4 Reasons ISIS Started Attacking Russia

MOSCOW – The terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue in the suburbs of Moscow was not something that happened suddenly. The Kremlin ignored US intelligence warnings about an imminent attack by “extremists,” perhaps to shift the blame to a scapegoat when the attack occurred.

The murder of 137 concertgoers is just the latest atrocity in the decade-long struggle between the Islamic State (ISIS) and Russia . This decision was taken on September 30 2015, when Russia intervened in Syria to support the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. ISIS agents responded a month later by infiltrating Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh airport and planting a bomb on a Russian Airbus, killing 224 passengers and crew.

4 Reasons ISIS Started Attacking Russia

1. Action of Revenge for Atrocities in the War between Russia and ISIS

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In response, in September 2017, Russia is alleged to have killed former ISIS “minister of war,” Gulmurod Khalimov, who had been commander of special police forces in Tajikistan’s Interior Ministry and had fought alongside Russian troops. during the Tajik Civil War. All of the suspects in the Crocus City Hall attack are from Tajikistan.

ISIS “provinces” based in Syria – such as Homs and the no longer existing Raqqa – fought regular forces and Russian irregulars, including the Wagner mercenary group, in dozens of battles, most notably in Palmyra in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

“The December 2016 battle was very embarrassing for Russian President Vladimir Putin because ISIS forces retook the city from his troops and allies,” said Omar Ashour, professor of military studies and founder of the Security Studies Program at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, as reported by Project Syndicate.

2. Russia Supports ISIS Enemies Too Much

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Between 2015 and 2024, Russia has supported many of ISIS’s enemies. This includes military and intelligence coordination with Hezbollah, political support for Hamas, and political, intelligence, and possibly military support for the Taliban. The three organizations fought fiercely against ISIS “provinces” and cells in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and Afghanistan.

The Wagner Group and its successor remnants in the Afrika Corps have also fought ISIS in Libya, Mozambique and Mali. ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K), the branch whose members allegedly carried out the Crocus City Hall attack, is active primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Khorasan “province” officially emerged in January 2015, when defectors from the Taliban and other groups pledged allegiance to ISIS ,” said Ashour.

Like ISIS’s other relatively large provinces, ISIS-K is a brigade-sized military organization that has fought against nearly all state and non-state forces in or bordering its area of ​​operations.

3. Wants to overthrow President Putin

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Experts say ISIS-K has opposed Russian President Vladimir Putin for years.