Confiscated ISIS documents provide glimpse into terror group's inner workings

The Daily Beast claims that it exclusively obtained the official ISIS-stamped files that provide examples of inner-turmoil afflicting various ranks of Islamic State's expansive operations.

Islamic State holds a parade in Raqqa in June, 2014 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Islamic State holds a parade in Raqqa in June, 2014
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A packet of alleged Islamic State documents confiscated by rebel forces in Syria appear to shed light on the internal operations of the terrorist group, the US news outlet Daily Beast reported Tuesday.
While the extremist organization known as ISIS has been ravaging swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq in its quest to establish a medieval caliphate throughout the Middle East, the documents appear to further show instances of failures in the group's messianic pursuits.
As ISIS has recently suffered losses on the ground and among troops, the reportedly seized documents provide examples of operational misdoings, financial grievances by jihadi fighters, infiltrations by double agents and bureaucratic hurdles that the group's leadership has faced.
The Daily Beast claims that it exclusively obtained the official ISIS-stamped files that provide insight into the inner-turmoil afflicting various ranks of the terrorist group's expansive operations.
According to the report, one unsigned letter dated "Sha’ban 3, 1437" (May 10, 2016) and addressed to the head of ISIS's Damascus province reveals an account of an ISIS emir with dual loyalties who sabotaged an operation against Syrian rebels.
In the failed operation against the rebel Ahmad Abdo Brigade (referred to as sahawat) double agent Abu Hudhaifa al-Ghoutani, “gathered all the [ISIS] military leaders inside the area for the pretext of the military and security work against the sahawat, while at the same time he was coordinating secretly with the sahawat in order to assassinate all leaders with mines/explosive devices that he was placing in the meeting place.”
The Daily Beast reported that it obtained the files from Maher al-Hamdan, a spokesman for the Syrian rebel group Ahmad Abdo Brigade, who charged that the documents were retrieved from the corpse of a slain ISIS commander near the Jordan-Syria border in June.
The quandaries in the documents reportedly marked with dates throughout the past year seem to reflect the revelations of prior ISIS defectors and previous reports of financial troubles burdening the gruesome terrorists.
While the organization-wide scope of the problems listed in the leaked documents is not known, the accounts do arouse more questions on the longevity of the infamous terrorist group.