ISIS fighters calling in sick?
It's been a tough week for the Islamic State group. First, one of its top leaders was killed in a coalition airstrike. Now reports have surfaced that its fighters are literally calling in sick over fears they might die.
Islamic State group militants near the Iraqi town of al-Shirqat, roughly 75 miles south of the key extremist stronghold of Mosul, are filing fake "sick notices" trying to convince their commanders they're suffering from incurable diseases, according to reports from Shiite militias fighting there, also known as the Popular Mobilization Units or PMUs. Low morale and a lack of faith in their commanders have prompted these fighters to do anything they can go get out of assignments to the crumbling front lines, the militia members say.
The news was first reported by Iranian news service Fars, run by the central government in Iran, which backs most of the PMUs. In this case the reports align with what others have observed on the ground. Deserters from al-Shirqat have reportedly been boiled alive by the group both as punishment and a threat to others considering similar actions.
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U.S. officials say that they, too, have tracked steady rates of militants deserting or defecting from the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
"We've seen that our momentum is making the bad guys act in ways that show disorganization, desperation and poor morale," says Air Force Col. John Thomas, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which oversees all conflicts in the Middle East. "Young recruits are now running things in areas where more experienced ISIL leaders have left, for instance. We see headquarters literally moving underground. And we see skittishness and a fear by ISIL combatants of airstrikes on their positions at any moment – they are running around scared."
Central Command has also observed more of what Thomas calls "open defiance" against the Islamic State group by civilians still under its control, such as smoking in public or lashing out at its soldiers – both strictly forbidden by the organization's strict rules.
"There are clear signs of pockets of civilians forming a resistance and organizing to sabotage ISIL efforts. These are citizens who are sick of the oppression and sadistic behaviors of the Islamic State thugs running their towns and cities," Thomas says.
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The U.S. general who oversees all operations in the Middle East said this week that recent gains by coalition forces – which include the PMUs – have caused some Islamic State group fighters to push back against their marching orders.
"Some of what we saw in the Manbij fight was direction from [Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi] to his fighters to fight to the death," Central Command chief Army Gen. Joseph Votel said at a press conference at the Pentagon this week, referring to the operation that liberated the Syrian border city. "Obviously, they didn't."
The reports of Islamic State group fighters filing formal sick notices also offers another notable insight into the bureaucracy the extremist network has established, as it continues to convince those it rules that it is a legitimate state. Its leaders have begun issuing passports and birth certificates, minting its own currency and establishing news services.
The longer this bureaucracy exists the more difficult the Islamic State group will be to defeat. Multiple columnists used the U.S. announcement it had killed the extremist leader Abu Mohammed al-Adnani as further evidence of a failed strategy, saying the Islamic State group's established network allows for a replacement to step into al-Adnani's place eagerly.
Copyright 2016 U.S. News & World Report
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