A letter written by an Islamic State fighter from Gaza, Abu Abdallah Al-Muhajir, went on a scathing tirade against those Islamic State fighters who support and are friendly with the terror group Hamas. In Al-Muhajir’s letter posted on social media, he refers to the Islamic State branch, Wilayat Sina (located in the Sinai Peninsula and who is thought to be responsible for the downing of a Russian passenger plane in October 2015) and their open relationship with “apostate” Hamas as “suspect and illegitimate,” with emphasis on Hamas seeking out IS-supporting Gazans to suppress them whilst friendly transactions continue between the two.
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Al-Muhajir describes his letter as:
“a complaint by a soldier in the [Islamic] State to the Caliph of the Muslims, against the actions of the brothers in Sinai Province”
Addressed to IS leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, who has been in hiding since 2014. Al-Muhajir’s letter, translated by Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), states that Al-Muhajir wanted to reach out to Al-Baghdadi as a dutiful Muslim, to give ‘loyal advice to the leader of Muslims’ regarding the betrayal by the Wilayat Sina IS branch. MEMRI also notes that Al-Muhajir goes on to state in great detail, the cooperation between Hamas and Wilayat Sina with this translation:
‘[T]ies that include weapons smuggling by each group for the other; Hamas’s manufacture in Gaza of Sinai Province’s uniforms, explosives and communications equipment; Hamas’s provision of medical care in Gaza hospitals for wounded IS fighters, who are kept under the direct protection of Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades; and even “feasts” held for IS leaders at the homes of senior Hamas officials in Gaza.’
Al-Muhajir is then quoted, as translated by MEMRI, as saying:
“After a period of being in Syria, I have learned that the Islamic State considers Hamas, with all its branches and wings, to be an apostate movement, and that it treats it as an apostate cult, including Al-Qassam [Brigades]. If these things continue and persist, we will all regret the disaster [that will befall] us in the beloved land of Sinai, which is the most important and powerful [Islamic] State province outside Iraq and Syria.”
Al-Muhajir continues on in his letter with more examples of Wilayat Sina consorting with ‘apostate’ Hamas and implores Baghdadi to take action because Hamas is using Wilayat Sina, not the other way around and that Gaza IS supporters have become enraged by the betrayal.
One group of Gaza IS supporters that Al-Muhajir mentions by name in his letter, issued its own caustic reply to the forlorn IS fighter about his letter being posted via social media:
“the Caliph does not accept letters and complaints from his soldiers via the Internet! “
No response on social media from Al-Muhajir regarding the public chastising from the very group he named and defended in his letter.
What’s the likely outcome for Al-Muhajir regarding his letter? Does his publicizing of IS internal drama signal a greater dissension in the ranks of IS or is it merely an isolated incident? Sound off in the comments below!
