Indiscretions continue to emerge, to be taken with extreme caution, of those who have decided to abandon the Islamic State.
The latest testimony of those who until a few weeks ago fought against the West is a certain Abu Omer (name invented to protect him from possible retaliation), a Syrian fighter captured by fundamentalists and enlisted in Isis in the city of Deir ez-Zor from July to last December. The man later managed to escape and reach the city of Urfa, on the Turkish border with Syria, where he would live in hiding. According to the man, the foreign presence in the ranks of ISIS would be strong.
Each country "would offer some specialization".
"The best snipers of the Islamic State are Irish, while the Chechens, for their military experience and violent nature, are the best fighters of the Caliphate".
That the foreign presence was relevant among the ranks of terrorists is a known fact, but if the statements of man were true, then there would be a real parallel army that would act in the shadow of propaganda. The Chechens would form the backbone of the foreign army of the Caliphate.
"When they want to take a city, they send Chechens. Then there are the British, many French, while the best snipers are Irish. If you need help, the Chechens just call the Irish. I remember they drank a lot. "
According to the Irish Department of Justice, there are thirty fighters who have left the country to reach Syria and Iraq, while according to the US State Department these may be just under one hundred.
According to the former militia in ISIS they would also fight Libyans, Moroccans, Tunisians, Egyptians, Saudis and Americans. But Abu Omer has gone further, also telling some episodes with protagonists just the Europeans.
"In the battle of Deir ez-Zor, Europeans beheaded three thousand people in some villages. I remember there were many French people. Saudis and Arabs sometimes forgive, perhaps accepting something in return, but not Europeans. They do not feel like foreign fighters, but the creators of the new Islamic caliphate and do not take prisoners ".
According to the testimony of man, the Europeans would be the preferred cutthroats to kill the "kuffar", those who do not believe in Islam.
"I never knew John the jihadist. I heard he was a singer, but he is protected like Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. They do nothing but move, they are afraid of an American air attack."
Abu Omer also added that ISIS has dormant cells in Europe, America and Britain, and if al-Baghdadi wanted, hell would break out.
It is estimated that around 20.000 foreign fighters from ninety different countries have traveled to train in Iraq and Syria. In 2014 2500 would have been the Europeans in the ranks of Isis in Iraq and in Syria, while in 2013 they were 1937.
France and the United Kingdom are the countries with the highest number of volunteers left to fight under the black flags of ISIS.
According to data from the International Center for the Study of Radicalization, foreign fighters traveling to Iraq and Syria from Western Europe - the United Kingdom (500), Germany (400) and France (700) in particular - are very more numerous than those from the United States (100) or Canada (100). From the beginning of hostilities, the Americans would have left for Iraq and Syria. Forty of them would have already returned home. According to data from the International Center for the Study of Radicalization, fifty were Italians who started fighting in ISIS.
For the Islamic State would also fight a hundred Chinese, eight hundred Russians, two hundred and fifty Australians, three thousand Tunisians, thirty Irish, one hundred Spaniards, one hundred and fifty Dutch, one hundred Danes, fifty Norwegians, thirty Finns, ten Swiss, sixty Austrians, three hundred Belgians and one hundred Swedes.
Franco Iacch
(in the photo John the jihadist is joined by a French citizen and a - fellow citizen - English)
