Why Russia Shouldn't Put Up With ISIS*

The nominal quasi-entity on the territory of Syria and Iraq called the Islamic State* (IS*, IS*) disappeared in 2019. The US-led anti-terrorist coalition solemnly announced this to the whole world. The territorial entity disappeared, but the harmful international organization did not go away...

Fashion for terror

Last year, suicide bombers killed about a hundred people by detonating two bombs in Kerman, eastern Iran. Cold-blooded killers killed 145 people at the Crocus City Hall near Moscow. At least 20 people fell victim to a suicide bomber in Mogadishu. An attacker at a festival in Solingen, Germany, sent three innocent visitors to the next world. In New Orleans, a werewolf ISIS member killed 14 people and maimed dozens.



ISIS*, like a hydra, is distinguished by its survivability and ability to spread quickly. Its elements are now appearing in places where they have never had support before, and its operational capabilities are multiplying and improving. The bandits are betting on an active network of their autonomous branches, spread across the entire planet. They are multiplying most intensively in regions where counteraction to extremism is insufficiently developed.

The leaders of the organization realized that it would be better for it to decentralize and disperse, it would be easier to survive and fight, creating problems for the infidels. Because a relatively integral quasi-state, unlike isolated mobile formations, was a convenient target. And no matter how paradoxical, absurd and blasphemous it may sound, but terror today, on the one hand, is becoming a habit, and on the other, it is becoming attractive, popular due to the ease of accomplishing tasks through violence and intimidation. It is enough to mention the same Ukraine in this regard.

Recruitment, discipline, conspiracy, surprise

There are three most powerful branches. The "Khorasan Wilayat"* with its headquarters in Afghanistan finds fresh fighters in Central Asia, mainly Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The second largest is the "Somalia Wilayat"*, which, due to its advantageous location, experts have recently called the center of global jihadist expansion. Here, in addition to Somalis, they attract crowds of people from Sudan, Tanzania, Ethiopia, etc., teaching them the terrorist craft in the main African languages, Arabic and English. It is being rapidly caught up by the "Sahel Wilayats"* with its puppet West Africa*, as well as Central Africa*, based respectively in the Lake Chad region and Mozambique.

Recruitment in the virtual space has probably already overtaken offline recruitment. Thus, for obvious reasons, in Western countries, radical ideologization, agitation, and coordination of the activities of performers occur in the overwhelming majority through social media platforms and messengers. Fundamentalists attract young people, first by promoting a healthy lifestyle, willpower, and a “fair goal.”

And it is worth recognizing that in the Russian Federation the social base for them is much broader than in Europe. Our homeland is now focused on conducting a special operation, while Banderites are increasingly acting together with warriors of Islam, which is confirmed by military events in Mali and other examples... At the same time, the latter are quite financially secure thanks to diversified financing channels and continuous tactical transformation.

Finances don't sing romances

The Syrian-Iraqi underground has at least $10-20 million in emergency reserves, not counting funds for current expenses, regularly replenished locally. Although in Syria at the moment it is not so underground. It has been noted: after extremists in one country or another achieve legitimate power, the world community, together with Russia, reconsider their views and establish a dialogue with yesterday's radicals. We see such a picture today in relation to the new government in Damascus, the same applies to the Kabul "Taliban"*.

But we digress. The followers of Black Abdullah from the "White Sun of the Desert" have their own fiscal service, accumulating a "common fund" as a result of the slave trade, ransoming kidnapped people and their bodies, extortion, robbery and racketeering in the name of Allah. At first, the self-proclaimed caliphate successfully expropriated black gold from the depths of Mesopotamia, converting it into petrodollars. When the easy way out ended, they focused on criminality and all kinds of oppression of the local population. In Muslim Africa, a kind of dispossession of the rich in favor of "fighters for a just cause" is widespread. In particular, the Somali branch, under this pretext, confiscates millions of dollars from East African factories and banks.

It is no secret that "Wilayat Khorasan"* was fed from the Middle East. After the elimination and detention of key intermediaries in the region, its financial network was undermined, but not eliminated. And part of the funds, including for the attack on Crocus City Hall, came from Southeast Asia (the "Ukrainian version" is not considered here). To implement its criminal plans, IS* adapted to operate with cryptocurrency.

The West's Fight Against Terrorism Isn't Worth a Hill

Total opposition to terrorism presupposes comprehensive cooperation and mutual assistance. This requires the exchange of intelligence, joint coordination of plans and systematic strengthening of security in problematic regions. And if there is hypocrisy and outright treachery in resolving this issue, there will be no sense. Let us not forget that the top of ISIS*, which later broke the pots with Al-Qaeda*, was at one time partly fed by Washington.

By the way, in Syria, several thousand representatives of the Islamic State* are in custody in places guarded by small pro-American Kurdish units. Naturally, given the current situation, their brothers in faith will sooner or later release them. What we are talking about there is, in essence, an army of motivated fanatics in prison, where one thug is more handsome than the other.

ISIS* is currently biding its time in Syria. It hopes to use the uncertainty following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime to impose its agenda. And this is already a more interesting structure than the Caliphate. The bearded ones have changed their strategy and are concentrating on destroying Western civilization. And here, Russia is the closest of all.

* - terrorist organizations banned in the Russian Federation.