Dutch Intelligence Report Gives Glimpse of ‘Deplorable’ Conditions in ISIS-Controlled Areas
By Barbara Hollingsworth | February 4, 2016 | 3:14 PM EST
ISIS militants. (AP photo)
(CNSNews.com) – Dutch citizens who travel to ISIS-controlled areas do so knowingly and support the jihadist group’s use of violence to create an Islamic caliphate, according to a recent report by the Dutch Intelligence Directorate (AIVD).
But few are prepared for the “deplorable’ living conditions in ISIS-controlled areas. “ISIS propaganda paints an idyllic life in the ‘caliphate’ which is not consistent with reality,” according to a translated version of the report, which was based on 18 months of “intelligence-based research.”
Although “ISIS has gone to great lengths to keep alive the myth of a successful state…ISIS is facing significant problems, such as military setbacks and internal tensions,” AIVD reports, “Information Research shows that the conditions are just deplorable…marked by hardship and mutual distrust.”
Air strikes by the international coalition and military defeats near the Turkish border are making it “more difficult for the group to transport people and resources to and from different parts of [the] ISIS area,” the report states.
“The consequences of this development are substantial. For example, residents of Raqqah, the unofficial capital of ISIS in Syria, [are] facing a year with a doubling of food prices. ISIS [has] not succeed[ed]… to continue to pay [fighters] the same salary, leading to further unrest and discontent among members of the organization….
“ISIS fears that residents want to go en masse to leave the caliphate for fear of air strikes and out of dissatisfaction with military and financial setbacks,” the report says.
Since mass desertion would seriously damage ISIS’ reputation, the jihadist group is making it more difficult for members and their families to leave the war-torn area.
“Since December 2014 it is even mandatory in some parts of ISIS area at all times [to] carry an identity card issued by the religious police,” the report notes. Without an identity card, residents are not allowed to travel by bus or pass through ISIS checkpoints.
“ISIS [is] spreading propaganda stories, [that] everyone gets a house, eat
enough and [gets] good [food], trash is picked up and the medical care arranged [is] excellent. ISIS also feeds the perception that the group defends Syrians and Iraqis and then 'only defensive violence' applies. However, violence is inherent in ISIS. It is applied on a daily basis, glorified and preached.”
Few western jihadists realize that they will be living “daily life in a war zone,” the AIVD report notes. Besides “poor food, inadequate housing and poor health[care],” ISIS propaganda does not mention the fact that “executions, maltreatment, slavery, rape and extortion” are all a part of daily life.
“Because ISIS is afraid of infiltration by spies,” the jihadist group has now mandated that anyone living in ISIS territory must vouch for new recruits, who must hand over their travel documents upon arrival. “ISIS thus prevents a recruit…[from] leav[ing] the area without permission.” Suspected spies or deserters are sentenced to death by a Sharia court.
There is little communication with the outside world. Since last July, “it is no longer permitted in Raqqah to use wireless Internet,” the report added. The Internet can only be accessed in ISIS-approved cafes where online traffic is carefully monitored.
“Complaints about the overpriced food, filthy houses, poor medical facilities or the activities of the security apparatus [are] therefore reaching jihadist circles in the Netherlands only very rarely because it is simply too dangerous… and [there is] still a chance that such stories are [dismissed] by ISIS supporters as ‘Western propaganda’,” the report notes, which is “one of the reasons that there are monthly jihadists from the Netherlands trying to move out to [the] ISIS region.”
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-hollingsworth/dutch-intelligence-report-gives-glimpse-deplorable-conditions
