Highlight
The United States Treasury Department has added three Islamic State operatives, as well as an overseas emissary to the US government’s list of specially designated global terrorists.
The designations, published yesterday 6th October 2015, include three jihadists from the Russian Caucasus and a recruiter from the United Kingdom.
Summary
The four newly top wanted terrorists are Islam Seit-Umarovich Atabiyev, who is the deputy to Islamic State military commander, Omar al Shishani, Akhmed Chatayev, commander of the group’s Yarmouk Battalion, and Aseel Muthana a global recruiter.
Three of the most wanted terrorists are all Russians from Russian Caucasus. The other, who happens to be a notorious global recruiter and financier, is Aseel Muthana from the United Kingdom.
Washington said that the move highlights the commitment by the US and international efforts to aggressively target and destroy the Islamic State. Even then, Russia, who recently deployed her planes in Syria says her entry into the battlefield against the Islamic State will be more productive compared to the efforts that the US led coalition has had so far.
The Caucasus is a region at the border of Europe and Asia, situated between the Black and the Caspian seas. The southern parts of the region consist of independent sovereign states, and the northern parts are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation.
In addition, Zaurbek Guchayev, the Turkey-based emissary for the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Caucasus Emirate, was also designated.
Atabiyev, the most senior Islamic State commander listed in yesterday’s designations, swore an oath of allegiance to ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in December 2013. He served as the Islamic State’s governor for the Syrian town of Al Dana in the Idlib province. Atabiyev founded and runs the Russian language propaganda outlet Al Furat and “maintained a school in Syria to indoctrinate and train Syrian boys to become future fighters.
The Islamic State’s Caucasus province was announced in June, after the fighters swore an oath of allegiance to Islamic State’s leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.
The Caucasus branch is headed by Rustam Asilderov, a former Islamic Caucasus Emirate leader who defected to the Islamic State late last year.
The US government listed the Islamic State Caucasus Province as a terrorist group on Sept. 29.
PHOTO: Courtesy
