"Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" disseminates video with threat to expand combat operations to Caucasus

Supporters of the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" have distributed the video record, in which they accuse Russia of supplying weapons to Bashar al-Assad and threaten to start a war in the Caucasus.

The video record, in which the man threatens Russian President Vladimir Putin to start a war and "liberate Chechnya and the Caucasus" has been posted on the website of the "Al-Arabiya" TV Channel.

The video record is accompanied with subtitles in Russian. It can be seen from the video record that it has been made at the military airbase in the Tabaka District in the Syrian province of Raqqa captured by the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant". "Here are the Russian aircrafts that bombed our brothers," states off-stage commentary in Russian. Then, a man in front of the camera promises that the aircrafts will be sent back to Russia for combat operations.

So far, the Russian law enforcement bodies have not yet commented on the disseminated video record.

It should be noted that in 2014, there is a decrease in the number of casualties during the confrontation in Northern Caucasus. According to the authors of the quarterly information-analytical bulletin prepared by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", the decrease of the number of casualties among law enforcers can be associated with the departure of part of radically-minded residents to Syria.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.