Documents acquired by retreating Islamic State fighters in Syria show that the militant group is allegedly planning a series of high-profile attacks in Europe and the Middle East, using newly established sleeper cell units.
The information was revealed over the weekend by the British newspaper The Sunday Times. The London newspaper said the information was found last month on a flash drive, which was left during the retreat by Islamic State forces in Syria and acquired by Kurdish militia forces. The presence of dozens of internal documents belonging to the militant group, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), was revealed.
Among them, The Times said, are several memoranda written by an ISIS executive and an operations planner known as Abu Taher al-Tajiki. In his memorandum, al-Tajiki informs the leadership of the group that commands numerous fighters willing and able to carry out attacks "far" from the strongholds of the Islamic state in the Middle East and Africa. He declares that he is in regular contact with them and that they are awaiting instructions to "undertake operations".
Al-Tajiki therefore calls for the creation of a foreign relations office under the Department of Operations of the Islamic State, charged with launching attacks across Europe. He adds that the new office can also count on the assistance of computer hackers and other technically literate members of the Islamic state. In another memorandum, al-Tajiki suggests the creation of what he calls "crocodile cells" in Syria and Iraq. These cells "hide under the surface" and "attack at the right moment to assassinate the enemies of Allah," says al-Tajiki.
The Times report comes as experts warn that the Islamic State retains significant financial power, despite the loss of its territories in the Middle East. In a well-informed article on the Atlantic, David Kenner reports from Beirut that the Islamic State without its territories is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the group cannot rely on the taxes and oil revenues they used to enrich their coffers of $ 1 million a day during the height of power. On the other hand, Kenner argues, the loss of territory has freed the Islamic State from the costs associated with state management and allows it to devote its financial resources "exclusively to terrorist activities". These cash resources are huge, Kenner says. In the words of Howard Shatz, senior economist at Rand Corporation and ISIS finance expert, "we don't know where it all went" after ISIS lost its territory. We know that much of it has been invested in "legitimate business ventures," Shatz says, with the help of oriented intermediaries linked to markets as far away as Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. A lot of money is hidden in suitcases and boxes all over Iraq, Syria and Turkey. All this money is meant to be used to finance terrorist attacks, Kenner warns.