Malhama Tactical Company - the world's first Islamic PMC
MalhamaTactical (Aleppo) strike group (c) Twitter @MalhamaT
The war in Syria was recently marked by a landmark event - the number of days of hostilities exceeded the duration of the Second World War. This civil war, which has now become a mini-world war, involved tens of thousands of fighters from more than 30 countries and regular armies of six states.
It is normal that such wars give rise to real monsters, but for some time their logic tends to balance the opposing forces and “level off” their tactics and methods of warfare.
This explains the recent appearance of the first private military company (PMC) in the Islamic world, which is symbolically called Malhama Tactical.
In Arabic, malhama means a bloody battle or a face-to-face battle. But the reason why PMCs took this particular name may be related to the place where it was created - in the north of Syria, near the village of Dabik. This small village, which does not mean anything strategically, is a symbol of the apocalypse for Muslims. In the context of the war in the Middle East, it also has a theological and mystical significance. Theological in the sense that from the point of view of the teaching of the afterlife in Islam, Malhama is the last battle between Muslims and Romaeans, who are Christians from Byzantium (for some they are Russians, for others it’s Americans), which will eventually overthrow the world.
In the Hadith (a legend about the words and actions of the Prophet Muhammad), in the version set forth by Abu Muslim, these events are described in even greater detail: “The last hour will not come until the Byzantines attack Dabik. The army of Muslims will be assembled from the best warriors on earth and sent from Medina for their counterattack. When the two armies come together, the Byzantines will cry out: "Let us fight with those like us who converted to Islam." And Muslims will answer: "In the name of Allah, we will never abandon our brothers." Then the Malhama battle will continue. One-third admit defeat. Allah will never forgive them. One third will die. They will be the best martyrs in the eyes of Allah. And one third will win. They will never again be put to the test, and they will seize Constantinople. ”
Given this name, how can you determine that this is not just an armed Islamist group, of which there are more than 50 in the region, but a real PMC?
The answer is simple - it has a specific location where training is being conducted and support is provided for any group of Islamists. Moreover, on the social network Twitter, PMC invites qualified instructors, promising a good salary, one day off per week, a stable and interesting job. The requirements for future candidates are that they must be Muslims, have experience as instructors, and also know the tactics of modern warfare.
This PMC is very active on social networks (Vkontakte, Twitter, Youtube), and basically the company publishes content in Russian. The head of the group calls himself Abu Rofik, he is most likely Uzbek by nationality, and, in his own words, he served in the Russian Airborne Forces. His six assistants also speak Russian, and most likely they are also Uzbeks, although at least one person looks like a native of the Caucasus.
Screenshot of Steyr AUG automatic rifle video review from Malhama Tactical (c) YouTube
This group, which was an organic part of the Jabhat Ahrar Asham group (formerly Front Nusra), was created in 2016 in Northern Aleppo and actively participated in the preparation and training of militants from various factions of the Jabhat Ahrar Asham and other groups, participated in the battle for Aleppo.
They were directly involved in the planning and capture of 6 August 2016, the artillery base in Ramushesh and the Artillery Academy, which were located in the south of Aleppo. This attack allowed the Islamists to break through the blockade of the city and connect with reinforcements marching from the south.
Malhama Tactical also slightly participated in the training of militants of the Islamic Party of Turkestan in Latakia at the beginning of 2016, as well as in Aleppo, most likely in April-May of 2016.
Only after the capture of Aleppo by the Syrian government army did this group declare its desire to be reformatted into PMCs, offering its services to other groups of the same kind, both in training militants and as an elite combat unit for operations in the Middle East and Africa. Abu Rofiq gave an interview to the journalist of the ForeignPolicy, in which he said that the company did not forget about the Muslims in Myanmar and Xinjiang, as well as that it would be possible to return to Russia to conduct jihad in it.
Before this, the group demonstrated its capabilities as instructors by organizing a series of video trainings intended for improvised or beginner groupings. These videos were adapted to the conditions of the Syrian conflict, and they allowed to apply the skills they saw in open space or in enclosed spaces. The group created a target complex, and its fighters showed how to storm a building or a fortified position. In a series of training programs, it was demonstrated how to reduce losses by providing first aid using modern means, primarily individual dressing bags of western production, used by both orderly nurses and individually by fighters. In other educational films it was shown how to use the most popular on the battlefield. weapon - Steyr AUG, M16, M4 automatic rifles, while not questioning the traditional weapons in the region - AKM machine gun. Also from the clips you can learn how to make weapons from abandoned ammunition, for example, to convert an VOG-17 grenade automatic grenade into a hand grenade.
"Our team successfully continues its work towards the training of rebels, large and small groups" (c) vk.com
In this case, the level of training offered by Malhama Tactical allows militant groups to get out of the usual war of attrition, which is very popular among Islamists because of their numbers and which involves fighting until ammunition runs out and then dies. Among the dozens of videos that Malhama Tactical has publicly demonstrated, not one has suicide training personnel or the development of a kamikaze attack, they are all based on tactical superiority and the ability to survive on the battlefield through teamwork and coordination of their actions. It can also serve as evidence of a decrease in the influx of foreign fighters and the increasing reluctance of the local population to join the fighters.
It seems that the Russian military is aware of the activities of this group, which was monitored by intercepting radio communications and signals from GSM devices of members of Malhama Tactical. As a result of February 7 2017, the head of the Abu Rofic group was subjected to an air strike in Idlib. It seems that he accidentally managed to survive, since he left his refuge some time before the attack. His wife and child died in an air strike.
Today it is difficult to say whether the economic model of Islamic PMCs will be able to prove its viability, but as the conflict moves to a less active and longer phase, the need for groups offering instructor services will only increase.
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