way to go before ISIL is completely eliminated from Iraq, and the fight for western Mosul is likely to be even tougher than the eastern side, he said. But the [Iraqis] have proven they are both a professional and formidable fighting force and I have every confidence that ISILs days are numbered in Iraq.

The warriors of the coalition join me in congratulating our comrades in the Iraqi security forces on this achievement and wish them good luck and Allah's blessings for the fight on the west side that lies ahead, the general said.

The coalition trains, equips and enables the Iraqi and peshmerga security forces with advise and assist teams, intelligence, artillery and air strikes. Since the start of operations in October 2014, the coalition has trained more than 50,000 Iraqi fighters and launched more than 17,000 strikes on ISIL targets in support of its partners on the ground.

Over the past two years, with coalition training and equipment, the Iraqis rebuilt their military and liberated more than two million people and major population centers such as Ramadi, Fallujah, Tikrit, Kirkuk, Qayyarah and Sharqat. Now they are well on their way to the complete liberation of Iraqs second largest city, Mosul, officials said.

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Iraq Announces Liberation of Eastern Mosul - Department of Defense

When President Donald Trump gave a speech before the CIA Memorial Wall inLangley, Virginia, the American intelligence community was not the only group listening. Trumps off-the-cuff remarks about oiland Iraq reportedly reachedIraqi soldiers and militiamen who are currently fighting ISIS.

If we kept the oil, you probably wouldnt have ISIS because thats where they made their money in the first place, Trump saidin a televised speechat CIA headquarters. So we should have kept the oil, but, OK, maybe well have another chance.

These words reportedly shook Iraqis, some of whomspoke with BuzzFeed News about the prospect of another American invasion.

We kept our ammunition and weapons from the time the Americans left for fighting ISIS, one 27-year-old security official said. But once ISIS is gone we will save our weapons for the Americans.

BuzzFeeds Borzou Daragahi reported that Trumps remarkscould spoil relations with one of the key players in the war against ISIS.

He cannot do it. He cannot succeed, said a 30-year-old Baghdad resident and militia fighter. Of course I would fight the Americans if they came for the oil.

Theres no way Trump could take the oil unless he launched a new military front and it be a new world war, said another who works as aphotographer for a new branch of Iraqs armed forces consisting of former militiamen and volunteers.

Even a Fox News contributor was alarmed by the presidentsblas comments. Charles Krauthammer told Fox News Bret Baier Saturday night that Trumps statement about keeping the oil after the 2003 invasion of Iraq could be considered a war crime.

The point is that when you become president of the United States, your words, they are incredibly important. You can say one sentence and the dollar will lose its value. Krauthammer said. Pondering the oil is a war crime.

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Iraq is worried that Donald Trump says he may re-invade to take their oil - Salon

Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia once fought US occupation forces (AFP Photo/Haidar HAMDANI)

Najaf (Iraq) (AFP) - Moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would be a declaration of war on Islam, influential Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said Tuesday.

"Transferring the US embassy to Jerusalem would be a public and more-explicit-than-ever declaration of war against Islam," he said in a statement.

In a break with previous administrations, new US President Donald Trump has pledged to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and relocate the US embassy there from Tel Aviv.

Sadr, a firebrand Shiite cleric whose militia once fought US occupation forces in Iraq, called for the "formation of a special division to liberate Jerusalem were the decision to be implemented."

Sadr said the Cairo-based Arab League as well as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the world's main pan-Islamic body, should take a decisive stand on the issue or dissolve themselves.

The Najaf-based cleric also called "for the immediate closure of the US embassy in Iraq" should Washington go ahead with its promised embassy transfer in Israel.

Sadr supporters protesting against the lack of services and widespread corruption in the Iraqi state stormed the so-called "Green Zone" in Baghdad twice last year.

The protesters entered the parliament buildings and the prime minister's office but did not attempt anything against the US embassy there, which is Washington's largest foreign mission.

The United States works with Iraq on a range of issues, notably with military backing for the Iraqi offensive to retake large parts of the country seized by the Islamic State group.

The final status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest issues in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel considers Jerusalem -- including the eastern Palestinian sector it annexed in 1980 -- as its indivisible capital. The Palestinians want to make east Jerusalem the capital of their future state.

The White House on Sunday appeared to play down suggestions that a move was imminent, with press secretary Sean Spicer saying: "We are at the very beginning stages of even discussing this subject."

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Firebrand Iraq cleric warns US on Israel embassy move - Yahoo News