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Caucasus Islamists in Syria split with Qaeda-linked rebels: video
Source: Reuters
Caucasus Islamists in Syria split with Qaeda-linked rebels: video
BEIRUT | Wed Sep 4, 2013 12:57pm EDT
(Reuters) - A group of Islamist militants from Russia's volatile North Caucasus region fighting in Syria have split with a major al Qaeda-linked rebel unit to form an independent battalion, according to a video posted online.
Militants who have travelled from Russia's North Caucasus region, where the Kremlin is fighting an Islamist insurgency, have emerged as some of the most effective fighters waging battle against President Bashar al-Assad.
A group calling itself "Mujahideen of the Caucasus in the Levant" announced its decision to split from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in a video posted on YouTube on September 3. The video's authenticity could not be immediately verified.
"We are leaving the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, and our battalion is independent," a bearded fighter wearing camouflage fatigues said in Russian, as another fighter translated into Arabic.
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BEIRUT | Wed Sep 4, 2013 12:57pm EDT
(Reuters) - A group of Islamist militants from Russia's volatile North Caucasus region fighting in Syria have split with a major al Qaeda-linked rebel unit to form an independent battalion, according to a video posted online.
Militants who have travelled from Russia's North Caucasus region, where the Kremlin is fighting an Islamist insurgency, have emerged as some of the most effective fighters waging battle against President Bashar al-Assad.
A group calling itself "Mujahideen of the Caucasus in the Levant" announced its decision to split from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in a video posted on YouTube on September 3. The video's authenticity could not be immediately verified.
"We are leaving the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, and our battalion is independent," a bearded fighter wearing camouflage fatigues said in Russian, as another fighter translated into Arabic.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/04/us-syria-crisis-caucasus-idUSBRE9830XX20130904