INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
His face is framed by a small, wispy, copper-tinged beard
Abu Musa, who calls himself a mujahid, a religious fighter, wears a greenish kufi tightly fitted to his head, a traditional Islamic head
covering symbolizing devotion and loyalty to Allah.Born in Russia to a Russian mother and a Dagestani father, he chose Islam from a young
Bashar al-Assad.After a stint in the ranks of the rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra, Abu Musa began serving as a sniper in a Russian-speaking unit
regime in December.In his modest apartment in Idlib, framed by shelves of religious texts, Abu Musa displays a newly acquired firearm.Joseph
RocheHTS is designated as a terrorist organization by the UN, U.S., EU, Britain and others
defeat in the Second Chechen War, Abu Musa and his now-commander Abdullah primarily came to fight for religious reasons.This is not the case
region and belonging to the Nogai ethnic group, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority from southern Russia, Kubakaev was only 10 years old when
He was fighting alongside the Chechen resistance
After that, FSB [Russian security service] agents came to our home
They beat me, tortured me, electrocuted me, broke my ribs
My parents were also assaulted
They tried to force me to give information
Through Telegram, YouTube and Instagram, he addresses the Nogai community and its diaspora to raise awareness of what he sees as their
drive from Idlib, Commander Abdullah, like Abu Musa, considers himself above all a mujahid (a religious fighter), but takes satisfaction in
Governorate, where Abu Musa and Abdullah once fought against Assad's Russian-backed forces.Iryna Matviyishyn Before the invasion of Ukraine,
Russian aircraft dominated the Syrian skies, limiting rebel movement and striking with impunity
But as Moscow redirected its military capacity toward Europe, its presence in Syria thinned, creating tactical openings that HTS quickly
apartment, Abu Musa proudly shows off his library, mainly composed of religious books
people to Islam and explain its foundations
threatened his family in an attempt to pressure him into returning
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