Captured foreign terrorists in Syria explain ISIL life

Two foreign members of the ISIL Takfiri terror group captured in Syria have admitted that the terror force was chiefly financed by wealthy patrons of Persian Gulf kingdoms, Egypt and Syria as well as oil sales to Turkey.

In an exclusive interview conducted in a prison facility in the Syrian capital of Damascus and published Saturday by the Russia-based Sputnik International, the two captured militants from Kyrgyzstan, identified as Mohammed Yahya Hakmedjan and Mohammed Hanouf Azamedjan, further alluded to the presence of many foreign recruits, particularly from Saudi Arabia, in Syria who had to first pledge allegiance to ISIL and its purported leader Ibrahim al-Samerai also known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

"I reached Kafr Hamra in Syria, and they sent me to the home of Saifullah Shishani, a local [ISIL] leader,” said Hakmedjan, who added that Shishani introduced him to “another Kyrgyz national named Hanfa, his personal Sharia judge and executioner.”

He noted that after dropping out during his second year at al-Azhar University, he “was instructed by radical preachers to leave Egypt for Syria via Turkey and to fight a holy war,” noting that “sympathetic Muslims” helped him reach the Turkish city of Istanbul, where he took a bus to the Turkish-Syrian border, joining a group of fellow militants with whom he illegally crossed into Syria to join the ISIL terror force with assistance from local guides.

According to the Kyrgyz terrorist, who claimed to have worked as an interpreter in the ISIL stronghold in the northeastern Syrian city of Raqqa, people in city receive donations from wealthy "patrons of radical Islam," specifically, from Persian Gulf countries, Egypt and Syria. Additionally, he said, the terror group also sold "trophies" and oil to local residents and to Turkey.

He further insisted that "many people from Turkey came [to ISIL-controlled areas of Syria] and went unhindered,” adding that “I saw them carrying weapons with one shipment."

He also recalled that his ISIL handlers “immediately started explaining” to him that foreigners joining the terror group sought to “spread Sharia concepts to Syria, Iraq and all over the world.”

According to Hakmedjan, he lived in a community where the incoming young recruits training to become terrorists were assigned to separate homes for Arabs and Europeans.

Meanwhile, the other Kyrgyz militant, Azamedjan, said he received military training in an Aleppo suburb after being “deceived” by radical leaders who recruited him online and was involved in active battle against Syrian forces and rival militant groups.

He said almost all the militants were foreigners, primarily from Saudi Arabia, adding that experienced terrorists trained raw recruits to shoot various assault rifles, large-caliber machine guns and mortars.

After training for a month along with over 200 “Mujahedin” at the Sheikh-Suleiman camp in northern Syria, Azamedjan said he was sent to the "Arab House," where the Arab recruits live and have to take an oath of allegiance to Abu Bakr Baghdadi.

He said his ISIL handlers insisted that the Syrian Army was engaged in “killing the righteous, women and children,” noting that the claim “turned out to be complete lies.”

The youthful terrorist also said he spent the first 20 days in ISIL-controlled Raqqa, living at a local "guesthouse" together with "buddies" from Saudi Arabia and Jordan where they ate and drank free food.

Azamedjan concluded the interview by stating that there was no jihad in Syria, only carnage.

ISIL captured large areas in Iraq and Syria in 2014, establishing a so-called caliphate on the territories under its control in 2014.

Syria has been dealing with massive foreign-sponsored militancy for the past four years. The conflict has reportedly killed an estimated 230,000 people so far, including nearly 11,500 children.

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