Ever since the start of Syria’s proxy war, people have travelled there to help the Syrians in their fight against the Assad regime; some for humanitarian reasons, some sponsored by rogue states, and others for ideological or religious purposes. They include people from all over the world. The Kurdistan Region (KR) – Syria’s next-door-neighbour and, historically, a safe haven for fundamentalists – is providing a significant share of human resources to the conflict: not to support the Kurds in Syria, but to fight alongside their adversaries.
While 235,000 or more Syrian refugees have poured into the region, a number of Kurds from KR have travelled to Syria for jihad with Al Nusrah. This report sheds light on how it all started, the jihad recruitment process and route taken, and it includes profiles of some of those who have recently died fighting alongside Al Nusrah.
To make sense of it all, one has to go back more than a decade. In 1999, an Islamic group, the Raparin Group, formed an alliance with another group, Yakbun, which was led by Mullah Ali Abdul-Azizi. Yakbun had approximately 8000 armed men, divided into eighteen groups stationed in the Halabja town of Slemani province. On 31 May 2001, Ali Bapir, a Yakbun bellwether, split away with fifteen of these forces and formed a political party, the Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG).
The remaining three units were split into three key factions:
(1) The pristine Islamic Union, led by Mullah Ali Abdul-Aziz and his sons – Irfan (who succeeded his dad several years later), Mohammed, Tahsen (who left for Afghanistan to join Al Qaeda in March 2003 during the Iraqi invasion and was later killed in Pakistan in 2011), and youngest son Saman (who left for Iran in March 2003 and is believed to be currently travelling back and forth between Iran and Syria).
(2) The Islah faction, led by Mullah Krekar who is today serving a five year sentence in a Norwegian prison for terrorism-related offences.
(3) The Soran Force 2 faction, led by Aso Mohammed Hassan (born in 1962 in Hawler), who was captured in late 2005 in a battle in Mosul, fighting alongside Al Qaeda, and is now believed to be in Suse prison in Slemani. Soran Force 2 was known at the time as the most extreme group, with most of its members coming from around Erbil province.
There were another two. small but effective, groups: the Hamas Union, led by Omer Bazyani, and Tawhid, founded by Hassan Sofi, who was killed in Halabjah in 2000. Soon after the formation of the KIG in May 2001, Soran Force 2 united with these two groups to form the extremist Jund- Al Islam, led by Abu Abdulla Shafiey. Seven months later this group allied with the Islah faction, and changed its name to Ansar Al Islam, led by (currently imprisoned) Mullah Krekar.
Ansar Al Islam comprised approximately 500 ideologically-driven, well-trained, armed men stationed in the remote areas of Hawraman, especially Byareh , Sargat and Gullp. It liaised with Al Qaeda through an Arab national known as Abu Waiel and sent its members to Afghanistan via Iran for training. The first group, led by Omer Bazyani, left for Afghanistan in summer 2001 and returned in summer 2002. Several years later, Omer Bazyani was killed in Fallujah.
The United States targeted the Ansar Al Islam base at 00:00 hours on 22 March 2003 with 101 Tomahawk missiles fired from the Red Sea, followed by a joint ground assault with local Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) forces. As a result, Ansar Al Islam was paralysed. Many of its fighters were killed, and the rest were captured or fled to Iran. The KIG was also caught up in this attack, with 43 of its men killed and about 50 injured.
However, having served their time and/or returned from Iran, cadres of the same Ansar Al Islam group are now thought to be mobilised and working underground in the Kurdistan Region. They are emboldening the youths – particularly targeting those in the 17-25 age group – through local mosques and secret meetings in groups of no more than eight people at a time. They are recruiting people to fight for Al Nusra in Syria. This is organised as a kind of human trafficking that bypasses Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) security. Young brainwashed men are handed over from one recruiter to another, travelling via Turkey until they reach Al Nusra in Syria.
Many of those currently in Syria have access to social networking sites and communicate with friends and families by mobile phones. The process of people leaving KR for jihad in Syria began in late 2011 and reached a peak in summer 2013. Among the recruiters are believed to be Turkish nationals who are in the KR on the pretext of running businesses and are helping to fund the operation.
In an interview with ‘Hawlati’ newspaper (10th December 2013 – No 1199), the head of the KRG’s National Intelligence Agency, Lahur Jangy, stated: “In total, 240 youths have so far travelled to Syria for the purpose of taking part in Jihad; 60-70 from Slemani, 100 from Halabja, 60-70 from Kerkuk and Khurmato, and 25 of whom have been trained and ready to commit suicide”. Jangy also confirmed that 17 jihadists have been arrested on their return to the Kurdistan region.
Relatives and friends of those killed in Syria have spoken to KT on condition of anonymity. They criticised the steps taken by local KR security forces to try and keep the extremists, or those identified as being affiliated with them, under control. They claimed that these measures – including arbitrary arrests, constant surveillance and compulsory attendances at local police stations – are counter-productive and sometimes push people towards jihad in Syria as an escape.
The Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG) issued a statement on 8th December distancing itself from those who go to Syria for jihad.
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