Court files indictment against ISIS “sniper” in US
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A US citizen in a New York jail is charged with serving as a sniper and weapons trainer for the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria.
Born in Kazakhstan, Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, was brought to the US in 2019 following the fall of the self-proclaimed Islamic caliphate in Syria and Iraq. He was arrested by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and turned over to the FBI.
The 46-year-old man from Brooklyn flew to Istanbul in December 2013 and from there he made his way to Syria to join ISIS. He rose through the group’s ranks and eventually became an “emir” who taught other members to use weapons.
In post-arrest videos shown at his trial, he gives his occupation as “a sniper” to FBI agents and readily tells them that he provided instruction in everything from rifle maintenance to ballistics to adjusting for weather effects — and, of course, “how to actually pull the trigger.”
One of Asainov’s lawyers, Susan Kellman, said he went to Syria because he wanted to live under Islamic law. He has pleaded not guilty — a plea that Kellman entered on his behalf because, she said, he did not abide by the American legal system.
During the ISIS rule, as many as 40.000 people from 120 countries showed up to join in, according to the United Nations. There is no comprehensive US statistic on Americans among those foreign fighters; a 2018 report by George Washington University’s Program on Extremism found at least 64 who had joined “jihadist fighting” in Iraq and Syria since 2011, the AP reported.
Since ISIS defeat, some foreign members and their families have been detained in prisons and camps in northeastern Syria run by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and the SDF.
Although the AANES has called on the countries to repatriate their ISIS nationals, some still refuse to take them back, while others have returned them, including some who were prosecuted.
Ruslan Asainov faces charges that include providing material support to ISIS, a US-designated foreign terrorist organization. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.