How I Joined ISIS

Reuters has had a rare opportunity to interview fighters from the Islamic State group who were captured by Kurdish Peshmerga forces in recent battles near Mosul. Iraqi and Kurdish security officials usually do not allow members of this group to speak with the media. Walid Ismail surrendered to the Kurdish Peshmerga around the city of Bashiqa, near Mosul. He says that in the last moments before their position was about to be overrun, he and other fighters did not know what to do. A Tunisian fighter attempted a suicide bombing to kill the attackers, but as a result of the explosion, several fighters were killed and others were injured. He, having been injured in the hand, exited the bunker and shouted that he had no bomb. This way, he surrendered to the Kurdish Peshmerga. The 20-year-old Walid, who had been working in a bakery, is now detained in a special security prison in Erbil. People like Walid, who live in Mosul and its surroundings, say that the Islamic State group attracted them to its ranks with promises and threats, and the mistreatment of Sunni people by the Shiite Iraqi government and its armed forces has also played a role in their inclination towards this group. Stories from individuals like Walid, whose details cannot all be verified, indicate how crucial it is to control ethnic and religious tensions in this region to prevent the resurgence of Sunni extremist groups after the defeat of the Islamic State. Walid says that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group, who declared his self-proclaimed caliphate in the Great Mosque of Mosul two years ago, had many supporters. Walid adds: 'I believed in him. We were interested in them because they saved us from the oppression of Shiites.' Walid states that many innocent Sunnis were accused of collaborating with terrorism by the Iraqi army and were subjected to harassment and repression. In 2014, the Iraqi army fled before an attack by 800 Islamic State fighters in northern Iraq. According to Walid, the Islamic State fighters, upon entering Mosul, said, 'We have come to save you from Shiite oppression, and no one will oppress you. We will provide you with food, money, and everything you want.' Reuters adds that in another interview, a prisoner named Hazem Saleh, who was also detained on suspicion of fighting for the Islamic State group, said that a few months before the Islamic State captured Mosul and its surrounding areas, Iraqi army forces arrested and severely tortured his brothers. Hazem Saleh, who was previously a blacksmith, states that his brothers were all simple workers and had done nothing wrong. The Iraqi army and government, which has since changed leadership, have denied all these allegations, claiming their aim was only to target individuals suspected of collaborating with terrorists. The points that Walid Ismail made about the suicide bombing by a Tunisian fighter in their bunker align with the perceptions of officials in the Kurdistan region and the central Iraqi government regarding the role of foreign fighters in the ranks of the Islamic State group and the staunch defense of these individuals of the group's radical beliefs and their labeling of opponents as infidels and justifying their killing. At the same time, it seems that some Iraqis joined the group to earn money through criminal methods such as kidnapping or smuggling, while others joined simply due to their life needs. Walid Ismail says that after the Islamic State cut off gas supplies, the bakery where he worked closed down, and he had no choice but to provide for his six siblings. He states: 'ISIS paid me 500,000 dinars (equivalent to $400) a month for armed guarding in the city.' Hazem Saleh also states that the Islamic State group used financial pressure, including heavy taxation from his blacksmith shop, to force individuals like him to join the group after becoming unemployed to earn a living. He says: 'I have seven children. In a situation where there are no other jobs and poverty is rampant, people joined this group to receive salaries.' In this context, 'half a million people in Mosul are facing a shortage of drinking water.' The slow pace of operations to retake Mosul; disagreements in Baghdad; intensification of Hashd al-Shaabi attacks to cut off the last main supply route to Mosul; Iraqi forces completed the siege of Mosul by cutting off the supply route of the ISIS group.