One of the most noted contrasts between assessing the Islamic State today and the group at the height of its success in Iraq and Syria in 2014-2015 is that the Islamic State has become much more of a global phenomenon, and wherever the Islamic State's name and banner turn up in some part of the world, suddenly much more global interest arises in the developments in that area. The Islamic State insurgency in Mozambique is a prime example of this matter. This week's editorial in the Islamic State's al-Naba' newsletter discusses the insurgency in Mozambique and the failure of the Mozambican army to defeat it, as well as current and possible future external interventions by various parties, which the editorial compares with the long-term problems and quagmires in the West Africa region (another hotspot of jihadist insurgency involving the Islamic State).
Below is the editorial translated in full. Any parenthetical insertions in square brackets are my own.
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The Crusaders risk their investments in Mozambique!
Whoso follows the coverage of the different media of the news of the battles of the soldiers of the Caliphate against the Crusader Mozambican army, finds that the focus is almost confined to the importance of the sites of these battles near the huge gas fields in which the Crusader oil companies have invested billions of dollars. And what is besides that is unimportant for the disbelieving states or their media.
For this area that was and still is under the influence of the Crusader state of Portugal that left it half a century ago, and today it is ruled by a tyrannical gang from the atheists of Communism. there is nothing in it that interests the Crusaders besides its huge reserves of different natural resources and in which American, French and South African companies jointly invest. And Russian and Chinese companies are ambitious to find for themselves a foothold in them as well.
And over the centuries, the Crusaders and the Communist atheists have inflicted the evil of torture on the Muslims in that abode, and have compelled a great portion to abandon their religion, and that criminality did not come to an end even after the end of Portuguese rule and the Communist gang's seizure of rule, and as is the case of the Muslims in every place, the crimes of the disbelievers in Mozambique against them have been forgotten, until a contingent of the mujahideen in it announced their joining the group of the Muslims, and raised the banner of the Islamic State in that region, and the world saw the joy of the people there as the mujahideen inflicted damage on the enemies of Islam.
Only then did the Crusaders notice that the continuation of the crimes of the Communist government against the Muslims opened the door before the revenge of the soldiers of the Caliphate against the Crusader Mozambique army and whoso has supported it from the disbelievers and apostates.
And this is especially so as it is of the policy of this cowardly army that after it receives a damaging defeat at the hands of the soldiers of the Caliphate, it increases its hostility against the peoples in the area in which it is defeated, hoping in that to recover a claimed prestige it tries to impose on the oppressed through tyranny and terror. This is something that leads for its part to the outcome that more of the Muslims join the soldiers of the Islamic State, while these disbelieving states strive to ensure that the war with the soldiers of the Caliphate remains inside the borders of Mozambique only, especially as the areas of their deployment and operations lie near the borders of Tanzania.
And after the failure of this exhausted army in realising its promises to the Americans and French regarding victory over the soldiers of the Caliphate and its suffering heavy losses in that war, it took the initiative of resorting to the help of the mercenaries of the Crusader Russian intelligence apparatus who operate under the cover of the 'Wagner' group, against whom the soldiers of the Caliphate have also inflicted losses and whom they have forced to get their name out from the battle in which the size of their heavy losses was exposed. So the disbelieving Mozambican government has moved to seeking the support and aid from the neighbouring and distant Crusader states.
And before the Crusader states in Europe and America decide to send their forces there and make that area a new field for the war on the Islamic State, and what pertains to that from difficulties similar to what they face in their endless war in West Africa, they are trying today to get the 'South Africa' government and its army involved in leading the war there, because of its proximity and its strong relations with the Mozambique government, but 'South Africa' has enough internal problems to push it towards getting involved in this war that will place it in a great financial, security and military predicament, and may result in prompting [/causing a hastening of] the soldiers of the Islamic State to open a fighting front inside its borders!- by the permission of God Almighty.
And the support of the alliance of the 'South African states' for the Mozambican army has not been on the level it wishes, as it has been limited until now to a small number of soldiers who are trained and supplied with a small quantity of weapons, and that is because some of these states are suffering at the outset from internal conflicts or have become involved in the Somalia war that has exhausted them for a long time, or they fear long-term involvement in this field of fighting, just as the other African armies before them have become involved in the war against the Islamic State as is the case in Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso and the Congo, and the probability of the armies of Mauritania, Algeria and Ivory Coast in them as well. This is something that constitutes a terrifying picture for any army thinking of drowning itself in a long war in Mozambique.
And the result of all that is that the Crusaders are at a loss, for they fear that their great intervention in this war will lead to the outcome that more of the Muslims in Mozambique and its environs will join the soldiers of the Caliphate, especially as the hostility to Islam and its people in all the states of the region is great and old, just as they fear that that will lead to the spread of the blazing fire of jihad that has begun to threaten to burn idolatry and the idolaters in this region that is important for them, because of what is in it from resources and opportunities.
And if the Crusaders reckon that they in their support for the disbelieving government in Mozambique will protect their investments and guarantee the continuation of their plunder of the resources of the region, they are delusional, as it won't be too long before things become consolidated in favour of the soldiers of the Caliphate- by God's permission- sooner or later, for they are in a state of advance and victory while their enemy is in retreat and being routed, by the grace of God Almighty. And indeed the continuation of the Crusaders in mobilising the forces against the Islamic State in addition to their direct intervention in the war there, as some of them are calling for, will only lead to what they do not wish for! And indeed God will support the one who supports Him. Indeed God is powerful and mighty.