January 22, 2014 | Quote
Where Is Al Qaeda Holding Its Western Hostages In Syria?
Fears for the safety of dozens of Western captives—among them journalists and aid workers—kidnapped in northern Syria by al Qaeda factions are mounting amid signs they are being moved deeper into territory firmly under jihadist sway. Private security experts and Western intelligence sources say the captives are in the process of being transported closer to the Iraqi border in an operation directed by a Chechen commander.
The movement of the captives appears to be a precaution against them being freed as a consequence of furious rebel infighting that has plunged insurgent-held areas in northern Syria into chaos in the past two weeks.
Speaking on the condition they would not be identified, private security experts working on several abduction cases say a commander called Abu Omar al Chechen, a former Georgian soldier who has sworn allegiance to the emir of the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is overseeing the movement of the captives amid heavy security.
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Ougaidat clans have been especially active in Deir ez-Zor and in towns and villages close to the Iraqi border such al-Mayadin and al-Bakamal. ISIS has long had a presence in Deir ez-Zor and the province served as a haven for al Qaeda operations against U.S. military forces in Iraq, according to Bill Roggio, managing editor of the Long War Journal, a publication of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a Washington D.C.-based think tank. Before the civil war “with the help of the Syrian government, al Qaeda in Iraq used the region as a rear area to support attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces.”