This interview with alleged ISIS fighters was broadcast last Nov. 1, but it’s one more thing that’s new to me.
Its significance is the claim of RT News (formerly Russia Today) to have exclusively interviewed ISIS fighters in the field, a remarkable accomplishment if true.
But a number of things in the interview should have raised alarm bells before the broadcast.
The supposed ISIS fighters, located in a Lebanese village near the Syrian border, say they are a “sleeper cell” in Lebanon, who will be activated when the time comes.
Why would members of a “sleeper cell” alert the Lebanese government to their existence by giving interviews? It doesn’t make sense. Advertising a sleeper cell defeats the purpose of having a sleeper cell.
Then, too, the interviewees either disagree with ISIS practice or don’t understand it.
The so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria beheads journalists, but the interviewees follow the mainstream Islamic teaching that journalists are messengers and so should be spared. ISIS murders Christians, Shiite Muslims and people of other faiths, but the interviewees say it is impractical to establish a Caliphate in Lebanon because it is a nation of many religions.
I think the young men who claim to speak for ISIS are intentionally deceiving the reporter, or they are ISIS sympathizers who don’t fully understand the ISIS ideology.
Another reason, besides RT News’ sponsorship by the Russian government, to take RT News broadcasts with a grain of salt.