Worked for U.S.-trained Spetznatz
Al-Shishani is reported to have joined a Georgian Spetznatz (special forces) unit in the KUD, or central intelligence service, in 2006. The unit received U.S. training as part of military support for Georgia. He caught tuberculosis and lost his job in the intelligence unit, before going to prison for weapons possession in 2010. His father:
They trained all of the Georgian army back then… My boy was just 19 when he went to the army… This KUDI, where he was working, it was an intelligence and reconnaissance unit.
However, his father says al-Shishani (also known as Tarkhan) is a victim of his older brother, who is the real mastermind of ISIS:
Tarkhan is 27, not more—a child! Tamaz is his teacher. Tamaz ruined everything I had. Tamaz is everything, the main actor; Tarkhan is nothing.
Doesn’t want to return to Austria
15-year-old Selimovic tells Paris Match that reports she wants to return to Austria are untrue:
Here I can really be free. I can practice my religion. I couldn’t do that in Vienna
She also says that she is not pregnant. Experts say that the interview may have been conducted at gunpoint as a PR exercise to boost ISIS’s image.
Threatened with death for trying to leave
A source with extensive connections in Syrian jihad says at least 30 British ISIS fighters are trapped with the group, threatened with death if they try to leave. Former Guantanamo detainee Begg confirms the report:
When it becomes solidified as an Islamic State, a caliph, and you swear allegiance, thereafter if you do something disobedient you are now disobeying the caliph and could be subject to disciplinary measures which could include threats of death or death
Appears in second video
Elmir appears in a second ISIS video, titled An Evening On The Banks Of The Tigris River In The Province Of Nineveh In The Islamic State.
ISIS fighters bathe in the Tigris and pray in lines inside a tent-like structure, with weapons strapped to their chests. They recite chants and are shown sharing a meal as they cross the river in a barge. Elmir is shown reciting a chant back to the speaker, and appears to stifle a smile or laughter. Most of the chants are in Arabic but some of the speakers are reported to say they will:
Strike the necks of the infidel and Arab countries
Fails to cut off Kobani
Kurdish fighers have repelled a pre-dawn raid by ISIS which aimed to cut the town off before more peshmerga could cross the border to reinforce. The YPG says that the fighting began on Saturday and continued until midnight:
Four of our comrades were martyred in action.
Reported beheaded by ISIS
Rehana is reported to have been beheaded by ISIS. Photos claiming to show her severed head are circulated on Twitter, but her death is unconfirmed at this point. The Kurdish YPG (People’s Defense Unit) and YPJ (Women Protection Unit) aren’t able to be reached for comment.
Sends Chechen commander to city
ISIS orders al-Shishani to leave the Shingal area in northern Iraq to take over operations in Kobani. Another shift in strategy will be to remove its heavy weapons and artillery from near Kobane, in order to avoid airstrikes. ISIS also plans to increase the number of car bomb and motorcycle suicide attacks in the city.
Missiles threaten aircrews
Reports that ISIS is using advanced SAMs (surface-to-air missiles) in Iraq are a concern for aircrews as U.S.-led airstrikes step up. The group is reported to have used a Chinese-made shoulder-launched SAM to shoot down an Iraqi army Mi35-M attack helicopter this month, and has reportedly shot down several other helicopters during the conflict. Military official:
Based on past conflicts, [the missiles] are game changers out there.
Killed in Syria
Hassan is the fourth person from Portsmouth killed while fighting for ISIS. Chairman of the Portsmouth Jami Mosque, Abdul Jalil:
It has been confirmed with the family that he has died. Right now they are very upset. I am saddened and again shocked for the community about this news.
It is thought he died in Kobane.
Program to combat ISIS
Germany is instituting a government-backed pilot program designed to teach school students about the dangers of radical groups like ISIS. Project leader:
We laughed when we saw those first rudimentary extremist videos in 2005. But a new politico-religious movement has grown up out of nothing and taken all of us completely by surprise.
Starved, hung upside down
People who were captured along with Foley say he received the harshest treatment because he was American. They say ISIS starved him and hung him upside down by his ankles. Cellmate:
You could see the scars on his ankles. He told me how they had chained his feet to a bar and then hung the bar so that he was upside down from the ceiling.
He was also waterboarded by the group.
Attacks raise concerns over ISIS influence
The attacks in Canada and New York raise concerns over the group’s ability to inspire lone wolf attackers. While there are no indications of direct involvement, each of the attackers is thought to have been inspired by ISIS messages, and all three attacks came in less than a month after ISIS called for individual jihad in Western countries. William McCants, a scholar of Islamist militancy at the Brookings Institution:
The Al Qaeda ‘fan boys’ never did this, definitely not in so coordinated a fashion in so close a time.
Mokhtar Awad, a researcher at the liberal Center for American Progress, based in Washington, says the group’s social media messages have changed sharply, from ‘come join the attack’ to ‘we are being attacked and what are you doing? You are just sitting there!’
They are trying to shame sympathizers. ’If you can’t join us over here, at least do what you can over there.’
FBI: ISIS targeting journalists
FBI bulletin sent to reporters Thursday:
[The FBI has] recently obtained credible information indicating members of an ISIL-affiliated group are tasked with kidnapping journalists in the region and returning them to Syria. Members of this group might try to mask their affiliation with ISIL to gain access to journalists
Mother makes new plea
Paula Kassig sends a third tweet to the group:
Parents of Abdul Rahman Kassig Request Instruction from the Islamic State pic.twitter.com/7auWNPa5t4
— Paula Kassig (@PaulaKassig) October 23, 2014
Pew: Majority doubt coalition effectiveness
A majority of Americans support the campaign against ISIS, but majorities across the board – 70% of Republicans, 65% of independents and 54% of Democrats – say that the coalition has no clear goal. 47% say their greater concern is that the U.S. will get too involved in the situation, while 43% are more concerned that the U.S. will not go far enough.
Destroys two ISIS planes
Syria’s Information Minister tells SANA that government forces are still searching for the third MiG:
Regarding … that terrorists control three jets in al-Jarrah military air base in Aleppo, there are three old aircraft that the terrorists were testing so the Syrian Arab Army immediately destroyed two of them on the runway as they were landing. It does not worry us and [the planes] cannot be used [militarily].
Defends Kassig
Aqidi, a senior Al-Nusra member, says he received treatment from Kassig during a bombardment by the Assad regime, and also gave treatment to Dujana, identified as Nusra’s leader in Deir Ezzor. He says he believed at the time that Kassig was a fellow jihadi:
[…] It later became clear to me that he’s an humanitarian activist that served in Deir Al-Zour for more than a year and was then kidnapped by Isil
Colorado girls skip school to join ISIS
The girls aged 15, 16, and 17 are caught by German authorities at Frankfurt airport and sent back to the U.S., where they are questioned and then released. They state that they planned to travel via Turkey to join ISIS. The father of one girl, Assad Ibrahim, calls his daughter’s cell after the school phones him, and she tells him she is late for class. He then finds her passport missing and alerts the Arapahoe Sheriff’s office, which files a runaway report (here). He informs the father of the other two girls, Ali Farah, whose daughters had told him they were going to the library.
Seizes US weapons cache
The Pentagon drops 28 loads of military grade weapons for the Kurds. Wind shifts one of the loads, falling into the hands of ISIS militants. Turkey criticizes, but US officials say one cache of weapons in not a significant boon for the Islamic State. Apparently, amateur video footage proves militants did seize the cache of weaponry, consisting of rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and many other items. Army Lieutenant Colonel Warren:
One bundle worth of equipment is not enough equipment to give the enemy any type of advantage at all. It’s a relatively small amount of supplies. This is stuff [Isis] already has.
Kirby:
I do want to add, though, that we are very confident that the vast majority of the bundles did end up in the right hands. In fact, we’re only aware of one bundle that did not.
U.S. weapons cache
ISIS releases a video claiming that it is in possession of an airdrop of weapons meant for Kurdish forces. ISIS:
Weapons and munitions dropped by American planes and landed in the areas controlled by the Islamic State in Kobani.
