We are Muhajireen: interview with Abu Jandal al-Rusi

In November 2023, HTS fighter and military instructor, Russian Abu Jandal al-Rusi, created the “Warriors Project”. This is a project that aims, with in-person and online training (they are present on all platforms and social networks), to train or improve the military capabilities of the mujahideen, especially the Russian-speaking ones. They actively participated in the “Deterring Aggression” campaign in Syria.

Below is the complete interview conducted in English between 17 and 22 December.

1) Would you tell me a little about your story? What is your nationality? How did your story as a fighter begin? What prompted you to take up the path of Jihad? Why did you decide to go and fight in Syria?

1)I am Russian by nationality, I converted to Islam 4 years ago, and after studying the religion, I came across news that was happening in Syria, Afghanistan and other countries where there was an occupation by the enemy, I saw how they bombed civilians, I saw a video of mothers’ children torn to pieces, and I felt terrible that I could not help them, at that moment I realized that I had to join and help our brothers and sisters in faith, after that I went to Syria.

2) How many years have you been fighting in Syria?

2) I have been fighting in Syria for 3 years now.

3) When did you become a military instructor and why?

3)I embarked on the path of a military instructor relatively recently, I saw that the military training of our soldiers was relatively poor, and the decision was made to become an instructor to try to contribute to the training of new recruits.

4) Do you belong to HTS, any Liwa of HTS or any other group in Syria?

4)I belong to the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), I am among the migrants.

5) In recent months, I have witnessed the launching of the Warriors project. What prompted you to form this project?

5)I trained a lot and my friends suggested that I start a project so that people could see what we do and what we are doing, and the plus is that there are no Russians in the information field who would cover military topics from the Islamic side, so I decided to take this step despite everything.

6) What is the objective of this project?

6) My goal is to spread the military call in the form of Islam to all Russian-speaking brothers so that everyone who watches the video understands that there are brothers in jihad who properly cover their activities

7) Who is your training aimed at?

7) I mainly train new recruits.

8) What nationalities are you composed of?

8) Russians, Dagestanis, Chechens, Uzbeks and Tajiks.

9) What is the relationship with other tactical groups such as Albanian Tactical, Muhojir Tactical, Fursan Tactical and Yurtugh Tactical?

9) Quite close relations with them, but these tactical groups act as a team and I am alone unfortunately I could not find my team.

10) I read from your biography that you are Russian. Are you interested in supporting the fight against Russia or in training fighters who want to fight against the Russians? Do you think that fighting Russia as an oppressor can also mean fighting it in other areas?

10) the Russian army always poses a threat to the public, and this country will not calm down until it gets its way, we think that now we are in the Renaissance stage, and we do not have enough forces to wage a full-scale war against them, but we can counteract them in other ways.

11) What do you think of the areas of the North Caucasus? Do you think that one day they will be able to rebel against Russia again?

11) Unfortunately, today Russia holds the Caucasus very tightly in its hands and does everything necessary so that they cannot rise up and fight, and this is done through religious figures who say that Russia is the best country and so on, maybe in the future we will be able to go and maybe not God Knows Best.

12) What do you think of the war between Russia and Ukraine and what do you think of Russian foreign policy in general?

12) This is a very tough war, and it clearly shows that these countries are very seriously prepared in terms of war and politics

13) Now that Syria has been liberated from the Assad regime, would you (or do you think the other groups) would consider going to liberate your native lands one day and fight the Russians or any other oppressor?

13) now I think we need to recover a little from the military actions that took place here, in the future maybe more lands will open up where there will be Jihad and maybe we will go to another place.

14) What would you say to the Western world that often judges you with prejudice and without knowing you?

14) I would like to tell them to just watch what we do and how we do it, we are not going to please anyone in this regard, let them watch our affairs.

15) What do you think of the media and the foreign policy of Western countries towards the mujaheddin groups? What are we doing wrong? What don’t we understand?

15) It is no secret how western countries took part in military operations against Muslims, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and other countries how they help Israel to destroy every square meter of Muslim land, but for what? they say we are terrorists but are women and children terrorists? after all they just live and do not wish anything bad, I think this is politics today a country that wants to conquer another and to earn the help and trust of other countries it is enough to simply accuse them of terrorism and then everyone supports them in the fact that they are fighting against terrorists this is just politics so decided people in beautiful black suits.

16) What do you think of the Palestinian cause and why have only Iran and Hezbollah (your enemies in Syria) helped them?

16) In fact, Iran and Hizbullah helped the Palestinians not because they were saving people there and because they don’t like Israel, on the contrary, Iran is carrying out Shiitization in the lands wherever they are stationed, until recently, Iranian Shiites were also in Syria and tried to develop Shiism among the people and some even joined the ranks, so Iran’s main goal was precisely to create some kind of Shiite resistance in Palestine

17) HTS leader Ahmed al-Shara said that foreign fighters will be rewarded and allowed to stay in Syria. What do you think? And what will you do?

17) this will mean that we are part of a liberated Syria, because in fact it was the Muhajirs who made a huge contribution, and we suffered poverty, hunger, and other hardships here with the Syrian people, and I think it is a fair decision to allow us to live here

18) Do you think Jihad and the Mujahideen can win in other areas and countries? And why haven’t they succeeded yet?

18) Today we see the victory of the Taliban, and what happened to us, and also the Palestinian resistance, we think that today our battles have reached a new level and in the future we will be able to repel the most powerful state, and the fact that they have not yet won is only a matter of time Allah knows best.

D: Thank you very much. I’m grateful to you.

AJR: Thank you for the questions, I was glad to answer you.

Daniele Garofalo is a researcher and analyst on Jihadist Terrorism, Islamist Insurgents and Armed Groups. He is an expert in Monitoring Jihadist Media Channels and Islamist rebels and Armed Groups.

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