Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S)

July 19 , 2006

 
 


Shamil Basayev, leader of the Chechen separatists and responsible for the Beslan school massacre, was killed by the Russian security forces.His organization is identified with Al-Qaeda and the global jihad. Hamas identifies with and is inspired by Chechen separatist ideology.

 

Shamil Basayev killed by Russian security forces

 
  • On July 10, 2006, Nikolai Petroshov, head of Russia ’s federal security service, announced that Russian security forces had killed Shamil Basayev, the most wanted man in Russia . He was the leader of the Chechen underground, an extremist Islamic organization which has operated against the Russians since the 1990s.
  • In recent years Russian security forces have killed a series of Chechen separatists; Basayev’s death was the latest. He was killed in the Russian republic of Ingushetia , near Chechnya , in a joint operation of Russian security forces and special army units. A truck full of explosives was detonated near a convoy he was traveling in, after intelligence had been received that he had planned and was about to carry out a massive terrorist attack. Petroshov said that a number of other members of the Chechen underground were killed along with Basayev. Chechen sources confirmed the statement.1
  • Shamil Basayev2 was 41 at the time of his death. He was responsible for a number of serious terrorist attacks in Moscow (such as the takeover of the theatre in October 2002) and other locations in Russia , some carried out by suicide bombers, including women. The most deadly attack was the takeover of the school in Beslan on September 1, 2004, which ended in the deaths of more than 300 people, most of them school children held hostage.
  • Basayev’s organization identifies ideologically with Al-Qaeda. Basayev’s last credited statement was a expression of thanks to the Al-Qaeda branch in Iraq for having murdered the four Russian diplomats taken hostage the previous month.3
 

Hamas’s identification with the Chechen separatists

 
  • Hamas identifies ideologically with the Chechen separatists especially with their leaders, such as Khattab (See below, Paragraph D; caption) and Shamil Basayev and their use of terrorism. It does so because of it regards the Chechen separatists as belonging to the international Muslim struggle known as the global jihad, and acting in the spirit of the 1988 Hamas charter and the theories of Dr. ‘Abdallah ‘Azzam (the Palestinian who was Osama bin Laden’s ideologue and became a figure much admired by Hamas).4
  • Hamas’s ideological identification with the Chechen separatists is manifested in the brochures, posters and CDs confiscated by the IDF in recent years from the offices of Hamas’s civilian infrastructure ( da’wah ) in Judea and Samaria . The materials found expressed admiration and identification with the separatists and encouraged them to continue the global jihad (i.e., violence and terrorism). The materials were also posted on Hamas’s Website and distributed by Hamas operatives in Palestinian educational institutions, as part of fostering Hamas’s Islamic perception among the Palestinian younger generation, whom it indoctrinates with its radical Islamic ideas and identification with global jihad aspirations.
  • The following are examples of Hamas’s identification with the Chechen separatists in general and Shamil Basayev in particular:
 

A. Apublication entitled “ Chechnya : an excellent people and their hopes” found on September 27, 2005, in a Hamas “Islamic club” in Qalqilya .5
 


The front page of “ Chechnya : an excellent people and their hopes,” apparently printed in 2000. It is dedicated to Shamil Basayev and other Chechen separatists. Top right: Inset with Basayev, who lost a leg, in the center, flanked by two leading Chechen separatists.6 Under the picture are the words to a song popular with Global Jihad supporters which often appears on Hamas Websites: “Kill me, tear to pieces, drown me in my own blood / you will never live on my land, you will never fly through my skies.” It expresses the willingness of global jihad warriors to sacrifice themselves to get rid of anyone who is not a Muslim found on what they consider Muslim lands.

 

The back cover of “ Chechnya : an excellent people and their hopes.” The picture shows the Dome of the Rock above Chechen fighters, and between them the inscription, “From Al-Aqsa to Grozny [the capital of Chechnya ], darkness disperses and dawn rises.”

 

Translation of a section of the publication’s introduction:

 

“…We say to our brothers in Chechnya : follow the path of jihad, the path of glory, victory and success, take [the path of jihad] to wipe away humiliation and disgrace from the Arabs…”7
 


An article on page 7

 

On page 7 appeared an article signed by Dr. KhidhrSundak, who lectures on the Shari’a (Islamic religious law) Al-Najah University in Nablus , a Hamas activist who was arrested in the past by Israel and a Hamas candidate for the Palestinian Legislative Council in January 2006. The article justifies the Chechen insurrection against the Russians and regards it as an integral part of the global Islamic campaign against the infidels.

 

B. A Hamas poster widely disseminated in the Palestinian Authority:

 

A Hamas poster entitled “ Chechnya , Afghanistan , the Balkans, Kashmir, Palestine , Lebanon .” It was taken from a propaganda CD produced by Hamas and distributed, in our assessment, to institutions, primarily “educational” institutions, in the PA. The IDF found it in two places : the first, at Hebron University,8 a Hamas stronghold, at an exhibition which took place on February 28, 2004, as part of “Palestinian heritage week;” the second, in a computer in the offices of an orphanage belonging to the Islamic Charitable Society of Hebron on August 12, 2004.

 

C. A Hamas poster distributed in the Palestinian Authority (PA):

 

A Hamas poster found in a computer in the director’s office of an orphanage in Hebron operated by the Islamic Charitable Society of Hebron on August 12, 2004. On the left is a map of “greater Palestine ” as seen through Palestinian eyes. At the right is a picture of Salah Shahadeh, who headed Hamas’s terrorist-operative wing in the Gaza Strip until he died in a targeted killing . The inscription above his head reads, “Hamas: our actions speak for us.” At the bottom of the poster are the maps of Chechnya and Afghanistan .

 

D. A Hamas poster distributed in the PA:

 

A poster taken from a propaganda CD distributed at the American University in Jenin by Hamas’s student organization, November 2003. The inscription reads, “Head of the mujahadeen [jihad warriors] in Chechnya , the shaheed [a martyr for the sake of Allah] of Islam, the shaheed, commander Khattab [in large letters].” Khattab is the nom de guerre of one of the Chechen terrorist heads, a veteran of Afghanistan , originally Jordanian or Saudi Arabian, who was killed by the Russians in March 2002.

 

E. A CD called “The Russian hell,” Part 3

 


A CD found on February 28, 2004, at an exhibition during “Palestinian heritage week” at Hebron University .9 The CD contained taunts for Russian soldiers, including “Hell is waiting for you in the next world, the Chechens in this…” It also contained propaganda explaining the importance of jihad and claiming that those who died as jihad warriors went to paradise; condemnation of the cruelty of the Russian Army toward the Muslims in Chechnya and a description of the Chechen jihad warriors’ struggle.

 

F. Religious edicts and opinions appearing on the Hamas Website (www.palestine-info.net)

 

The Hamas Website has posted religious edicts (fatwas) and opinions issued by Muslim clerics (including Palestinians and Chechens) justifying suicide bombing attacks against Russians, comparing them to similar actions taken against Jews. Thus, for example, the Hamas Website posted a fatwa issued by Suleiman bin Nasser al-‘Alawan10 justifying jihad and suicide bombing attacks against the Jews in “ Palestine ” and the Russians in Chechnya .11 Or, for example, a sermon given by sheikh Hamid al-Bitawi, a Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and head of the Palestinian Religious Scholars Association, in which he called upon Muslims to continue the path of jihad against Israel , the United States , Russia and other régimes.12
 
1. See http://www.moscowtimes.ru/indexes/01.html.
2. It is almost certain he was named after Shamil, the most prominent leader of the Muslim Chechen rebels who fought against Tsarist Russia in the 19 th century.
3. See http://www.moscowtimes.ru/indexes/01.html
4. Despite Hamas’s ideological identification with the Chechen separatists, in February 2006 Hamas accepted Russian president Putin’s invitation and sent a delegation to Moscow in an attempt to break out of the political isolation from which it has suffered since it came into power and formed the government of the Palestinian Authority. That visit was criticized by the Chechen separatists who viewed it as a change in Hamas’s identification with them. For further information see our Information Bulletin entitled “Russian president invites Hamas to Moscow ,” at http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/hamas_moscow_e.pdf.
5. Qalqilya is a Palestinian city controlled by a Hamas mayor.
6. Pages 31-35 are devoted to an interview with Basayev in which he talked about himself and his war with Russia , which he called a war with Christianity. He admitted to being behind many terrorist attacks against Russia . He noted that many of his fighters served in Afghanistan and acquired military experience there but claimed he was not receiving money from bin Laden and did not even know him. He also said that many [Palestinian] traitors were trying to “sell” the land of Palestine to the Jews with support from the “evil” [western powers].
7. Chechens are Muslims but not Arabs.
8. Found among various hate propaganda materials confiscated by the IDF on March 4, 2004.
9. The CDs were confiscated by the IDF along with other propaganda materials on March 4, 2004.
10. Muslim cleric and the Mufti of Saudi Arabia, identified with Al-Qaeda.
11. http://www.palestine-info.info/arabic/fatawa/alamaliyat/solaymanallelwan.htm.
12. http://www.palestine-info.info/arabic/kotbah/2002/4_5_02.htm .

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