20-11-2015, 07:35 PM
A Daesh defector just revealed how the group could start to fracture
Jeremy Bender (jbender@businessinsider.com) Nov 19th 2015 2:00PM
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/11/19/an...1085020543
Disputes between different groups of foreign fighters could undermine Daesh, according to a defector from the group interviewed by The Daily Beast. The Daesh defector, who goes by the pseudonym Abu Khaled, spoke with Michael Weiss at length in Istanbul, Turkey about Daesh and its internal operations. According to Abu Khaled, although Daesh relies upon foreign fighters, its leaders still fear that those militants might not be entirely loyal and are concerned that Daesh could fracture along national or ethnic lines.
Previously, Khaled told Weiss, foreign fighters would be organized into battalions based upon their origin for ease of communication and control. But this practice has been halted following the dissolution of a 750-strong Libyan brigade, known as al-Battar, that was deemed to be insufficiently loyal to Daesh' overall hierarchy. "Its men, Daesh found, were more loyal to their emir than they were to the organization," Weiss writes. "So al-Battar was disbanded."
This distrust of foreign fighters has now led Daesh to create battalions with fighters of mixed origin, even when some of those fighters aren't Arabic speakers. Abu Khaled told Weiss that Daesh officials in Raqqa, Syria denied his request to form a French-speaking battalion due to the earlier experience with the Libyans. "They told me, 'We had a problem before with the Libyans. We don't want the French in one katiba [battalion],'" Abu Khaled said.
Abu Khaled's description meshes with earlier reporting that battlefield setbacks have exposed fissures within the group. Chechen and Uzbek militants clashed after Daesh failed to take the strategic border city of Kobane in January, for example, with each blaming the other for the siege's failure, The Telegraph reports. Two senior Daesh officials were apparently killed during the infighting.
Tensions are also reportedly emerging between Daesh foreign fighters and local Syrians. These divisions undermine a key propaganda concept within Daesh namely, the unity of all practicing Muslims within its "caliphate." Foreigners in the organization can earn twice as much pay as local fighters. Foreign fighters also receive better living accommodations in Daesh-controlled cities and are less frequently deployed to the frontline than their Syrian or Iraqi counterparts, The Wall Street Journal reports.
"We're seeing basically a failure of the central tenet of Daesh ideology, which is to unify people of different origins under the caliphate," Lina Khatib, the director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, told The Washington Post in March. "This is not working on the ground. It is making them less effective in governing and less effective in military operations."
Allegedly preferential treatment for foreign fighters has bred resentment within Daesh as Syrians feel they take a larger share of the group's military risk. The disparity has also sparked violence between the groups within Daesh: Foreign fighters and Syrian militants waged a shootout in the town of Abu Kamal on the Iraqi border following an order that deployed the Syrians to the Iraqi front line in March, The Post reports.
When disputes do arise within Daesh, Abu Khaled told Weiss, they escalate quickly and often violently. In one case, Abu Khaled described the extreme lengths an Daesh leader in Raqqa went to in order to protect himself from jihadists that were purportedly under his own control. "I was in Raqqa once, and there was five or six Chechens. They were mad about something. So they came to see the emir of Raqqa," Abu Khaled said. "He was so afraid, he ordered Daesh to deploy snipers to the roofs of buildings. He thought the Chechens would attack. The snipers stayed there for two hours."
Daesh's ground-level setbacks in Syria and Iraq and failure to take significant additional territory are likely to further tensions among the various groups fighting under the terrorist organization's umbrella. French jets have pounded Daesh positions in its de facto capital of Raqqa, the Syrian military broke a year-long Daesh siege of an airbase outside of Aleppo, and US-backed Kurdish forces just retook Sinjar, Iraq from Daesh, cutting off a supply route for the militants stretching between Iraq and Syria. Such losses may eventually add to the discontent within the organization. But in the near term, Daesh may continue to plan major attacks around the world in an attempt to distract supporters from its failures within the "caliphate's" borders.
Jeremy Bender (jbender@businessinsider.com) Nov 19th 2015 2:00PM
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/11/19/an...1085020543
Disputes between different groups of foreign fighters could undermine Daesh, according to a defector from the group interviewed by The Daily Beast. The Daesh defector, who goes by the pseudonym Abu Khaled, spoke with Michael Weiss at length in Istanbul, Turkey about Daesh and its internal operations. According to Abu Khaled, although Daesh relies upon foreign fighters, its leaders still fear that those militants might not be entirely loyal and are concerned that Daesh could fracture along national or ethnic lines.
Previously, Khaled told Weiss, foreign fighters would be organized into battalions based upon their origin for ease of communication and control. But this practice has been halted following the dissolution of a 750-strong Libyan brigade, known as al-Battar, that was deemed to be insufficiently loyal to Daesh' overall hierarchy. "Its men, Daesh found, were more loyal to their emir than they were to the organization," Weiss writes. "So al-Battar was disbanded."
This distrust of foreign fighters has now led Daesh to create battalions with fighters of mixed origin, even when some of those fighters aren't Arabic speakers. Abu Khaled told Weiss that Daesh officials in Raqqa, Syria denied his request to form a French-speaking battalion due to the earlier experience with the Libyans. "They told me, 'We had a problem before with the Libyans. We don't want the French in one katiba [battalion],'" Abu Khaled said.
Abu Khaled's description meshes with earlier reporting that battlefield setbacks have exposed fissures within the group. Chechen and Uzbek militants clashed after Daesh failed to take the strategic border city of Kobane in January, for example, with each blaming the other for the siege's failure, The Telegraph reports. Two senior Daesh officials were apparently killed during the infighting.
Tensions are also reportedly emerging between Daesh foreign fighters and local Syrians. These divisions undermine a key propaganda concept within Daesh namely, the unity of all practicing Muslims within its "caliphate." Foreigners in the organization can earn twice as much pay as local fighters. Foreign fighters also receive better living accommodations in Daesh-controlled cities and are less frequently deployed to the frontline than their Syrian or Iraqi counterparts, The Wall Street Journal reports.
"We're seeing basically a failure of the central tenet of Daesh ideology, which is to unify people of different origins under the caliphate," Lina Khatib, the director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, told The Washington Post in March. "This is not working on the ground. It is making them less effective in governing and less effective in military operations."
Allegedly preferential treatment for foreign fighters has bred resentment within Daesh as Syrians feel they take a larger share of the group's military risk. The disparity has also sparked violence between the groups within Daesh: Foreign fighters and Syrian militants waged a shootout in the town of Abu Kamal on the Iraqi border following an order that deployed the Syrians to the Iraqi front line in March, The Post reports.
When disputes do arise within Daesh, Abu Khaled told Weiss, they escalate quickly and often violently. In one case, Abu Khaled described the extreme lengths an Daesh leader in Raqqa went to in order to protect himself from jihadists that were purportedly under his own control. "I was in Raqqa once, and there was five or six Chechens. They were mad about something. So they came to see the emir of Raqqa," Abu Khaled said. "He was so afraid, he ordered Daesh to deploy snipers to the roofs of buildings. He thought the Chechens would attack. The snipers stayed there for two hours."
Daesh's ground-level setbacks in Syria and Iraq and failure to take significant additional territory are likely to further tensions among the various groups fighting under the terrorist organization's umbrella. French jets have pounded Daesh positions in its de facto capital of Raqqa, the Syrian military broke a year-long Daesh siege of an airbase outside of Aleppo, and US-backed Kurdish forces just retook Sinjar, Iraq from Daesh, cutting off a supply route for the militants stretching between Iraq and Syria. Such losses may eventually add to the discontent within the organization. But in the near term, Daesh may continue to plan major attacks around the world in an attempt to distract supporters from its failures within the "caliphate's" borders.
"All that is necessary for tyranny to succeed is for good men to do nothing." (unknown)
James Tracy: "There is sometimes an undue amount of paranoia among some conspiracy researchers that can contribute to flawed observations and analysis."
Gary Cornwell (Dept. Chief Counsel HSCA): "A fact merely marks the point at which we have agreed to let investigation cease."
Alan Ford: "Just because you believe it, that doesn't make it so."
James Tracy: "There is sometimes an undue amount of paranoia among some conspiracy researchers that can contribute to flawed observations and analysis."
Gary Cornwell (Dept. Chief Counsel HSCA): "A fact merely marks the point at which we have agreed to let investigation cease."
Alan Ford: "Just because you believe it, that doesn't make it so."