Caucasus Emirate fighters in Syria

From Russia with Hate

• Islamist soldiers from inside Russia are fighting for ISIS in Syria. Putin has no problem killing them in Syria before they return to Russia to engage in terrorism there.
• Funny Thing  -  The GOP and Democrats have joined hands telling us how "evil" the Russians are for bombing Islamists in Syria.  Pardon me, but I can smell that Bullshit right through the Internet.

(Long War Journal)  -  The Caucasus Emirate branch Vilayat Kabarda, Balkaria, and Karachay (KBK) recently released a video in which fighters from the Caucasus Emirate’s (CE) wing in Syria are shown partaking in battles in northwestern Syria. It is unknown if all the fighters shown in the video are from Vilayat KBK, other branches of the CE, or local members of the group.

The video, entitled “On the frontlines in Syria,” was released by Vilayat KBK’s IslamDin media. It begins with fighters participating in a battle, which is indicated to be near the “Shia villages of Fua and Kafraya” in Syria’s northwestern Idlib Province. The two villages are the last remaining regime-allied holdouts in the province. Combat scenes are shown, combined with archival photos of CE fighters in Syria.

The Caucasus Emirate

Riyāḍ-us-Ṣāliḥīn Battalion of the Caucasus Emirate

It is not clear when the footage was filmed, however, a date at the beginning of the video indicates that it was filmed sometime this year.

It also marks one of, if not the first time, that a CE media wing originating in the North Caucasus has released a video of its branch in Syria. Previously, the videos were released by media organizations based in Syria, like Akhbar Sham. This shows that not only is the branch active, but that it is being treated as the official Syrian branch of the CE with actual operational ties to the parent organization in the North Caucasus.

The Caucasus Emirate, an al Qaeda-linked organization, has had at least two official representative groups inside Syria fighting alongside al Qaeda’s forces.

The first active group was the Chechen-led Jaysh al Muhajireen wal Ansar (JMA), which was founded by Omar Shishani, who later went on to become the Islamic State’s military leader. JMA would then be led by Salahuddin Shishani, who was eventually removed from the post with the help from the Al Nusrah Front. JMA then subsequently pledged allegiance to Al Nusrah, which is now folded within a new entity in Syria.

Salahuddin Shishani then created another official branch of the Caucasus Emirate, calling itself the aptly-named Caucasus Emirate in Syria, and pledged allegiance to the then-CE emir, Abu Usman Gimrinski. He would be removed from this post, as well, but the CE in Syria continues to exist. The CE in Syria has released several other videos of its forces fighting alongside Jund al Aqsa, an al Qaeda front group, and the Al Nusrah Front. Members of the Vilayat KBK have also been previously documented with the CE in Syria and with JMA. Former fighters of the CE can also be found in several other North Caucasian groups operating in Syria.

Read More . . . .

Russian Special Forces op against suspected 

Caucasus Emirate jihadist leader

Militants of the Caucasus Emirate were neutralized during a counter-terror operation in Dagestan after they tried, but failed, to break out.

Screenshots from the video

Ex-Gitmo detainee now ISIS leader in Chechnya

Gitmo inmate now a terrorist in Russia

• Call me a crazy Blogger, which I am, but don't you wait until a conflict is over before releasing prisoners of war?

(Long War Journal)  -  The State Department announced today that two jihadists have been added to the US government’s list of designated terrorists.

One of the two, Ayrat Nasimovich Vakhitov, was once detained at Guantanamo and was recently arrested by Turkish authorities. According to Voice of America, Vakhitov is “among 30 people Turkish authorities say they have arrested in connection with” the terrorist attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport late last month. No terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for the assault on the airport, which left more than 40 people dead. But it is widely suspected to be the work of the Islamic State.

The second newly-designated terrorist is Aslan Avgazarovich Byutukaev, who leads the jihadists in Chechnya who are loyal to the Islamic State’s so-called Caucasus province.

Ayrat Nasimovich Vakhitov
Released from Gitmo by Bush.

Vakhitov (pictured on the left) was held at Guantanamo for less than two years, from June 2002 until February 2004. He was then transferred to Russia. The State Department’s designation page does not say that Vakhitov was once detained at the American facility in Cuba, but The Long War Journal has confirmed that he is the same individual.

The details of his story, as recounted in a leaked Joint Task Force – Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) threat assessment, are somewhat odd. Vakhitov was “arrested by the Taliban on suspicion of espionage, and incarcerated at the Sarpuza prison complex in Kandahar,” the leaked file reads. He was apparently transferred to Guantanamo because of “his possible knowledge of an American citizen killed” at that same prison “while he was there.”

JTF-GTMO ultimately concluded that Vakhitov was neither affiliated with al Qaeda, nor a Taliban leader. He was recommended for transfer. But JTF-GTMO also thought he would be remain imprisoned inside Russia.

“Because of the Russian government’s agreement to incarcerate this detainee upon his transfer, and provided that he remains incarcerated under the control of the Russian government, the detainee poses no future threat to the U.S. or its allies,” JTF-GTMO’s threat assessment reads.

The State Department note Byutukaev was a “prominent leader” in the Islamic Caucasus Emirate (ICE). ICE is openly loyal to al Qaeda, but has suffered a string of defections to the Islamic State.

Russian security forces killed ICE’s top emir and his two successors in less than two years time, from late 2013 until mid-2015. The decapitation strikes likely helped the Islamic State win the loyalty of some of ICE’s most important remaining commanders, including Byutukaev.

Read More . . . .

Chechnya terror attack

Ten Russian police officers were killed and 28 injured during an anti-terrorist operation in the Chechen capital, Grozny.  But always remember how our liar politicians keep telling us how "evil" the Russians are. How dare they fight Islamism!

Proposed divisions of the Caucasus Emirate.

Russian Muslim troops ready to battle ISIS

Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russian Chechnya, said he would like to
fight the Islamic State group in Syria.

Chechen Leader Ramzan Kadyrov Commits Troops To Fight ISIS

(International Business Times)  -  After the news of Russian airstrikes in Syria Wednesday, Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov said he was ready to send his best fighters to support Moscow’s efforts and fight the Islamic State group, the Russian state news agency Tass reported. Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed ruler of the Chechen republic in Russia's North Caucasus region, said he fully supports President Vladimir Putin’s decision to send warplanes to Syria and begin a bombing campaign. 

"If Russia’s Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin issues an order, we are ready already tomorrow to send world-class specialists who have no equal in the West. We have the experience and knowledge," Kadyrov wrote on his page in a social network, according to Tass. “I’m convinced that the evil [ISIS] should be eliminated in its lair. We cannot wait until they come to our towns and villages.”

Several thousand Chechen servicemen are ready to participate in the fight against ISIS in Syria if there is such a need, Kadyrov told reporters in his capital of Grozny, Tass said.

Earlier Wednesday, the Russian parliament, the State Duma, hurriedly gave Putin permission to commence bombing raids in Syria. In the buildup to those strikes, Russian officials said the U.S. and its coalition partners were currently acting illegally by being in Syria and requested that they avoid Syria’s airspace, according to a Guardian report.

“You all know well that in the territory of Syria and Iraq … a number of countries are carrying out bombing strikes, including the United States,” said Putin’s chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov. “These actions do not conform with international law. To be legal they should be supported either by a resolution of the U.N. Security Council, or be backed by a request from the country where the raids are taking place.”

By "the country" he meant Assad's regime, which Moscow is backing.

Read More . . . .

"Sometimes it is necessary to be lonely in order
to prove that you are right."

Vladimir Putin

"West creates refugees by destroying Islamic nations" – Chechen leader

The Muslim head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov

I am not an Isolationist

• We cannot retreat into "Fortress America".  But our clueless politicians have the insane idea that they can bomb the world into obeying them.
• Our wars from 2002 on have spread anarchy throughout the Middle East, Afghanistan and North Africa.

(RT News)  -  The head of Russia’s Chechen Republic claims the current asylum seeker crisis in European countries originated in the aggressive policies of the United States and the EU. He also called upon all Muslim nations to jointly fight the root of the problem.

“If today no one rises against the inhumane policies of the Western countries, tomorrow the disaster may come to any Muslim country. I call upon you to urgently discuss this problem, to develop a unified position and to save the lives of thousands of people,” Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on his Instagram account (Kadyrov uses Instagram as a social network for public statements). 

“Tens of thousands of Muslims are dying. Women, old people, children and young people as well. Under such conditions the leaders of Islamic countries has no right to remain silent, to stand aside and remain simple observers,” he added.

Both parties are run by major fuck ups.
Presidents retire to become millionaires while
while our soldiers come back in body bags or
as triple amputees.

Kadyrov also explained in his post that in his opinion the West must be blamed for tragedies that are currently taking place in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Libya, Yemen, Algeria and other Muslim nations. 

Europe and the USA are not simply refusing to act, they instigate the tragedies of millions of people by destroying the economy of Islamic countries and starting wars in Muslim regions of the world, he added.

“The problem cannot be solved by fighting its consequences, by silencing the reasons that caused it. But this is what Europe and the United States are currently doing. The USA and Europe have ruined these countries, destroyed their economies, provoked lingering internal conflicts and forced the desperate people into becoming refugees,” the Chechen leader wrote. 

In February this year, Kadyrov openly accused the US and other Western nations of “spawning” Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in order to incite hatred towards Muslims all over the world. 

Kadyrov also suggested the West was backing IS in order to distract public attention from numerous problems in the Middle East, in the hope of destroying Islamic nations from inside.

Prior to this, he Kadyrov had told reporters that he possessed information that the IS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been recruited to work for the US personally by General David Petraeus, the former director of the CIA and former commander of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. At that time, Kadyrov claimed IS “was acting on orders from the West and Europe.”

Read More . . . .

Putin's Man
Kadyrov is the son of former Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, who was assassinated in May 2004.
.
.When responding to a question on how he is going to "avenge the murder of his father", Ramzan said:
:
."I've already killed him, whom I ought to kill. And those, who stay behind him, I will be killing them, to the very last of them, until I am myself killed or jailed. I will be killing [them] for as long as I live... Putin is gorgeous. He thinks more about Chechnya than about any other republic [of the Russian Federation]. When my father was murdered, he [Putin] came and went to the cemetery in person. Putin has stopped the war. Putin should be made president for life. Strong rule is needed. Democracy is all but an American fabrication... Russians never obey their laws. Everyone was stealing, and only Khodorkovsky is in jail."

Islamic Battalions Aid Ukraine in War With Rebels

Members of a Muslim Chechen battalion fighting against Russian-backed
rebels in Lysychansk, Ukraine, in February. CreditOlya Engalycheva/Associated Press

Islamists are Everywhere

• World War III Alert  -  The Ukrainian War is turning into quite an international affair.  Foreign Islamists are coming in to fight against Russia while other foreigners are fighting for Russia.  It is a coin toss on WWIII starting in Ukraine or the Middle East.

(New York Times)  -  Wearing camouflage, with a bushy salt-and-pepper beard flowing over his chest and a bowie knife sheathed prominently in his belt, the man cut a fearsome figure in the nearly empty restaurant. Waiters hovered apprehensively near the kitchen, and try as he might, the man who calls himself “Muslim,” a former Chechen warlord, could not wave them over for more tea.

Even for Ukrainians hardened by more than a year of war here against Russian-backed separatists, the appearance of Islamic combatants, mostly Chechens, in towns near the front lines comes as something of a surprise — and for many of the Ukrainians, a welcome one.

“We like to fight the Russians,” said the Chechen, who refused to give his real name. “We always fight the Russians.”

He commands one of three volunteer Islamic battalions out of about 30 volunteer units in total fighting now in eastern Ukraine. The Islamic battalions are deployed to the hottest zones, which is why the Chechen was here.

Fighting is intensifying around Mariupol, a strategic seaport and industrial hub that the separatists have long coveted. Monitors for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe say they have seen steady nighttime shipments of Russian military equipment on a rail line north of here.

Isa Musayev and other Muslim fighters in Ukraine in January.
Musayev helped found the Chechen battalions and was killed
in February, another leader said.

The Chechen commands the Sheikh Mansur group, named for an 18th-century Chechen resistance figure. It is subordinate to the nationalist Right Sector, a Ukrainian militia.

Neither the Sheikh Mansur group nor Right Sector is incorporated into the formal police or military, and the Ukrainian authorities decline to say how many Chechens are fighting in eastern Ukraine. They are all unpaid.

Right Sector formed during last year’s street protests in Kiev from a half-dozen fringe Ukrainian nationalist groups like White Hammer and the Trident of Stepan Bandera. Another, the Azov group, is openly neo-Nazi, using the “Wolf’s Hook” symbol associated with the SS. Without addressing the issue of the Nazi symbol, the Chechen said he got along well with the nationalists because, like him, they love their homeland and hate the Russians.

In Ukraine, the Dzhokhar Dudayev and Sheikh Mansur units are mostly Chechen, but they include Muslims from other former Soviet areas, such as Uzbeks and Balkars. The third unit, Crimea, is predominantly Crimean Tatar. There is no indication of any United States involvement with the groups.

Along the front about seven miles to the east, the battalions career about in civilian cars, AK-47 rifles poking from the windows, while the regular army holds back in a secondary line of defensive trenches.

The Chechens are also renowned for their deft ambushes and raids. In the Chechen wars, insurgents had a policy of killing officers and contract soldiers who were taken prisoner, but conscripted soldiers were spared.

In Ukraine, the Chechens’ calls of “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” are said to strike fear in the hearts of the Russians.

In the interview, the Chechen commander said his men liked to fight with little protective gear. “This is the way we look at it,” he said. “We believe in God, so we don’t need armored vests.”

Read More . . . .

Russian Roulette

Rebel Soldiers Hold the Buffer Zone

The All-Girl Soldier Club: Child Warriors of Donetsk

Bright eyed ethnic Russian youth in Ukraine train to help Mother Russia.  These conflicts are far from the black and white issues the politicians like to go on about.

"Caucasus Emirate" attacks police, press building

"This is a martyrdom operation"

• Islamists attack Russia. The U.S. should be allies with Russia against Islamism. Instead we are arming Islamists in Syria to attack Russian armed Syrian troops who protect Christians.

(Long War Journal)  -  Fighters from the Caucasus Emirate entered the Chechen capital of Grozny last night and launched a major assault on security forces and government buildings. The fighting, which lasted through the morning and is reported to have killed more than a dozen people, ended a relative lull in activity in the Russian Caucasus by the al Qaeda-linked jihadist group.

Heavily armed fighters entered the city at night and attacked a police checkpoint, the Press House, and a school, according to the Moscow Times. Videos posted by residents of Grozny show fighters exiting vehicles and fanning out across the city as well as volleys of gunfire.

The jihadists stormed the Press House, where various local media outlets are based, and took control of the building, which was eventually set ablaze during the fighting.

Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee reported that 10 policemen were killed and 28 more were wounded during the heavy fighting, ITAR-TASS reported. At least nine jihadists are also reported to have been killed during the assault.

Deadly Islamist attack in Grozny 

A jihadist from the Caucasus Emirate claimed responsibility for the attack. A video and translation of the fighter's statement was published by Kavkaz Center, a media arm of the group.

"We are the Mujahideen of the Caucasus Emirate in the Province of Chechnya," the man states. "We entered the city of Jokhar [Grozny] by the order of Emir Khamzat. We are also under the oath of allegiance to Emir Abu Muhammad."

The jihadist claims that "Scores of Mujahideen entered the city" and said the attack was executed as an "Act of Retaliation for Russian minions' oppression of Muslim women, our sisters."

"This is a martyrdom operation, and we will fight till the death," he says.

The overnight fighting in Grozny is the first major attack in the Russian Caucasus carried out by the Caucasus Emirate since its former emir, Doku Umarov, was killed by Russian security forces in late 2013. Russian security forces heavily targeted the Caucasus Emirate in the run-up to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Additionally, large numbers of fighters loyal to the group have traveled to Syria to wage jihad against the regime of Bashir al Assad.

The Caucasus Emirate, which is now led by Ali Abu Muhammad, is responsible for numerous mass-casualty terrorist attacks in the Caucasus and in Russia, including in the capital of Moscow.

Before his death, Umarov said his group is "part of the global jihad," in a July 2013 statement in which he called for attacks aimed at disrupting the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

Although the Caucasus Emirate failed to launch operations in Sochi during the Olympics, the group executed three suicide attacks on transportation targets in Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) in the months leading up to the games.

Read more: Long War Journal.

The Press House in Grozny aflame.
Photograph from ITAR-TASS.

Germany Imports Thousands of Chechen Muslims

The Truth Hurts.
German Muslims were upset at how they were
portrayed at a German Carnival.

The Death of the West  -  The corrupt Left and Right Ruling Elites of Germany and the other Western nations eagerly import millions of Muslims into their countries.  Many come from hot beds of terrorism.  What could possibly go wrong?

Thousands of Muslims are making their way to the West, in a mass exodus from Chechnya. It is the third wave of refugees triggered by the two Chechen wars in the 1990s. What makes the current exodus so eerie is that it is not accompanied by fighting.

In the first seven months of this year, more than 10,000 Chechens applied for asylum with German government offices, almost three times as many as in all of 2012. The small republic in the North Caucasus, with a population of one million, is suddenly appearing at the top of German asylum statistics.

More people are coming to Germany from Chechnya at the moment than from Syria and Afghanistan combined, two countries racked by civil war.

According to Russian state security estimates, some 600 families have left Argun, a provincial city of 30,000 people, where Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov is having glass-and-steel office buildings erected that resemble the structures in London's Canary Wharf commercial district reports Der Spiegel International.


Radical ISLAM spreads in Germany

Sharia Law District declared in Norway

Putin values Kadyrov, because he has brought a funereal calm to Chechnya. Moscow waged two devastating wars to prevent the republic from seceding. But it was only Kadyrov who managed to wrestle down the Chechen rebels, albeit with brutal methods.

In return, the Kremlin provides him with virtually unlimited credit, including more than €1.6 billion ($2.14 billion) in annual subsidies. Moscow also pays for the despot's escapades without blinking an eye. They include Kadyrov's private stud farm, worth millions of euros, and a giant new mosque in Grozny, which he built in honor of his father.

The Chechens pose a difficult challenge to German authorities. In their offices in Berlin and elsewhere, they must evaluate which refugees are merely in Germany for financial reasons, whether the refugees include Islamists prepared to use violence and which asylum seekers truly deserve protection, because they became innocent victims of the Kadyrov regime.

Chechen President Kadyrov claims that such descriptions are pure fiction. His spokesman characterizes the reports on refugees as an "invention of German journalists." Chechnya is "safer than Great Britain," says Kadyrov, noting that the Chechen economy is the most effective in all of Russia.

Under the eyes of his patron Putin, Kadyrov has established a feudal system, more of a medieval sultanate than a modern state.

The Kremlin is practicing a dangerous laissez-faire policy in the Caucasus. It lets Kadyrov do as he pleases, even when this includes establishing his own paramilitary force, the black-clad "Kadyrovtsy," as Chechens call them.

 

Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov
Muslims "fleeing" Chechnya claiming asylum are fleeing from their own pro-Russian Muslim ruler looking to restore law and order and prevent Islamist terrorism.  One might conclude that many of those leaving Chechnya were sympathetic to Islamists.  And the West lays out the welcome mat for them.

The Chechen Boston Bombers
The dim bulb American politicians of both parties think it is a great idea for the U.S. to import Muslims from the terrorist hot bed of Chechnya.  The Russians even warned us.  But those warnings were ignored on purpose or due to incompetence.  I vote for on purpose.  After all, a terrorist bombing on U.S. soil gives the state the excuse to attack the Bill of Rights in order to "protect" us.

Racists
The Elites of both the Left and the Right call you a racist for daring to believe that your language, nation and culture have a right to exist and not be overrun by foreigners..

German Jihadists on Syria's Battlefields

Jihadists from Germany are engaging in combat, and dying, on the side of the rebels in Syria.

• And Comrade Obama and the Western nations keep pouring hundreds of millions in tax money to support the rebels.

Der Spiegel  -  A young man in his mid-twenties with a stubbly beard is driving a delivery van through the rubble-strewn streets of the northern Syrian town of Azaz. He speaks excellent German and calls himself Yousuf. The man in the passenger seat is around the same age and also sports a beard. He won't even reveal his first name, but he also speaks nearly perfect German.

"After we go back home, we don't want any problems with Germany's foreign and domestic intelligence agencies," says Yousuf. This also explains why the two men refuse to divulge what city in Germany they come from. "Before we entered Syria, the Turks had already put our passport information into their system," he adds. "They know exactly who we are. If they pass that on to the Germans, we're sunk, even though we're just here on a humanitarian mission."

A humanitarian mission? That's the euphemism foreign Jihadists use when they try to explain their presence in Syria.

There are reportedly a few hundred Muslims from Western countries who are fighting alongside the rebels to topple Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. It's a relatively small number compared to the perhaps 100,000 insurgents in the country.

"We know that jihadists from Germany, who we have already been observing here at home, are currently in Syria and fighting there," German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said last week. German intelligence agencies are primarily concerned that such men will be trained during the civil war and later return to the West as radicalized extremists -- assuming they survive.

American Jihadists in Syria fighting beside the FSA and Al-Nusra Front rebels
American terrorists in Syria fighting beside the FSA and Al-Nusra Front rebels.

Chechen Jihadists in Syria Announce new Extremist Brigade
Documenting the Presence of Extremist Groups in the Syrian Conflict. A Chechen Islamist using the nom do guerre Emir Abu Omar Al Chechen speaks in Russian at the announcement of a new Jihadist brigade which combines the existing Chechen dominated Kateeb Al Muhajireen (Immigrants Brigade) with several majority Syrian Islamist militias. He mentions fighting in Afghanistan and the need to kill infidels and apostates (Shia).

The 'Land of Sham'

The men of the Islamist Al-Nusra Front, who see their group as part of al-Qaida, are not particularly concerned about losses among their own ranks. In a small shop in Azaz, one of the group's commanders is sitting with a young Libyan who has just arrived.

First, he explains to the new arrival that in the Support Front they don't use the name "Syria," but rather the "Land of Sham." Both "Land of Sham" and "Greater Syria" are nationalist terms that refer to a geographical space covering nearly the entire Levant, which the fighters hope to transform into one big Islamic state.

Then the older man says to the younger one: "I hope that you will soon die in battle and go to paradise."

Many foreign Jihadists are between the ages of 18 and 28 and of Arab descent, or at least from Muslim families -- and have no combat experience whatsoever. They are essentially cannon fodder.

They come from Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, from North Africa, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain and North America. Most of them receive rudimentary training in camps, primarily in northern Syria.

The Libyans have a special status. Speaking via Skype, a physician from the western Libyan city of Zawiya talks about how he lost a relative in Syria. "When our young men leave Libya, they are very rarely radical Islamists," he says, "but when they return, we hardly recognize them anymore. They have been brainwashed."


For the full article go to Der Spiegel - International.

Estimates that there are now between 2,000 and 5,500 foreign Jihadists in Syria, and the EU's top terrorism officials have stated that at least 500 of those come from EU countries. Officials fear that these "guest warriors" are gaining weapons know-how and ties with other extremists, and that they might bring Jihad when they return home.

"Supporting Jihadists in Syria also gives the Saudis an opportunity to ship their own radicals to Syria, where they can fight & possibly die "
.
With a large number of unemployed, underemployed and radicalized young men, the Jihad in Syria provides a pressure valve similar to the past struggles in Iraq, Chechnya, Bosnia and Afghanistan. The Saudis are not only trying to winnow down their own troubled youth; we have received reports from a credible source that the Saudis are also facilitating the travel of Yemeni men to training camps in Turkey, where they are trained and equipped before being sent to Syria to fight.
.
The reports also indicate that the young men are traveling for free and receiving a stipend for their service. These young radicals from Saudi Arabia and Yemen will even further strengthen the Jihadist groups in Syria by providing them with fresh troops.   (Uprooted Palestinians.blogspot)