Hasakah – North-Press Agency
Despite their full knowledge of the group’s extremist acts, they’ve helped The Islamic State (IS) as they could, while refusing to listen to calls by their families to leave IS-controlled territories, according to them, to finally end up in Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) detentions in northeastern Syria, “Muhammad Mullah Hussein” descends from Qamishli, northern Syria, while the other is “Muhammad Bakhtiyar”, originally from the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir southeastern Turkey, both militants joined the terrorist group about three years ago.
Like thousands of IS members in SDF detention centers in northeastern Syria, the two militants deny any involvement in any fighting operations, despite the fact that they had spent years in IS-controlled territories, hoping to be tolerated by Kurdish Forces to let them go back to their families.
Both detainees are imprisoned in a heavily guarded detention center in the southern countryside of Hasakah, northeastern of Syria, where thousands of IS militants are kept, most of whom were captured in the group’s last stronghold of Al-Baghouz, east of the Euphrates river.
“North-Press” wasn’t allowed to film the detention from inside and outside due to security reasons, but was permitted only to make interviews in one of the administrative offices within the detention.
The detention administration officials said that there’s quite a good number of Kurdish-IS detainees from the four parts of Kurdistan, without revealing any accurate numbers, while we were allowed to meet some of them to find out the reasons behind joining the radical group, as they were used to fight against their relatives, the Syrian Kurds.
Muhammad Abdullah Mullah Hussein
Muhammad Mullah Hussein 30 years old, descends from the city of Qamishli, northeastern Syria, he was born and grown up in Damascus, and studied for four years in Faculty of Dentistry in the University of Damascus, by the beginning of the crisis in Syria in 2011, Muhammad and his three brothers and a sister left to Lebanon, in order to avoid the Syrian government military conscription, three months later, he left to Turkey.
Muhammad soon joined the Islamic State after watching the group’s published versions on the internet, despite the fact that he was a dentist, and comes from non-conservative family background, believing that they apply the Islamic religion correctly, according to him.
Mullah Hussein told North-Press that he entered Syria through an area in Tal-Abyad/Gire-Sepi, northern Raqqa governorate, however, during his speech, he contradicted himself when he said that he had crossed the border into Syria via Kilis area, southern Turkey, claiming that he isn’t much aware of the Syrian geography.
Despite the widespread of the group’s extreme acts, Mullah Hussein pointed out that he joined IS in mid-2015, right after the battle of Kobani.
“I didn’t really realize that, they told me they were on the right path of religion, after I joined, I regretted, and I wasn’t able to leave IS-controlled areas under fears of being imprisoned or murdered,” the stuttered and confused Kurdish young man replied when answering the question about joining the terrorist group.
After about a year of being in IS-controlled areas, and being the youngest son among his brothers, he could persuade his mother to come and to live with him, unlike his father and the two brothers who left to Sweden, while his sister got married in Turkey.
As he joined ISIS, Muhammad said that he immediately followed a three-week military course in AL-Badiya, the Syrian desert.
Muhammad contradicts himself, where he denies his involvement in any fightings against other military sides in Syria, and defined his mission to medical assistance only, then, he mentions an injury in his shoulder during a battle in AL-Badiya, to be moved then to Raqqa, ISIS claimed capital at that time.
Muhammad added that his job was in the so-called “House of Recovery,” a small movable room for first aid and surgery, whose task is to help the war injured.
Muhammad pointed out that he stayed in Raqqa prior to the siege by the Global Coalition backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in 2017, he then moved to the city of Al-Mayadeen in the countryside of Deir Ez-Zour. From there, he used to move between Al-Jazira areas, Hajeen, Sha’fa, Sousa and Al-Baghouz east of the Euphrates river.
During his life in ISIS territories, Muhammad married a Damascene woman, who was also a member of the extremist group, He has a two-year-old daughter, who is currently with her mother in Al-Hol camp in Hasakah countryside.
Regarding ISIS extremist acts that he witnessed, Muhammed doesn’t dare to declare what he knows, but he says that he’s seen lots of injustice, then he defends ISIS by saying, “The Islamic State was leading people to the right course of religion, such as zakat, fasting, praying and so on.”
Mullah Hussein also talked about the Turkish cooperation with ISIS especially in crossing the border to Syria by saying: “I didn’t face any difficulties in crossing the border, I handed them my belongings (referring to the Turkish Gendarmerie), then they brought them back to me as they were, they knew that I was going to join ISIS, because the person I’ve earlier contacted, had picked me up directly from a point by the border.”
While his father and brothers asked him to leave to Europe with them, “I didn’t get the opportunity to leave, and now I want to get out of this prison to join them to continue my life, and to begin working in a dental clinic”.
He also expresses his regrets by joining the terrorist group, yet, he was satisfied to live with them, where he was helping them medically, according to him.
On the other hand, an SDF detention official told “North Press” that Muhammad Mullah Hussein was a fighter of ISIS in a battalion of Kurdish militants.
The Kurdish young man, accompanied by his wife and mother, left Al-Baghouz among other militants who surrendered to the SDF last March.
Muhammad Bakhtiyar
The other Kurdish young man who dodged while talking about his background with ISIS, his name is Muhammad Bakhtiyar 30 years old, from a village called “Gergera” in the predominantly Kurdish province of Diyarbakir, or as Kurds call it “Amed”, speaking in Zaza accent, a Kurdish dialect spoken by some Kurds in Turkey.
Muhammad studied secondary school, and then was forced to leave school due to the poor conditions of his family, so he left with his family to work in Istanbul.
Muhammad lived in a religiously conservative family, like other Turkish families, saying that “I have read a lot of books in Istanbul, I saw that God is the creator of the universe, the world must be ruled according to Islamic instruction, and that’s why I’ve joined ISIS”.
He refers that when he chose to join ISIS, he was thinking that “In IS-controlled territories, there are also Kurds and we will spread Islam in their language among them as well”.
Bakhtiyar was introduced to the extremist group via some of his friends who used to work with him in Istanbul.
“When I joined ISIS, I escaped our home because my family didn’t accept that, after being to Syria, I contacted them and they asked me to go back to Turkey, but then I was afraid of detention, my family told me that it would be better to be imprisoned than being with those who don’t fear Allah”.
He also mentions that when he arrived in Syria, he was subjected to a military course on several weapons (Kalashnikov, BKC, RPG launcher), “But I told them that I am afraid of the loud sounds, however, they insisted to fire several shots in order to overcome my fears, after the military course, they told me that I should join military points, but I refused that, for being afraid, so they assigned me as a guard of two machine warehouses in Iraqi Al-Qaim region on Syria-Iraq border,” He said.
He mentioned as well his attempts to go to Raqqa, while they refused that by saying: “That I should go to Iraq, but I refused it because I was earning about $50 per month, which wasn’t enough to meet the needs of food”.
Injustice Against the Kurds
Despite the fact that ISIS has committed war crimes according to the international law, yet, Bakhtiyar refuses to defame IS, saying “Their acts are an implementation of God’s law.”
The young man, who was called “Abu Yasser Al-Amedi” among IS ranks, says that they were targeted by an airstrike that killed many of his fellow IS-militants, in Al-Bukamal on the Syrian-Iraqi borders.
Then he tried to leave to Iraq, but IS leaders refused his request by saying “You must go either to Palmyra or get out of the Islamic State territories and go to Kobani.”
In another context, Muhammad contradicts himself about ISIS good treatment saying: “There was discrimination against Kurdish members, they used to assign us to do cleaning and service works, while members of other nationalities were in the positions of leadership and decision-making”.
Like other IS members detained by SDF, Bakhtiyar denies his involving in any fighting operations against the forces fought by IS, including SDF, in which the Kurds make a large percentage saying: “We were betrayed by those who brought us here, they deceived us that there will be freedom, democracy, and real Islam and I didn’t intend to fight my people.”
Bakhtiyar expressed his feeling of being betrayed by IS leaders who ordered them to give up to the SDF, as they will be released after a while saying: “The ISIS leader in Al-Baghouz told us to give up to SDF where you will be questioned by them for two months, and then they will release you. Now, it’s been three months in the detention and we haven’t been released yet.”
The Kurdish militant expresses his regrets for joining IS, justifying that by saying: “We (the Kurds) are destined to be oppressed and wronged wherever we go, this is God’s will.”
The Global Coalition backed Syrian Democratic Forces detain thousands of IS members, captured during battles against the terrorist group, and those who surrendered in the last stronghold in Al-Baghouz, eastern Deir Ez-Zour.
The US-backed multi-ethnic forces of SDF have called on the international community to hold an international tribunal for IS members in northeastern Syria.