For the IS, Russia is an enemy that destroyed its plans in Syria

Subject: IR

Section: Places in news

Context:

In recent years, the IS has released several propaganda videos, saying Russians had ‘the blood of Muslims on their hands’ in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Syria.

More on news:

The group uses these videos to radicalize and recruit youth in Central Asian countries.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Russia witnessed a series of terror attacks, mostly by Chechen militants.
In recent years the IS-K has emerged as the most powerful branch of the IS networks.

Russia’s role:

One of the early promises of Vladimir Putin, who rose to power in the late 1990s, was that he would crush the terrorists and restore order.
For many Russians, the Crocus City Hall shooting of March 22 in the outskirts of Moscow, in which at least 137 people were killed, brought back memories of the period of terror.
But today, it’s facing a new jihadist threat — the Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the Concert Hall attack.

Syrian intervention:

The IS sees Russia as a key enemy because the Russian intervention in Syria in 2015 was one of the pivotal factors that turned the Syrian civil war in favor of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
In 2017, when the IS seized the Syrian city of Palmyra, Russia’s Wagner, along with Syrian troops, liberated the city.
The IS was founded in the midst of the Syrian civil war in 2014, and one of the early cities it captured was Raaqa in eastern Syria.
It wanted to topple President Assad and capture Damascus, the seat of power of the Umayyad Caliphate.
Today, Russia also supports regimes in West Africa such as Mali, which are fighting different jihadist groups.

About Syria:

Syria is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant.
It is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east and southeast, Jordan to the south, and Israel and Lebanon to the southwest.
Cyprus lies to the west across the Mediterranean Sea.
It is a unitary republic that consists of 14 governorates (subdivisions).
A country of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts, Syria is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including the majority Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, Assyrians, Circassians, Armenians, Albanians, Greeks, and Chechens.
Religious groups include Muslims, Christians, Alawites, Druze, and Yazidis.
The capital and largest city is Damascus, followed by Aleppo, Homs, Latakia, Hama, Deirezor, and Raqqa.
Arabs are the largest ethnic group, and Sunni Muslims are the largest religious group.
Syria is now the only country that is governed by Baathists, who advocate Arab socialism and Arab nationalism.