Exclusive: captured ISIS fighter tells of grisly murders

Hussein Ali Shaddad, 23, was captured by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Cizire province, in Syria’s ethnically Kurdish region known as Rojava. 

The interview below was conducted by Rudaw at the office of the YPG security agency in Derek, Syria.

Shaddad, who holds a degree in civil engineering, was recruited by ISIS in 2012. He says he has killed seven people using only his handgun. 

In this interview, he revealed that militants were using drugs before battles and they intended to extend the Islamic State all over the world. 

What is your name?

I am Hussein Ali Shaddad and I am 23 years old.

What position did you have within ISIS?

I was member of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) before. Then I joined ISIS. I worked with explosives. 

For the bombings?

Yes, both in Syria and Iraq.

Which wars did you take part in?

I participated in Cizam battles. I also went though training sessions in Anbar province of Iraq.

Did you graduate from university?

Yes, I have a BA.

Why did you decide to join ISIS?

I was studying. Then I was called for duty in the Syrian Army. I couldn’t leave the country so I joined the FSA for the salary. When ISIS came I had to join them.

What was you dream for the future?

I wanted to become an engineer.

Which one was better, becoming a militant or an engineer?

I didn’t know it would end up like this.

What do you mean?

They fooled us with the religious teachings and the promise of female angels in paradise.

At what point did you start the religious training?

From the basics of Islam.

What other training did you receive in the beginning?

We had training in religious affairs and got military training in the Anbar province. 

How were you convinced to take part in mass slaughter?

They taught us that fighting is a religious duty and that it was what the Prophet also did against the infidels. They said we should follow him.

What did they tell you about the Christians and the Kurds?

That the Christians were infidels and since Kurds were against the Islamic State      they were infidels too.

When were you captured?

I was captured two months ago when I was sent to a battle to lay land mines.

Do you understand that  you were wrong?

Yes, when I saw the way the militants acted I realized it was wrong. I say this with conviction. 

What will you do if you are released?

I will go back to my normal life.

Will you leave ISIS?

I don’t think they will accept us any more. They now think we work with other groups.

How is your relation with your relatives?

I have no contact with them since I joined the ISIS.

Why is that?

After I joined the group and was sent to Iraq I didn’t hear from them. ISIS taught us that one doesn’t have to ask permission to join the jihad. They instructed us what to do and what not to do.

Where there foreign fighters with you?

Yes, from around the world. We had people from Afghanistan, Chechnya, Libya, Iraq, Tunisia and many more.

What about the explosives?

I received the ready-to-use explosives and I just blew them up. 

How do they make explosives?

They buy the TNT [and other]explosives and make it.

Who taught them?

Militants from Chechnya and Afghanistan taught them. 

What did they tell you regarding killing people?

They said we should fight and if we were killed then we would end up in paradise with the angels. 

Did you believe in that?

Yes from the start. But now I regret it.

What about the Kurds?

I thought they were infidels but now I think I was taught wrongly.

How do you see the future of Syria?

Just destruction.

Have you ever seen Abu Bakir Baghdadai or his aides?

His envoys came often and met with our emirs. 

Like whom?

We followed our emir.

Who was that?

I can’t remember much of that.

How can that be?

We vowed allegiance to the emir and he did the same with the ISIS.

How many of there were you?

24 people.

Were you a religious person before?

Not very much, but I prayed and fasted.

Were you a radical?

Not much, no. 

Why did you join them then?

It was a job, I had a salary.

How were you convinced of what you were doing?

We had religious classes. They told us that the prophet did the same and we should do so too.

Do you think the prophet did what they said he did?

What can I say, they said that.

Why did you use drugs when fighting?

When we entered a battle we took pills that would change your perception of what was going on. You thought tanks were birds that you could annihilate with your sword.  

What kind of drugs were they?

There were pills like Zolan [a sedative for reducing anxiety and fear] which affected your perception. 

Were you taking them before the battles or during?

Just when we entered a fight so that the effect was maximum. 

When did you take more of them?

When we preparing for war. We took the pills with us. 

How were you kept in touch with the rest of the world? Did you receive newspapers?

We didn’t see any papers. We received the information we needed through walkie-talkies from our emirs. 

What about journalists?

We killed them if we captured them because they didn’t report correctly and harmed our image. 

What was banned?

Everything that was against Islam. Smoking, shaving beards, because religion forbids it. 

Did you kill people?

Yes, we did.

How? Who did it?

They said to be infidels. If they were too many, each of us killed one of them. 

Wasn’t it difficult?

It was alright.

Did you take part in mass slaughter?

I have killed seven people with my gun. But we had some who killed with a sword. Everybody had their way of doing it. 

What did you do before killing them?

We took a few pills so that we were numbed.

Where did you receive the pills?

Sometime they gave them to us and sometime we get hold of it ourselves.

Did you kill your fellow militants too?

Once we killed two fellow militants who didn’t want to fight. They were from Libya and wanted to return.

What were the reasons?

We wanted the Islamic State to reign all over the world and see god rule where people opposed the Islamic State. 

Killing them was justified?

No, but they were against the Islamic State and we wanted an Islamic State. 

Did you have a plan to have the Islamic State extended to Jewish lands too?

No, the plan was to establish the Islamic State and then expand it until it took over everywhere. 

You wanted to fight the entire world?

Anyone who would stand against the Islamic State.

You were with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) before. Why did you join the ISIS?

FSA was against the Syrian regime, but thing changed rapidly and we joined  ISIS.