Raqqa: Defeat and Disillusionment Sink in for Islamic State’s Foreign Converts

Northern Syria, MINA – He travelled to Syria to fight for Islamic State, but now former Indonesian cook Aldiansyah Syamsudin is begging to go home — and insisting he won’t be a threat to others if he is allowed to go free.

At a counter-terrorism unit office in northern Syria, an Indonesian member of the Islamic State group — captured by the western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — has offered a detailed account of his path to jihad, ABC Online reported.

Aldiansyah Syamsudin, who uses the pseudonym Abu Assam Al Indonisiy, said he was a simple rice cook in Bogor, south of Jakarta, before travelling to Syria to join IS.

There he was taught how to fire a machine gun and an AK-47, but Islamic State’s promises — that he would receive four wives, a car and a house — came to nothing.

Left “wounded, sick and starving” as the lone survivor of an air strike which destroyed the vehicle he and other fighters were travelling in, he was shunned by locals and quickly captured.

Now he says he wants to go home and he won’t be a danger to his fellow Indonesians — or Westerners.

“Now that IS does not care for me, why should I follow their teachings?” he said.

From the kitchen to the battlefield

Syamsudin’s journey began after graduating from a mainstream Islamist school in Java.

He was radicalised over the internet, not in a mosque, and joined a group called Gadi Gado on the encrypted messaging service, Telegram, where he met a contact, an Indonesian using the name Abu Hofsah, who told him how to get to Syria.

He claims Hofsah sent him $US1,000 ($1,310) to pay his airfare.

He arrived in Turkey in March last year and stayed in a safe house in the city of Gaziantep before crossing the border into Syria.

“At night a Muharrib (fighter) came and told us, ‘it’s time to go to the border’. We travelled by car to the border and ten of us continued on foot. We crossed a river and continued on foot. We found a metal barricade and ran fast. Turkish soldiers shot at us but we eventually arrive in the Caliphate,” he said.

He arrived in Syria in April, much later than most of the foreign fighters who entered Syria, and attesting to Islamic State’s ability to penetrate the Turkish border well after Turkish authorities said they were cracking down.

The date is also well after IS had been pushed south and no longer controlled direct access to the border.

Syamsudin said he was trained by an Indonesian, using the alias Abu Walid al Indonesiya and a Filipino using the alias Abu Abdulrohman al Phillipini.

His account cannot be verified, but he admitted being trained by IS in how to use a range of light weapons.

“I joined military training in [Syria’s] Hama province for about 20 days, I learned how to use four weapons, including Kalashnikov, RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] and PKC machine gun,” he said.

While authorities believe hundreds of Indonesians have travelled to join IS, Syamsudin said he knew just five of his countrymen in Syria.

And, despite years of news and propaganda depicting the group’s brutality, he claims he did not come to Raqqa to fight.

“I was interested in joining IS because my friend said the living is free and comfortable, you can have four wives, and IS will give you money and provide you with a house and a car,” he said.

Blown up, captured and disillusioned

But instead of a free ride, Syamsudin said he suffered bad luck.

“After I completed my training we were travelling by car when we were attacked by a warplane. All of my friends were killed but I survived,” he said.

“I was wounded, sick and starving … I had no idea what was going on. I don’t understand anything; and I don’t understand Arabic. I approached the locals, asking them for help, but instead they shunned me.”

He was quickly captured by the western-backed SDF. Now wanting to go back home, Syamsudin said he does not pose a threat.

“I will not create any troubles for (Westerners). I have been taught in the past to always attack them, to make trouble for them. But, now that IS does not care of me, why should I follow their teachings? That’s the truth about IS,” he said.

“They always claim that ‘the Muslims love them’ but after I came here, I found that many locals do not love them.”

IS bride claims children were treated by Australian doctor

As well as Indonesians, more evidence of the Australian presence in Raqqa is emerging.

While Australian doctor Tareq Kamleh is well known for making a propaganda video about the quality of care in the so-called caliphate, the bride of a Moroccan IS fighter said their children were treated by another Australian.

“I used to go with my husband when my kids would get sick to the national hospital. There was a doctor called Abu Mohammed al Australi, he specialised in treating children and he was good for the kids,” Khadija el Hamri said.

She and several other IS brides reviewed clear images of Kamleh and insist they dealt with a different Australian.

And he didn’t just stick to medical duties.

“My husband told me the Australian doctor (was) going to guard duty with his gun and military vest, guarding against the Syrian regime and when he’s coming back he comes to the hospital to treat the kids,” she said.

Kurdish officials say all the foreign members of IS — whether they claim to be fighters or not — should be assumed to be dangerous.

“They travelled thousands of kilometres and took their place in the caliphate that attacked our cities and killed our kids. It’s not right to say terror comes only from the gun. The gun is a result of the ideology,” said Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the SDF.

And, while IS has lost control here, its followers have spread far and wide.(T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)