ISIS call for al-Shabaab fighters to defect and join them in Somalia as Islamic State tries to expand in Africa

Tuesday January 12, 2016

English speaking ISIS fighter urges Somalis to leave al-Shabaab and join ISIS's new branch in Somalia

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Ten fighters are shown sitting under a small tree, located close to the ISIS-held city of Sirte in central Libya.

The English speaking fighter, known only as Saif al-deen al-Somaal, urges Somalis to join the small ISIS franchise in Somalia, mainly made up of rebellious al-Shabaab fighters.

'O mujahideen (jihadis) in Somalia, o mujahideen who give bayah (allegiance) to the caliphate. Congratulations. We love you for the sake of Allah.'

'We call upon you to be steadfast, to be firm, to always be strong and know that Allah is with you.

'To the mujahideens in al-Shabaab, we call upon you to put aside your pride and arrogance and your blind following of your leaders who lack wisdom,' he says.

He then threatens al-Shabaab fighters, asking them what they will say on the day of judgement when questioned by Allah.

'Fear Allah in dealing with the Muslims. Fear Allah for spilling the blood of the Muslims who have given Bayah (allegiance).

'Remember that fathers fought against the Crusaders. You are in the same ranks as the Crusaders, killing mujahideen who have given bayah.

'Fear Allah for spilling the blood of Muslims for it is the greatest injustice,' he claims.

A small group of al-Shabaab fighters released a propaganda video several months ago, declaring they had defected to ISIS.

The al-Qaeda affiliated group al-Shabaab reacted aggressively, hunting down the ISIS dissenters in a series of ambushes and attacks.

Despite ISIS's territorial gains in Iraq, Syria and parts of Afghanistan and Libya, it holds no real territory in Somalia.

It remains keen to expand in the Horn of Africa, looking to form a new franchise, made up of rebellious fighters formerly with al-Shabaab.

In Libya ISIS have held the Libyan city of Sirte since May 2015 and has been attempting to gain ground near the oilfields of Ajdabiya.

The jihadi group was pushed out of the eastern city of Dernah in mid June 2015 and has recently claimed to have captured the town of Bin Jawad, near Sirte.

However ISIS in Libya have started to come under pressure from other militias and there remains talk of coalition airstrikes coming in to clean out the jihadi group from Libya.

The Libyan National Army have claimed that fighter jets, reportedly belonging to France, carried out airstrikes on an ISIS convoy on Sunday near the Libyan city of Sirte.

It is not the first time ISIS have released propaganda videos showing African fighters calling for jihadis to turn their back on al-Shabaab and join ISIS.

The jihadi group have previously tried to encourage al-Shabaab fighters to turn against al-Qaeda and join ISIS with videos of Somali fighters in Syria and Iraq.

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