The Mameluk Organization of Syria and Iraq (MOSI)
MAMLUK
From wikipedia : "Mamluk meaning "property" or "owned slave" of the king, also transliterated as mamlouk, mamluq, mamluke, mameluk, mameluke, mamaluke or marmeluke) is an Arabic designation for slaves."
"The origins of the Mamluk system are disputed. Everybody[who?] agrees that the story of an entrenched military caste like the Mamluks in Islamic societies begins with the Abbasid caliphs of the 9th century Baghdad."
"The use of Mamluk soldiers gave rulers troops who had no link to any established power structure. (...)The Mamluk slave-troops were foreigners of the lowest possible status who could not conspire against the ruler and who could easily be punished if they caused trouble, making them a great military asset."
"Under the Mamluk Sultanate of Cairo, mamluks were purchased while still young and were raised in the barracks of the Citadel of Cairo. Because of their particular status (no social ties or political affiliations) and their austere military training, they were often trusted. Their training consisted of strict religious and military education to help them become “good Muslim horsemen and fighters." When their training was completed they were discharged, but still attached to the patron who had purchased them. Mamluks relied on the help of their patron for career advancements and likewise the patron’s reputation and power depended on his recruits. A mamluk was also "bound by a strong esprit de corps to his peers in the same household."
"Mamluks were proud of their origin as slaves and only those who were purchased were eligible to attain the highest positions. The privileges associated with being a mamluk were so desirable that many free Egyptians arranged to be sold in order to gain access to this privileged society. Mamluks spoke Arabic and cultivated their identity by retaining an Egyptian name. However, despite humble origins and an exclusive attitude, mamluks were respected by their Arab subjects. They earned admiration and prestige as the “true guardians of Islam by repelling both the Crusaders and the Mongols." Many people viewed them as a blessing from Allah to the Muslims."
"After mamluks had converted to Islam, many were trained as cavalry soldiers. Mamluks had to follow the dictates of furusiyya, a code that included values such as courage and generosity, and also cavalry tactics, horsemanship, archery and treatment of wounds."
"While they were no longer actually slaves after training, they were still obliged to serve the sultan. The sultan kept them as an outsider force, under his direct command, to use in the event of local tribal frictions. The sultan could also send them as far as the Muslim regions of Iberia."
"At first their status remained non-hereditary and sons were strictly prevented from following their fathers. However, over time, in places such as Egypt, the mamluk forces became linked to existing power structures and gained significant amounts of influence on those powers. A similar evolution occurred in the Ottoman Empire with the Janissaries and in the Iranian Safavid, Afsharid, and Qajar dynasty with the ghulams."
"In Egypt, Georgian mamluks retained their native language, were aware of the politics of the Caucasus region, received frequent visits from their parents or other relatives, and sent gifts to family members or gave money to build useful structures (a defensive tower, or even a church) in their native villages in Georgia."
See in this video a description of Mamluks as being Christians,
related to the color of their skin
and their links to the coptic Christians.
"The origins of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt lie in the Kurdish Ayyubid dynasty that Saladin (Salah ad-Din) founded in 1174. With his uncle Shirkuh he conquered Egypt for the Zengid King Nur ad-Din of Damascus in 1169. By 1189, after the capture of Jerusalem, Saladin had consolidated the dynasty's control over the Middle East. After Saladin's death his sons fell to squabbling over the division of the Empire, and each attempted to surround himself with larger expanded mamluk retinues."
"In June 1249, the Seventh Crusade under Louis IX of France landed in Egypt and took Damietta. The Egyptian troops retreated at first, spurring the sultan to hang more than 50 commanders as deserters. When the Egyptian sultan As-Salih Ayyub died, the power passed briefly to his son Turanshah and then his favorite wife, the Armenian Shajar al-Durr (or Shajarat-ul-Dur). She took control with mamluk support and launched a counterattack. Troops of the Bahri commander Baibars defeated Louis's troops. The king delayed his retreat too long and was captured by the Mamluks in March 1250, and agreed to a ransom of 400,000 livres (150,000 of which were never paid). Political pressure for a male leader made Shajar marry the mamluk commander Aybak; he was later killed in his bath, and in the power struggle that ensued vice-regent Qutuz took over. He formally founded the first Mamluk sultanate and the Bahri dynasty."
"Mamluks also defeated new Ilkhanate attacks in Syria in 1271 and 1281 (Second Battle of Homs). They were defeated by the Ilkhanates and their Christian allies at the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar in 1299, but soon after that the Mamluks defeated the Ilkhanate again in 1303/1304 and 1312. Finally, the Ilkhanates and the Mamluks signed a treaty of peace in 1323."
"In 1798, the ruling Directory of the Republic of France authorised a campaign in "The Orient" to protect French trade interests and undermine Britain's access to India. To this end, Napoleon Bonaparte led an Armée d'Orient to Egypt."
"The French defeated a Mamluk army in the Battle of the Pyramids and drove the survivors out to Upper Egypt. The Mamluks relied on massed cavalry charges, changed only by the addition of musket. The French infantry formed square and held firm. Despite multiple victories and an initially successful expedition into Syria, mounting conflict in Europe and the earlier defeat of the supporting French fleet by the British Royal Navy at the Battle of the Nile decided the issue."
"On 14 September 1799 General Jean Baptiste Kléber established a mounted company of Mamluk auxiliaries and Syrian Janissaries from Turkish troops captured at the siege of Acre. Menou reorganized the company on 7 July 1800, forming 3 companies of 100 men each and renaming it the "Mamluks de la République". In 1801 General Jean Rapp was sent to Marseille to organize a squadron of 250 Mamluks. On 7 January 1802 the previous order was canceled and the squadron reduced to 150 men. The list of effectives on 21 April 1802 reveals 3 officers and 155 other ranks. By decree of 25 December 1803 the Mamluks were organized into a company attached to the Chasseurs-à-Cheval of the Imperial Guard (see Mamelukes of the Imperial Guard)."
"Napoleon left with his personal guard in late 1799. His successor in Egypt, General Jean Baptiste Kléber, was assassinated on 14 June 1800. Command of the Army in Egypt fell to Jacques-François Menou. Isolated and out of supplies, Menou surrendered to the British in 1801."
More about Mamluks here: http://i-cias.com/e.o/mamluks.htm
SAMARRA
From wikipedia : "In 836 the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mu'tasim founded a new capital at the banks of the Tigris. Here he built extensive palace complexes surrounded by garrison settlements for his guards, mostly drawn from Central Asia and Iran (most famously the Turks, as well as the Khurasani Ishtakhaniyya, Faraghina and Ushrusaniyya regiments) or North Africa (like the Maghariba). Although quite often called Mamluk slave soldiers, their status was quite elevated; some of their commanders bore Sogdian titles of nobility."
"The city was further developed under Caliph al-Mutawakkil, who sponsored the construction of lavish palace complexes, such as al-Mutawakkiliyya, and the Great Mosque of Samarra with its famous spiral minaret or Malwiya, built in 847. "
"For his son al-Mu'tazz he built the large palace Bulkuwara. Samarra remained the residence of the caliph until 892, when al-Mu'tadid eventually returned to Baghdad. The city declined but maintained a mint until the early 10th century. The Nestorian patriarch Sargis (860–72) moved the patriarchal seat of the Church of the East from Baghdad to Samarra, and one or two of his immediate successors may also have sat in Samarra so as to be close to the seat of power. After the collapse of the Abbasid empire in about 940 Samarra was abandoned. Its population returned to Baghdad and the city rapidly declined. Its field of ruins is the only world metropolis of late antiquity which is available for serious archaeology."
The Samarra bowl at the Pergamon Museum, Berlin. The swastika in the center of the design is a reconstruction. Source: Wikipedia
ABU BAKR AL-BAGHDADI
From this article : "The Americans duly registered his name as they processed him and the others at the Camp Bucca detention center: Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badry. Mr. Baghdadi is said to have a doctorate in Islamic studies from a university in Baghdad, and was a mosque preacher in his hometown, Samarra. He also has an attractive pedigree, claiming to trace his ancestry to the Quraysh Tribe of the Prophet Muhammad."
"But Hisham al-Hashimi, an Iraqi scholar who has researched Mr. Baghdadi’s life, sometimes on behalf of Iraqi intelligence, said that Mr. Baghdadi had spent five years in an American detention facility where, like many ISIS fighters now on the battlefield, he became more radicalized."
"Mr. Hashimi said that Mr. Baghdadi had grown up in a poor family in a farming village near Samarra, and that his family was Sufi — a strain of Islam known for its tolerance. He said Mr. Baghdadi had come to Baghdad in the early 1990s, and over time became more radical."
"The Sunni tribes of eastern Syria and Iraq’s Anbar and Nineveh Provinces have long had ties that run deeper than national boundaries, and ISIS was built on those relationships. Accordingly, as the group’s fortunes waned in Iraq, it found a new opportunity in the fight against Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria."
"The American invasion presented Mr. Baghdadi and his allies with a ready-made enemy and recruiting draw. And the American ouster of Saddam Hussein, whose brutal dictatorship had kept a lid on extremist Islamist movements, gave Mr. Baghdadi the freedom for his radical views to flourish."
"In contrast to Mr. Zarqawi, who increasingly looked outside Iraq for leadership help, Mr. Baghdadi has surrounded himself by a tight clique of former Baath Party military and intelligence officers from the Hussein regime who know how to fight."
"Analysts and Iraqi intelligence officers believe that after Mr. Baghdadi took over the organization he appointed a Hussein-era officer, a man known as Hajji Bakr, as his military commander, overseeing operations and a military council that included three other officers of the former regime’s security forces.
See this article for more information on the picture.
"Hajji Bakr was believed to have been killed last year in Syria. Analysts believe that he and at least two of the three other men on the military council were held at various times by the Americans at Camp Bucca."
"Mr. Baghdadi has been criticized by some in the wider jihadi community for his reliance on former Baathists. But for many others, Mr. Baghdadi’s successes have trumped these critiques.“
"He has credibility because he runs half of Iraq and half of Syria,” said Brian Fishman, a counterterrorism researcher at the New American Foundation."
"Syria may have been a temporary refuge and proving ground, but Iraq has always been his stronghold and his most important source of financing. Now, it has become the main venue for Mr. Baghdadi’s state-building exercise, as well.Mr. Baghdadi appears to be drawing on a famous jihadi text that has long inspired Al Qaeda: “The Management of Savagery,” written by a Saudi named Abu Bakr Naji." See also this article.
"American officials say Mr. Baghdadi runs a more efficient organization than Mr. Zarqawi did, and has unchallenged control over the organization, with authority delegated to his lieutenants. “He doesn’t have to sign off on every detail,” said one senior United States counterterrorism official. “He gives them more discretion and flexibility.”
From this article : "Inside 'The Caliphate Army': ISIS's Special Forces Military Unit Of Foreign Fighters"
"Local fighters play a large role in maintaining territory ISIS controls within Iraq and Syria, while the constant influx of foreign fighters allows it to expand to new areas. ISIS’s military gains in the past year have boosted recruitment efforts, and local fighter presence within its many so-called provinces has created an environment of fear for civilians, assuring that its caliphate is adequately populated. Within the group’s shadowy military structure is an elite special forces division that runs parallel to the regular army. Sometimes called the Caliphate Army, its only priorities are to export the Islamic State abroad and defend it anywhere it may be under threat."
“Within IS, there are state structures, bureaucracy and authorities. But there is also a parallel command structure: elite units next to normal troops,” Der Spiegel wrote in an article uncovering that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime had a strong influence on ISIS. “The secret of IS' success lies in the combination of opposites, the fanatical beliefs of one group and the strategic calculations of the other.”
"Fawaz’s testimony, combined with ISIS’s own documentation of its military infrastructure, divide the military army into seven parts: infantry, snipers, air defence, special forces, artillery forces, the army of adversity and this elite group. Each ISIS province is equipped with soldiers who fit into most categories, with the exception of the Caliphate Army."
"ISIS’s military structure was built on blueprints from Hussein’s brutal dictatorship, which put significant emphasis on the need for a small, loyal group of leaders who did not answer to anyone. Each province has its own leaders and councils, but this smaller group presided over the entire territory. It was a way to confuse outsiders trying to figure out who was actually running the show."
"Much like the Iraqi strategy, each ISIS provincial army has its own special forces unit comprised of the most skilled fighters and military strategists. These forces are not interchangeable nor are fighters allowed to be deployed to different provinces. The reasoning behind these stationary forces is to ensure the militant group does not lose territory that it has already conquered."
"The unit is allegedly made up of roughly 4,000 fighters who are selected for their combat experience. It's almost entirely populated by foreign fighters, mainly Chechens, Uzbeks and Algerians, according to Abu Mohammad, the activist from Raqqa. These countries are widely believed to have provided ISIS with some of its best fighters and military strategists."
"Every male who joins ISIS must report to a training base upon his arrival in the caliphate. Training for locals from Iraq and Syria ranges between 30-50 days, but it is at least 90 days for foreign fighters. For both groups, it begins with lessons in Sharia law and later, a military portion that includes weapons training, strength training and the “arts of fighting,” according to Fawaz. During the training, commanders of the special forces and other ISIS councils visit the camp to poach new recruits for their units."
"One alleged ISIS fighter described members of the elite unit as people whose priority is fighting until the death and have expressed loyalty to that cause. While physical abilities are important, an almost equal weight is given to willingness to fight, courage and intelligence."
"This description is perfectly exemplified in the infamous Chechen ISIS military commander Abu Omar al-Shishani, a ginger-bearded jihadi who trained and fought with the Georgian army until he was deemed unfit after being diagnosed with tuberculosis. Fawaz said Shishani, who is also believed to be the head of ISIS military in Syria, is a fighter in the Caliphate Army, but Abu Mohammed and several other Syrian activists claimed Shishani is the Caliphate Army’s leader."
"Shishani “is a salafist but not an idealogue. Rather, he's a fantastique strategist, able to lead battles with a rare audacity and intelligence,” Laurent wrote. “The elite unit allegedly “accompanies the military leader in all the knockout operations in the Caliphate.”
"This profile is in line with Fawaz’s description. Caliphate Army recruiters choose their fighters according to several “stern conditions, the most important being not thinking of marriage. Service will be in the lands of the Caliphate in the wilayats outside of Iraq and al-Sham [Syria],” Fawaz wrote in his documentation of the ISIS army."
CONCLUSION
“Using foreigners might be useful in fulfilling the Jaysh al-Khilafa's mission of exporting and cultivating IS outside Iraq and Syria,” al-Tamimi said." (source: Inside 'The Caliphate Army': ISIS's Special Forces Military Unit Of Foreign Fighters) But it might be also its most obvious weakness.
Proper real words would say that the Caliphate Army is made of Mamlouks who are enslaved in a political heritage led by former Saddam Hussein. Before WWII, Iran and Iraq have been the land of the battles between France and Great Britain. Before the end of World War II, the two European countries had agree to share the Middle East what pushed Stalin to take over Iran territories and the United-States to enter the battle. The cold war begun.
When the United Nations voted the creation of Israel, the Arab countries started the war against Israel. Most European countries supported Israel at first stake, but each country had its own agenda. France wanted to deploy its nuclear power. The United-States disagreed. The General de Gaulle started to run his own battle to win the Middle East. Gaullism was the heritage he left behind.
Jacques Chirac, who was a communist, later became the "friend of Saddam Hussein". Under the presidency of Valery Giscard d'Estaing, he brought the nuclear power to Iraq. This could have be a strategy to acquire and exchange knowledge with URSS on a territory forbidden to the British and the United-States.
Saddam Hussein has raised his power on anti-Israelis, anti-Americanism and a strong leadership supported with the technologies from foreign countries, mostly France, Germany and URSS. Those countries gave the knowledge and the structure of the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein.
After 2003, the government of Saddam Hussein has fallen, but the business from French, German and Russian companies has fallen too. The French example shows that official intelligence services are undermined by the French old fashion Gaullist intelligence services (see this post), a network as large as Africa, Middle East and Russia managed by French big companies.
Most of the foreign fighters from the Caliphate Army are Chechens, Uzbeks and Algerians. Chechens are from Grozny, South of Russia. Algerians have strong French connections. Uzbeks are said to have been recruited in Russia (see this article).
The strategy of ISIS is very basic. Media and recruitment. Changing the name of ISIS to MOSI (Mamluk Organization of Syria and Iraq) would give a name to this organization that would explain to the people what all MOSI is about :
>>> Local Syrian people who think that they fight against Bashar Al-Assad,
>>> Local Iraqi people who fight to get back power,
>>> Foreign fighters who are enslaved,
>>> Savagery to rule the state,
>>> And all lies from a Caliph who take Muslim hostages.
The Caliphate Army is not made of 20.000 fighters. It is made of 4.000 foreign fighters who are the slaves of 16.000 military men under the command of few leaders who are the patrons. The model of this State is the Mamluk State, and the literature we know is the best way to stop it, from outside, as they do.
The war in Ukraine is a direct consequence of the war in the Middle East, and I believe that the war was not the good strategy because it empowered France and Russia on many ways, the good and the bad ones. This not have be a weakness yet for France and Russia, but it might become one later.
I believe that the courage to open a direct dialogue between the United-States and Russia would calm down many of the leaders of the Caliphate Army, what would have consequences on the all Caliphate Army, and bring the war on the negotiation table.
I don't believe in the power of ISIS and I believe that the peace would be easy to get. This is only a matter of "willing" and diplomacy. And I believe that this is a weapon that ISIS cannot fight.
