As ISIS militants, also known as Islamic State and ISIL, continue in their conquest of Syria the group is now reportedly setting its sights on the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin.
The militant group has enjoyed considerable military success in the middle east recently, and most recently, captured the last Syrian military base in the north of the country. It then recorded a special video message from an aircraft hangar at the base for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and his ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Tabqa airbase was taken by ISIS following fierce fighting which saw hundreds of ISIS and Assad soldiers killed. After over-running the base, ISIS fighters made a video showing the mass execution of some 250 soldiers who they marched naked through the desert before being put to death and buried in a mass grave.
In the video, released online on August 31, the ISIS militants addressed Assad directly, while sitting on a captured Russian jet:
“You’d better watch out Bashar – we’re coming for you in planes!. We’ll be coming for you from the skies, with these planes, Allah willing. Brace yourself for what’s coming, you pig.”
Obviously ISIS must really dislike president Assad asit even reverted to petty name calling in the video clip.
ISIS also doesn’t seem to like Russian president Vladamir Putin very much as they turned their attention to him, saying:
“Vladimir Putin, these are the Russian planes that you sent to Bashar. Allah willing, we will take them back to your own turf, and liberate Chechnya and the Caucasus, Allah willing… Your throne is being threatened by us.”
The good news for Assad and Putin is that the planes that ISIS captured have seen better days as they are old and possibly not even operational.
In any event, Tabqa is a big loss for the Syrian army, not just in terms of territory, but also in terms of morale and manpower.The base was key to Assad’s ability to provide much-needed air support to his thinly-stretched forces in the north of the country.