HOMO JIHADICUS

after participating in combat for at least a year, or as a reward for significant
achievements on the battlefield 195 . The same is true in the case of sex slaves
(especially in IS) – non-Muslim women who were taken captive. They are distributed
amongst the militants as a reward for achievements, or simply sold.
Besides activities linked to securing a group’s logistic needs, post-Soviet Jihadists
are also engaged in basic administration on the territories they have seized
in Syria (in Iraq IS usually relies on the existing local arrangements). These are
not comprehensive measures and most often consist of controlling these areas,
including using brutal methods (terrorising the population, executions etc.).
At times in order to guarantee the population’s obedience, the inhabitants are
persuaded or forced to swear an oath of loyalty to group’s leaders (this tactic
is used by for example JMA in the proximity of Aleppo) 196 . On an ad hoc basis,
Jihadists from the former USSR also distribute humanitarian aid. The example
of Iraq, where Islamic State has been operating longer than in Syria, shows
that groups willing to maintain local administration prefer to make use of the
existing local arrangements and personnel (securing control over them and
enforcing their loyalty), rather than using foreign militants for this purpose 197 .
PRACE OSW REPORT OSW 09/2012 09/2015
195
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30573385
196
Based on: http://www.chechensinsyria.com/?p=21230 and http://www.chechensinsyria.
com/?p=22368
197
In the seized territories in Iraq, IS allows some of the Iraqi administration to continue functioning
– local, apolitical institutions, especially those dealing with strategic infrastructure,
such as waterworks, electric power plants etc. For more about ISIS’s, and later IS’s, administration
of the territories seized in Iraq in 2014 see: http://www.understandingwar.
org/sites/default/files/Defeating%20ISIS_0.pdf
64