In a very chilling propaganda video, the infamous group that has taken over swathes of land in Iraq and Syria has threatened Russia to face the consequences of its involvement in protecting Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.
The video shows horrific images of beheadings and scenes of gathered Russian troops and in many frames, ISIS members are clearly heard chanting “blood will spill like an ocean.” The infamous terror group has vowed to make Russian women “concubines” – second, inferior wives — while stating that their children will become slaves.
ISIS and the Metrojet bombing
According to U.S. and British intelligence sources, ISIS was involved in planting a bomb on the Metrojet plane bound for Russia which blew up in midair over Egypt’s Sinai desert a couple of weeks ago. The crash killed 224 people, including the plane’s crew, and is widely thought to have been ISIS’ revenge following Russian airstrikes against its assets over the last six weeks or so. Moreover, the Sinai Province,where ISIS is known to have a very strong presence has claimed responsibility for the attack. However, Russia and Egypt both deny ISIS involvement in the incident, stating that there was never a bomb planted inside the plane.
The chilling video that is already making a lot of headlines at various news agencies is the latest piece of propaganda released by the Jihadist group’s Al Hayat media center. Messages to Russian authorities are relayed in the form of an Islamic chant (more commonly known as nasheed), while accompanying images show prisoners being taken to the altar before they are either decapitated or shot at point-blank range.
The video warns: “The lions of Ummah have awoken. They have raised their swords.
“O, filthy kufr (infidel), you are not brave at all. The sounds of your voice have been silenced.
“We will take through battle the lands of yours we wish, so much of your lands.
“Soon very soon, the blood will spill like an ocean. We will make your wives concubines and make your children slaves.”
Russia to intensify efforts to halt ISIS progress
Although Moscow has kept denying ISIS involvement in the bombing over the Sinai desert and has constantly ruled out the incident as the terrorist group’s revenge for its campaign in Syria, it is looking more and more likely that Russia could face the wrath of the group in one way or another. And it appears that ISIS is hell-bent on letting the world know and proving that it was directly involved in the Metrojet incident. In an online statement, the group has challenged Russia to “prove that we [ISIS] didn’t bring it down, and how it came down. We [ISIS] will detail how it came down at the time of our choosing.” Western intelligence has identified 42-year-old Abu Osama al-Masri, a lesser known ISIS leader, as the prime suspect.
And although Russia has already stated that it will not be pushed back, the country’s officials suspect that the group was planning to bomb the village of Kantyshevo located in southwestern Russia. However, the plot was uncovered by Russian Special Forces a few days ago. Still, it remains to be seen whether ISIS will actually be able to infiltrate Russia, considering the fact that Russia has already secured all borders and made it nearly impossible to cross it without being noticed.
Regardless, the recent video is bound to present a lot of domestic problems, given that Russia has always struggled to maintain peace in Muslim majority areas such as Chechnya, Dagestan and Kazan.
Deadly elite unit dispatched to tame ISIS
However, it is clear that the recent video is in no way going to be a barrier to Russian aspirations for the region with the government having already sent its elite special forces to Syria. The respected and feared Spetsnaz unit, considered one of the most dangerous military groups in the world, has already arrived in Syria and is likely to act covertly, sabotaging ISIS in every way imaginable.
The group is known in Russia to have developed a deep hatred for Jihadist groups and has been trained to fight in almost all kinds of terrain. Moreover, the group specializes in assassination and is likely to target key members of ISIS, which might be the best way to save Russia from the wrath of a terror group that has already established what most Muslims consider a false and illegitimate Caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
