Caucasus Report: Syrian Fighters Tell North Caucasus Muslims 'Wage Jihad at Home!'

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY: In a short video address dated July 30, a group of Syrian fighters has appealed to Muslims in the North Caucasus to wage jihad in Russia rather than travel to Syria to participate in the fighting there. Specifically, they refer to the recent appeal by self-styled Caucasus Emirate leader Doku Umarov to prevent the holding of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in February 2014.

The address is delivered by a wheelchair-bound fighter identified as Salakhuddin who appears to have lost both legs. He is surrounded by seven masked fighters armed with heavy machine guns and grenade launchers.

Speaking in accented Russian, Salakhuddin begins by conveying Ramadan greetings to Muslims across Russia, and specifically to Umarov, whom he refers to as “our amir.” (He is wearing a black T-shirt bearing the slogan "Caucasus Emirate.")

Salakhuddin says there has been a “huge influx of volunteers” from the North Caucasus to join the armed opposition in Syria. He attributes that wave of volunteers to a widely held belief that "Syria is where you go to join the jihad."

Salakhuddin says it is understandable that Muslims from those areas of Russia where there is no jihad underway should share that belief, but that Muslims in the North Caucasus have an obligation to remain at home and fight there, even though conditions are far more difficult in terms of weaponry, support, and the possibility of withdrawing from the front to the rear. He cites a sura from the Koran in support of that argument. » | Wednesday, July 31, 2013