Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Ex-Soldiers Joining The Islamic State Are Giving ISIS Needed Miltiary Experience

Photo via VICE News documentary "The Islamic State"

Washington Free Beacon: Islamic State Gains Military Expertise From Ex-Soldiers

Defection of Tajik colonel a possible ‘game changer’.

The recent defection to the Islamic State (IS) of a special operations colonel in Tajikistan and the group’s infiltration of the Malaysian military are raising new concerns that the Islamist terror group is gaining military expertise, according to U.S. officials and experts.

Col. Gulmurod Khalimov, a commander of the Interior Ministry security unit known as OMON, disappeared in April and late last month surfaced in an IS video calling for jihad against Russia and the United States. Tajikistan is a former Soviet republic that is currently aligned with Russia.

WNU Editor: A lot of these fighters have been fighting for years .... so I do not think that the defection of one Tajik colonel is a possible ‘game changer’. But if he teaches his expertise to others .... and these fighters then teach others .... it will probably make the conflict far more difficult to end.

Update: Saddam's former army is secret of Baghdadi's success -- Reuters

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