We gained exclusive access to the Syrian branch of al Qaeda, al Nusra.
Jihad Olympics: Sochi’s Terror Problem
Islamic extremists in Russia want to blow up the Sochi Winter Olympics. They’ve already succeeded in terrorizing a city 600 miles away with three separate suicide attacks, and more than 40 people have died since the end of October. Russia’s jihadists come from loosely affiliated cells modeled on al Qaeda, and their goal is the creation of an Islamic emirate in the southern part of the country. Their dream state would also include Sochi itself.
Russia has earned high marks for making the security at the games unobtrusive and, so far, effective. But security experts are warning that the Islamists could recalculate and start to target easier-to-hit cities around the country during the 2014 Winter Games. VICE News sent Simon Ostrovsky to the most dangerous region in Europe to find out how serious the threat to the Olympics and Russia actually is.
Three years ago, an uprising against the Assad regime turned into what looked like a straightforward civil war between Syrian government forces and rebels. However, over time, what had started as a largely secular opposition movement began to take on more of a radical Islamist tone, with two al Qaeda offshoots—the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and Jabhat al-Nusra—becoming the dominant forces on the ground across the rebel-held North.
One VICE filmmaker managed to secure unprecedented access to both al Qaeda factions battling Syria’s government forces, despite the risk of journalists being kidnapped. This is a remarkable portrait of the foreign volunteers and local Syrians willing to fight and die to establish a new caliphate on Europe’s doorstep.
Syria: al Qaeda’s New Home - Trailer
Three years ago, an uprising against the Assad regime turned into what looked like a straightforward civil war between Syrian government forces and rebels. However, over time, what had started as a largely secular opposition movement began to take on more of a radical Islamist tone, with two al Qaeda offshoots—the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and Jabhat al-Nusra—becoming the dominant forces on the ground across the rebel-held North.
ISIS’s policy of kidnapping journalists has made it almost impossible to report from within Syria. But one VICE filmmaker managed to secure unprecedented access to both al Qaeda factions battling Syria’s government forces, creating this remarkable portrait of the foreign volunteers and local Syrians willing to fight and die to establish a new caliphate on Europe’s doorstep.
Al Qaeda Is Taking Over Whole Cities in Iraq
Late last month, the Iraqi cities of Ramadi and Fallujah fell to tribal militants linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a homegrown franchise of al Qaeda.
After taking the cities, the militants—who are understood to be locals of Anbar, the Sunni province where both Ramadi and Fallujah are located—hoisted black al Qaeda flags over government buildings and police stations. Their assault followed the Shiite-led government ignoring Sunni protests for reforms that would put them on par with their Shiite countrymen, and came just days after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered security forces to clear a Sunni protest camp amid claims that it had become an ISIS headquarters.
In response to the takeover of Fallujah and the militants’ partial control of Ramadi, Maliki forged a deal with some of Anbar’s prominent tribal leaders and sheikhs, convincing them to work with the Iraqi army to secure the two cities. Ahmed Abu Reesha, a Sunni tribal chief aligned with Maliki, claimed on Saturday that these pro-government tribes have reclaimed most of Ramadi and said that the “next battle will be in Fallujah.”
“Ramadi, in many respects, has been far less significant in terms of actual presence of ISIS,” said Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center. “But, in Fallujah, the situation is far more complicated, because tribes appear to be split down the middle. Some are linked with ISIS and the other half have decided to side with the security forces.”