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Kremlin Fears Bloodshed At Olympics
1,500 Russian Islamists train for urban warfare in Syria
WND
WASHINGTON – With the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, less than five months away, Russian officials are raising major alarms over the number of Islamists from the North Caucasus now getting urban warfare experience in Syria.
They’ll be returning home, right in the shadow of the international sporting events, of course.
The games, which are to take place from Feb. 7-23, 2014, have been threatened with destruction by the leader of the Islamist militants, Doku Umarov, who has called for “maximum force” to ensure that they don’t take place.
These North Caucasus fighters now in Syria come from such southern Russian provinces as Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and North Ossetia.
They are closely aligned with the al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra Front, which has sided with the rebels opposing President Bashar al-Assad but wants to establish Syria as an Islamic caliphate, a goal opposite of what the Syrian rebels have in mind.
Sources add that Islamist militants from Russia include from 400-500 Chechens, 600 Dagestanis and 200 Tatars and Bashkirs, all of whom are fighting in Syria.
In all, Russian officials believe there could be as many as 1,500 Russian Islamist militants fighting in Syria on the side of the Syrian opposition against the government of Assad.
Russian officials have expressed concern that these fighters who are battle-hardened in urban warfare will return in time to launch attacks on the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, which is located next to the contentious Muslim provinces.
Russian officials say that Chechens, for example, travel to Azerbaijan and then head for Turkey, which is next door to Syria. They leave their regions under the pretext that they are going to undertake Islamic studies when, in fact, they head to Turkey.
Turkey has been a harbor for the Syrian opposition, including foreign fighters, in an effort to topple the al-Assad regime.
Reposted with permission.
