An ISIS fighter captured by Iraqi Kurds has told local media that British jihadists are often considered “useless” by ISIS top brass and are good for nothing else but suicide squads, but regardless enjoy all the “perks” of ISIS life, including the systematic rape of captured women, some of whom are as young as nine years old.
Describing ISIS life under an assumed name, ‘Sherko Omer’ told YourMiddleEast that he joined ISIS in 2013 as a technical specialist and spoke highly of early life in the Islamic State before becoming disillusioned with the prevailing sexual morality. On the conditions awaiting a new recruit, he said “IS commanders were very nice and respectful at the camp… They gave us the best food; clothes, weapons and we enjoyed the friendship and brotherhood”.
The ISIS whistleblower, who was a qualified Iraqi radio technician didn’t have many kind words in his interview for the European jihadists arriving to fight for ISIS, and remarked they were thought of lowly by his commanders. Foreign Jihadists, which are disproportionately made up of British and French passport holders were considered useless because they had no real battlefield experience and had no technical qualifications. Instead of receiving full training, the British Jihadis were instead brainwashed into believing in their right to “women in heaven and those they could rape on earth”, before being sent on suicide missions.
After ‘Omer’ witnessed six ISIS soldiers raping a 13-year old Christian girl in her home he made a complaint, but was quickly censured when he was told by a Senior local “a 13-year-old girl is not considered a child, essentially because prophet Muhammad married his wife, Aisha, when she was only 9 years old. He accused me of having poor faith in the practices of prophet Muhammad for which I could have been detained and possibly punished with a tough sentence”.
ISIS continues to make advances north towards the Turkish border, which risks becoming a contested and fluid area rather than a solid demarcation. In his interview ‘Omer’ claimed to have crossed the Turkey-Syria border a number of times while fighting with ISIS, with the knowledge and cooperation of Turkish border guards and soldiers. As a NATO state, Turkey would have good reason to appeal to its international partners in the case of its recognising that its borders had been encroached upon by ISIS expansion.
Speaking of one such crossing, Omer said They just turned a blind eye. We were initially told by the IS field commander to fear nothing because there was cooperation with the Turks at the border.
“The watchtower light caught us and our commander said everybody should stop but do not look at the light. He talked on the radio, then the watchtower light began to move after 8-10 minutes and that was the signal saying we could safely cross the border”. The United States and France have already started an air campaign against the Islamic State. The United Kingdom is expected to follow shortly and parliament may be recalled to discuss military action in Iraq and Syria in the next week.