Exclusive
ISIS launched an appeal requesting civilians in the city of Raqqa to join its ranks in the battles waged by the organization, ISIS announced also that the joining to its ranks became available for all, without the procedures and complexities that existed in the past. Currently any person can attend the recruitment offices of the organization just to register his name and personal data, before being supplied with weapons and sent to battlefronts.
This speech came on the lips of preachers of mosques who speak on behalf of the organization and deliver its messages which aims to mobilize people and push them to take up arms and Jihad. Meanwhile a lot of foreign fighters who residing inside Raqqa refuse to join this jihad, where they prefer to stay in the city and enjoy life well-off, leaving the sons of the city to face death. These new facilities are considered an exception for the organization, where people who wanted to join ISIS ranks, were demanded in the past to attend and register their names at recruitment centers, as well as to escort one of ISIS members in order to recommend him to the organization, so they will study the situation of new recruit for a month or more. In case of acceptance, these recruits will be sent to the training camps that prepare them physically and psychologically.
ISIS did not accept the person as soon as he applies for membership, but he must pass a security check and many other procedures before joining the ranks of the organization. This change comes in light of the significant shortage of the human element to the organization, which significantly exhausted during the battles in Ain Arabs (Kubani) and battles of Tell Abiad and north Raqqa, forcing the organization to involve thousands of citizens of the city in these battles, where inevitable death was their destiny.
In a related context, it seems that the organization as a result of shortfall and the need to secure new fighters, began forcing civil servants to carry weapons and join fighting fronts, although they were appointed earlier to work within an administrative functions. It is notable that most of these employees have been killed through fighting, because they do not have enough combat experience and did not undergo the training camps which were usually conducted by the organization for its fighters, prompting the organization later to request the appointment of new administrative staff to make up the shortfall in the administrative section.
It is worth mentioning that the media office of the organization had made unremitting efforts in the past for the recruitment of children into fighting in Ain Arab (Kubani), where dozens of those children have been recruited and involved in suicide bombings. It seems that the organization now resort to the same policy through setting up large screens displaying their victories in public squares, aiming to raise the morale of fighters and supporters, particularly children who significantly affected by this propaganda, which ISIS knows how to manage it in a high professional way.
It seems that ISIS put these new facilities related to enroll and join its ranks in order to throw more sons of Raqqa in the midst of failed battles waged by the organization, ISIS aims to compensate the shortage of trained fighters who a large number of them were killed in previous battles, and to keep the rest of foreign fighters who are considered the striking force and solid nucleus of the army of the Caliphate.
