In a previous issue of its al-Naba' newsletter, the Islamic State (IS) boasted about its operations that set fire to agricultural lands belonging to its 'apostate' enemies in Iraq and Syria. An article in this week's issue of the newsletter discusses the same topic, listing additional claims of arson attacks against farms in both countries.
The group partly frames the arson attacks as revenge against the 'Crusader coalition' and its 'apostate' allies for the destruction and burning they inflicted on towns that were held by the Islamic State. The article concludes though by affirming that the attacks will not stop until the Islamic State enemies' 'evil' and 'idolatry' come to an end (i.e. until they are totally defeated).
The article emphasizes that the group does not intentionally target the lands of Muslims as its enemies claim, but rather the holdings of apostates, as illustrated in the precision of naming the groups and individuals who own the lands targeted for burning. In addition, the article boasts of using IEDs against the Islamic State's enemies as they strive to put out the fires.
In my view, these Islamic State claims of arson attacks on farms are credible and need to be taken seriously, even if not every fire on farmlands in Iraq and Syria this season can necessarily be attributed to the group.
Below is the article translated in full. Any parenthetical insertions in square brackets are my own.
They have burned the lands of the apostates and refrained from the properties of the Muslims
In details: the soldiers of the Caliphate count the yield of their harvest for the second week running in Iraq and al-Sham
The apostates and their helpers delighted in the disappearance of the portion of lands that were controlled by the Islamic State through the strikes of the global Crusader coalition that continued for more than 5 years, during which the Crusaders committed the most barbaric massacres against the Muslims and their children and women. They also showed no regard for the wholesale destruction of towns and the burning of them. And they forgot or pretended to forget that the day would come in which the Islamic State would take revenge for the Muslims and would give double the payback, whether upon the Crusaders or their apostate followers.
And today by the grace of God Almighty the attacks of the mujahideen have begun to intensify and increase and vary, from striking the checkpoints of the apostates and targeting their bases to blowing up IEDs on their vehicles, taking them prisoner and assassinating them inside their homes and in their evening chat sessions, and targeting their convoys and the Crusader forces in martyrdom operations. And last but not least, there is the burning of their farms and properties. And by the grace of God the door of jihad remains wide open before the mujahideen to realize damage upon and chasing away of the Crusaders and apostates, and inflicting losses upon their wealth and properties.
The mujahideen are not targeting the Muslims
And the apostates know as others do that the Islamic State only targets- whether in killing or inflicting harm- the one who has apostasised or rallied around one of the banners of apostasy and has fought the mujahideen, or has helped the Crusaders against them, because it does not intentionally target the lives and properties of the Muslims.
And what the Islamic State's media publish regarding details of the operations that the mujahideen carry out, and the precision in mentioning the names of those targeted whether in killing, imprisonment or inflicting harm or burning, is merely evidence of that.
On the contrary, the media of the Crusader states and apostate governments and intelligence foundations- covered under names of research and culture- and their fifth column composed of hundreds of thousands of accounts spread about on social media sites, strive night and day and on every moment and occasion to charge the soldiers of the Caliphate with multiple accusations of which they are innocent. All who have lived in the shade of the Caliphate over the past five years or have followed its visual or written media or words of its mashaykh know that.
Wilayat al-Iraq's share of the harvest
And in this framework and by the grace of God Almighty, the soldiers of the Caliphate set alight on Friday 19 Ramadan a number of farms of members of the apostate tribal Hashd in the Khudaira area in Jazirat al-Shirqat in Dijlah. And in Dijlah also they burnt more than 50 dunams of agricultural crops belonging to the apostate Hashd near the villages of al-Ba'iran affiliated with the al-Hadhr district, and praise be to God.
And in Haditha the soldiers of the Caliphate set alight the farm of the one called Mandul al-Jughaifi the official of the Jughaifis' apostate Sahwat Hashd on Thursday 18 Ramadan.
Meanwhile they set slight on Sunday 21 Ramadan more than 12,000 dunams of agricultural crops of the tribal Hashd near Talul Dhiyab and the village of al-Tariqiya in the al-Abbasi district in Kirkuk.
And rigging with explosives in addition!
And the soldiers of the Caliphate had rigged with explosives a number of the roads leading to those lands and targeted the apostates during their haste to put out the fire that burned in their lands, leading to killing and wounding of a number of them, in addition to destroying a number of their vehicles.
And in the al-Radwaniya area in the south, the mujahideen set alight on Thursday 18 Ramadan the farm of one of the members of the apostate National Security called Shaker al-Kirkaz.
In addition, the soldiers of the Caliphate burned on Tuesday 16 Ramadan agricultural crops and exploded an electrical pylon and electrical generator belonging to members of the apostate tribal Hashd in the village of Ain Layla belonging to the Dalli Abbas district. They also blew up an IED on a tractor as it came to put out the fire that broke out on their farms, leading to its destruction, and praise be to God.
And in Diyala and by the grace of God Almighty, the soldiers of the Caliphate burned on Friday 19 Ramadan the house of the apostate Nouri Shadhan along with his garden and agricultural equipment belonging to him in the village of al-Makhisa in the area of al-Waqf.
In addition they burned agricultural crops belonging to the apostate called Ghassan al-Marwah the commander of a regiment with the rank of lieutenant colonel in the village of al-Tahwila in the al-Khalis district north Diyala.
And for al-Sham is a portion
And the mujahideen burned on Thursday 18 Ramadan agricultural crops of wheat belonging to the apostate Iyada al-Hajj Ali, official of the southern civilian council in al-Hasakah, in an area near Jabal Kawkab.
In addition they set fire on Friday 19 Ramadan to agricultural crops of wheat belonging to one of the PKK apostates called Ahmad al-Mashhadani and he is one of the members of the group of the apostate Abu Daham in the locality of Markada.
And on the same day the soldiers of the Caliphate in al-Sham set fire to dozens of dunams of barley belonging to a member of the apostate PKK called Ahad al-Faruq al-Mashhadani in the village of al-Zarqa located in Tel al-Basha'ir in al-Hasakah.
And God facilitated for the mujahideen on Sunday 21 Ramadan to burn 5000 dunams of wheat belonging to some of the apostates from those loyal to the PKK in the villages of Zin al-Mabraj and Ama Madfa' west of the town of al-Shaddadi. They killed some of the mujahideen and defiled their corpses.
In addition they [the mujahideen] burned on Tuesday 23 Ramadan agricultural crops of one of the members of the PKK in the village of al-Dardara belonging to the Tel Hameed area.
And by the grace of God Almighty on Wednesday 24 Ramadan dozens of hectares belonging to the apostate Fawaz al-Afnas near Jabal Kawkab east of the city of al-Hasakah were burned. He is one of the members of the reconciliation committee.
And the harvest season continues to grow day after day at the expense of the lives and properties of the apostates in Iraq and al-Sham. And it will not stop until their evil stops and their idolatry comes to an end by the permission of God.