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INTERNAL CRISIS IN IS? FOUR AZERBAIJANIS ARRESTED BY IS IN RAQQA APPEAR IN NEW VIDEO
Big News Network.com
Dec 22 2014
-- Joanna Paraszczuk
The Islamic State group has released a new video showing four
Azerbaijani men it says were arrested as part of a "cell of extremists"
who had been plotting an armed rebellion in Raqqa, Islamic State's
de facto capital in Syria.
The men, two of whom speak in Azeri and two in accented Russian,
look frightened and give what appear to be forced "confessions" --
possibly read from a script -- about their part in the alleged plot.
In the video, shared on social media on December 21, the first
Russian-speaking man, named as Abu Maryam, says that he and others
considered "this nation" (a reference to local Syrians) "mushriks"
(polytheists). Abu Maryam said that he and his fellow conspirators
wanted to kill them and appropriate their property.
"We also considered [Islamic State] to be infidels because they
didn't make takfir (the practice of a Muslim declaring another Muslim
an apostate) with the people but considered them brothers. And we
considered [IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi] a mushrik because he
collected zakat (a mandatory duty payable by Muslims) from the local
mushriks," Abu Maryam says.
The same message is given by the second Russian-speaker, an older man,
who says that he and his comrades "started to fight IS and the locals
because we considered them to be mushriks."
"I also want to add that we also found Sheikhs Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
and Adnani mushriks because they addressed the Syrian and Iraqi people
as their brothers," the man, named as Abu Yakub, says.
Abu Yakub says that he and others plotted with their leader, who told
them to fight IS and take their weapons.
The video ends by quoting a verse from the Koran that talks about
execution as a punishment for those who "wage war against God."
It is not known exactly how many Azerbaijanis are fighting in Syria,
but estimates in news reports have ranged from 200 to 300. The largest
group of Azerbaijani militants in Syria is likely fighting for the
Islamic State (IS) group. In May, Muhammad al-Azeri, the leader of
an Azerbaijani IS faction in Raqqa, said in a video message that IS
was on the "correct path of jihad" in Syria.
Though Abu Yakub, the older man shown in the Islamic State video, does
not appear to fit the profile of other militants from Azerbaijan and
other former Soviet states fighting in Syria, a Washington D.C.-based
analyst who blogs under the name told RFE/RL that there are several
examples of older Azerbaijani foreign fighters in Syria.
These include two members of the group known as the Karabakh Partisans
-- Rustem Askerov, who was killed in January and who had fought in
Chechnya, and Rovshan Badalov, who was killled in Kobani in October.
Members of the so-called Karabakh Partisans were arrested in Azerbaijan
in 2004 on suspicion of planning a paramilitary jihad to liberate
the Karabakh region from Armenia.
"The bottom line is that there was/is a cadre of older Azerbaijani
jihadis in Syria -- many arrived early on in the conflict and were
veterans of other conflicts, mainly in the North Caucasus. Chechnya
had a high participation for Azerbaijanis. No one has good numbers,
but it was likely in the hundreds," told RFE/RL.
The video showing the four Azerbaijani men comes after reports via
activists that Islamic State militants executed as many as 100 of
their own members, most if not all foreign fighters, in Raqqa. Other
activists in Raqqa denied that a mass execution had taken place.
However, the Islamic State video of the four Azeri men's "confessions"
does suggest that there is some sort of internal crisis with infighting
within the ranks of Islamic State militants in Raqqa, and that the
infighting involves foreign fighters.
The reports of the mass execution of foreign fighters originated in
the newspaper, which on December 19 quoted an activist from Deir Ezzor
in eastern Syria as saying there had been a mass killing of up to 100
foreign militants who had tried to leave the Islamic State group and
flee Raqqa.
However, the Raqqa-based activist group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered
Silently said on December 20 that the reports of 100 fighters being
killed by Islamic State were false. The activist group said that
Islamic State's military police had conducted arrests targeting
militants who were not on any official mission.
The details from Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently does match up
with other information given by the activists in the report, however.
The activists told the "Financial Times' that Islamic State had
created a military police to crack down on militants.
"Local fighters are frustrated -- they feel they're doing most of
the work and the dying..foreign fighters who thought they were on an
adventure are now exhausted," the activist told the "Financial Times."
The activist said that Islamic State had created a "military police"
to crack down on those who were frustrated with the group.
The report said that morale in Raqqa was dropping as Islamic State
casualties grew, and that activists said dozens of militants' homes
have been raided by the "military police."
http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php/sid/228784703
From: Baghdasarian
Big News Network.com
Dec 22 2014
-- Joanna Paraszczuk
The Islamic State group has released a new video showing four
Azerbaijani men it says were arrested as part of a "cell of extremists"
who had been plotting an armed rebellion in Raqqa, Islamic State's
de facto capital in Syria.
The men, two of whom speak in Azeri and two in accented Russian,
look frightened and give what appear to be forced "confessions" --
possibly read from a script -- about their part in the alleged plot.
In the video, shared on social media on December 21, the first
Russian-speaking man, named as Abu Maryam, says that he and others
considered "this nation" (a reference to local Syrians) "mushriks"
(polytheists). Abu Maryam said that he and his fellow conspirators
wanted to kill them and appropriate their property.
"We also considered [Islamic State] to be infidels because they
didn't make takfir (the practice of a Muslim declaring another Muslim
an apostate) with the people but considered them brothers. And we
considered [IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi] a mushrik because he
collected zakat (a mandatory duty payable by Muslims) from the local
mushriks," Abu Maryam says.
The same message is given by the second Russian-speaker, an older man,
who says that he and his comrades "started to fight IS and the locals
because we considered them to be mushriks."
"I also want to add that we also found Sheikhs Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
and Adnani mushriks because they addressed the Syrian and Iraqi people
as their brothers," the man, named as Abu Yakub, says.
Abu Yakub says that he and others plotted with their leader, who told
them to fight IS and take their weapons.
The video ends by quoting a verse from the Koran that talks about
execution as a punishment for those who "wage war against God."
It is not known exactly how many Azerbaijanis are fighting in Syria,
but estimates in news reports have ranged from 200 to 300. The largest
group of Azerbaijani militants in Syria is likely fighting for the
Islamic State (IS) group. In May, Muhammad al-Azeri, the leader of
an Azerbaijani IS faction in Raqqa, said in a video message that IS
was on the "correct path of jihad" in Syria.
Though Abu Yakub, the older man shown in the Islamic State video, does
not appear to fit the profile of other militants from Azerbaijan and
other former Soviet states fighting in Syria, a Washington D.C.-based
analyst who blogs under the name told RFE/RL that there are several
examples of older Azerbaijani foreign fighters in Syria.
These include two members of the group known as the Karabakh Partisans
-- Rustem Askerov, who was killed in January and who had fought in
Chechnya, and Rovshan Badalov, who was killled in Kobani in October.
Members of the so-called Karabakh Partisans were arrested in Azerbaijan
in 2004 on suspicion of planning a paramilitary jihad to liberate
the Karabakh region from Armenia.
"The bottom line is that there was/is a cadre of older Azerbaijani
jihadis in Syria -- many arrived early on in the conflict and were
veterans of other conflicts, mainly in the North Caucasus. Chechnya
had a high participation for Azerbaijanis. No one has good numbers,
but it was likely in the hundreds," told RFE/RL.
The video showing the four Azerbaijani men comes after reports via
activists that Islamic State militants executed as many as 100 of
their own members, most if not all foreign fighters, in Raqqa. Other
activists in Raqqa denied that a mass execution had taken place.
However, the Islamic State video of the four Azeri men's "confessions"
does suggest that there is some sort of internal crisis with infighting
within the ranks of Islamic State militants in Raqqa, and that the
infighting involves foreign fighters.
The reports of the mass execution of foreign fighters originated in
the newspaper, which on December 19 quoted an activist from Deir Ezzor
in eastern Syria as saying there had been a mass killing of up to 100
foreign militants who had tried to leave the Islamic State group and
flee Raqqa.
However, the Raqqa-based activist group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered
Silently said on December 20 that the reports of 100 fighters being
killed by Islamic State were false. The activist group said that
Islamic State's military police had conducted arrests targeting
militants who were not on any official mission.
The details from Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently does match up
with other information given by the activists in the report, however.
The activists told the "Financial Times' that Islamic State had
created a military police to crack down on militants.
"Local fighters are frustrated -- they feel they're doing most of
the work and the dying..foreign fighters who thought they were on an
adventure are now exhausted," the activist told the "Financial Times."
The activist said that Islamic State had created a "military police"
to crack down on those who were frustrated with the group.
The report said that morale in Raqqa was dropping as Islamic State
casualties grew, and that activists said dozens of militants' homes
have been raided by the "military police."
http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php/sid/228784703
From: Baghdasarian