Does Isis hate Putin more than Biden? Lorenzo Vidino speaks (George Washington University)
Everything about the organization and objectives of Isis-K. Conversation with Lorenzo Vidino, director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University
After three days of great confusion and propaganda, now even Putin is forced to admit that the massacre in Moscow last Friday was carried out in the name of Allah and not of the Jew Zelensky. But naturally, the director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, Lorenzo Vidino, explains to Start Magazine , the Tsar knew very well all the reasons why his country was in the crosshairs and for a long, long time.
We thought that Isis had been defeated, but instead we discover that it even has allies.
In reality it is not correct to say that ISIS had been defeated. The truth is that over the last five years the public has turned its gaze away from that group for a variety of reasons, not least Covid and the war in Ukraine. Furthermore, in this period there was a decline in attacks by Isis itself, especially in the West.
And what were you professionals doing while we were all distracted?
We have followed the descending parable of this organization which in 2019 lost all the territories it controlled in Syria and Iraq, i.e. the famous Caliphate. Despite this, however, the threat had not evaporated at all as ISIS, in the meantime, had branched out by affiliating with other organisations, around twenty, which they call "provinces", in Arabic "Wilayat", located around the world, from Africa to Yemen, to the Philippines up to Afghanistan where this now famous Isis-K dominates.
How dangerous are these twenty 'branches'?
These branches have different potential: some actually exist only in name, that is, they are little more than small, almost harmless cells, while others, such as ISIS-K, have already carried out various successful attacks.
In short, the Isis brand is still going strong.
I would say yes. The fervent activities of the local families demonstrate that the parent company, despite the repeated killings of the leaders and the enormous difficulties in controlling this network, continues to exist also thanks to these leaderships distributed over a vast territorial span.
The one in Moscow seems to be a photocopy attack in the Bataclan or Mumbai style. Jihadist signature? What is the modus operandi of this massacre?
The examples you give me are the most fitting. In both cases, and also in Moscow, those who jihadist culture defines as "inghimasi" went into action, i.e. ruthless commandos who know that they can almost certainly be killed and in some cases seek a spectacular death as in the case of suicide bombers. But in Moscow, as in Paris, these men made sure to survive as long as possible to strike in multiple places and cause the maximum number of victims. I would like to underline the media aspect which is an integral part of the modus operandi of jihadism, which comes into action in crowded places full of cameras because the images will then be used for propaganda.
Why is ISIS attacking Russia?
Jihadists see Russia from a very different perspective than we do. From their point of view, and from that of Isis-K in particular, Russia is not an enemy, but the main enemy. In fact, there is a thirty-year trail of attacks against that country, some of them very bloody.
But why hit her now?
Because Russia is very active on all fronts in which both Isis and Isis-K operate, i.e. primarily Afghanistan, then in general in Central Asia where Russia has a very important influence and the jihadists want to expand, then naturally in Syria, where Moscow is still present today as protector of the dictator Assad from whom ISIS took away entire pieces of national territory starting from 2013 which it now aims to reconquer. Finally there is Africa, where the group is present in various countries, the same ones where Russian units such as the infamous former Wagner are also deployed, called by local governments precisely to fight ISIS.
In short, it seems to be understood that Isis hates Putin more than Biden, i.e. the Great Satan.
That's right.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/isis-k-attentato-mosca-lorenzo-vidino/ on Wed, 27 Mar 2024 07:33:04 +0000.