– This is not the first border we want to destroy, we want to destroy all of them. Norwegian Bastian Vasquez stands on the border between Syria and Iraq. As the photographer follows, he raises the black IS flag. This is the start of the propaganda video “The End of Sykes-Picot”. The video was published on 29 June 2014. This was the same day that IS declared that it had established an Islamic state in Syria and Iraq. – I would say that it is one of the most important videos that IS has come up with, says senior researcher at FFI, Truls Tønnessen, to news. Senior researcher Truls Tønnessen is an expert on IS. Photo: FFI / Presse At this point, IS had just established control over relatively large areas in Syria and Iraq. The main character in the 15-minute long film is Bastian Vasquez, born and raised in Skien. Symbolic video In the video, the foreign fighter shows how IS has taken control of parts of the border between Iraq and Syria. He shows off prisoners of war and looks into the camera before an Iraqi police building is blown up. – There is no longer any limit. Done, Vasquez said before the building disappeared in a cloud of dust. The message in the propaganda is as follows: IS has removed a hated border between Syria and Iraq, created by European powers. – It was symbolic because IS removed the border posts between Iraq and Syria, and in their own eyes “reversed” what Sykes-Picot had done when they created the border. In the ideology of IS, it is central that there are no nation states, but only a religious state run by IS, says Tønnessen. What is the Sykes-Picot Agreement? An initially secret agreement made between France and Great Britain in 1916. Russia joined the agreement. The policy behind the agreement has had a major impact on subsequent developments in the Middle East. The modern state formations of Iraq, Lebanon and Syria came about as a result of the thinking behind the Sykes–Picot agreement. British politician Mark Syces and French diplomat François Georges-Picot led the negotiations. The agreement was about how to divide the Ottoman Empire after the First World War. France gained control over most of Syria, what became Lebanon and areas in present-day Iraq, Britain gained control over, among other things, Baghdad in Iraq, parts of Palestine and Jordan. The agreement was never implemented, but when the great powers divided the Ottoman Empire in 1920, the agreement was largely laid as a basis. France and Great Britain were not given direct control over the areas, but mandated to manage them. (Source: Store norske lexikon) – Norwegians in the back seat The video received a lot of international attention. Now news can say that the leading figure in the video, Bastian Vasquez, is said to have claimed that several other Norwegians were also in the propaganda film. These people were accused of terrorism while they were in Syria, and were some of the Norwegian foreign fighters the security services feared the most. At the end of the video, Vasquez jumps into a white police car, which IS has taken from the Iraqi border police. Two figures can be seen in the back seat of the car. One is said to be Kim André Ryding who traveled from Moss in the direction of Syria in March 2013. This picture Ryding posted on Facebook in June 2014, a couple of weeks before the propaganda video was published. Ryding is wearing a dark cap, similar to the cap the man in the back seat is wearing. It is more difficult to find a clear picture of the other Norwegian citizen who will be in the film. Unlike many other foreign fighters, the man has been discreet. He has not posted pictures of himself on open profiles. On the right side of the picture sits the man. It is claimed that he is the same one who in the Norwegian press has gone by the nickname “the pike fisherman”. The man, who has a background from Eritrea, came to Norway as an unaccompanied underage asylum seeker. Here he became interested in outdoor life. In 2012 he traveled to Syria. The information about the two unknown Norwegians thus originates from Bastian Vasquez, the leading figure in the video. He is said to have told other Norwegians that the two Norwegian foreign fighters were there, according to news’s information. The police’s security service is aware of the allegations, but cannot confirm or deny whether the Norwegians actually participated in the video, says senior adviser in PST, Eirik Veum to news. Vasquez was killed in 2015. Later, the other two Norwegians also died in Syria. Must have lived in the same city During the period the propaganda video was recorded, the three Norwegian foreign fighters must have lived in the same area. This came out in the trial against Vasquez’s widow, who was brought home to Norway in 2020. From January 2014 to September 2015, Bastian Vasquez lived in Shaddadi, north-east Syria. The Norwegian-Eritrean and his sister are said to have lived in the house next door. Kim André Ryding is said to have lived in a neighborhood close by. First Public Prosecutor Jan Glent heads the National Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is responsible for criminal proceedings against foreign fighters. Glent says that several Norwegians must have stayed in Shaddadi at the same time. This also applied to the man with an Eritrean background. – He was with Bastian Vasquez in 2013. He was probably with other foreign fighters from Norway as well, when he stayed in Shaddadi in 2014, says Glent. First Public Prosecutor Jan Glent heads the National Public Prosecutor’s Office. Photo: Christine Svendsen / news Both Ryding and the “pike fisherman” have been charged by the PST with participation in a terrorist organisation. The cases against them were dropped in 2020, says Glent. – Was the participation in the propaganda video part of the charge against these two? – No, it wasn’t. – Can you say anything more about the information that news has about the two of them being in the video? – I have heard that information before, but I cannot confirm anything more than that, replies Glent. Killed after many years in the caliphate The story and actions of the “pike fisherman” are brought up to date after the two sisters from Bærum returned to Norway. The women were picked up by the Norwegian authorities in March this year, after several years in detention camps in Syria. PST believes the eldest sister was married to the man. The charge against her is based on the fact that “by, among other things, being the spouse of an ISIL foreign fighter and doing housework, she contributed to the establishment and maintenance of ISIL”. The woman’s defender, Geir Lippestad, believes the woman was not to be considered married to the foreign fighter. The Norwegian-Eritrean was charged with participation in a terrorist organization in March 2017. He was also wanted internationally. The man must have had a kind of leadership role in the terrorist group before he died. The death occurred just before the terrorist group lost all its territories in Syria and Iraq. – We are absolutely certain that he was killed in Syria in the period from November 2018 to January 2019, says Glent to news. – How was he killed? – We assume that he was killed in some form of explosion. – Did you think that this man had any duties in IS apart from being a foot soldier? – There is some information that he may have had a certain leadership role, but that is not something I can say with certainty, replies the first state attorney. The sniper from Moss The other Norwegian who Vasquez is said to have said took part in the video is also probably dead. Kim André Ryding was charged with participation in a terrorist group in July 2016. A few months later, he is said to have been killed in Syria. The Norwegian authorities believe this photo of Ryding was taken in Syria. Photo: Nast – We are very sure that he was killed in the period from October to December 2016, in the form of an explosion, says Glent to news. In Syria, Ryding is said to have been a sniper for the terrorist group. He is said to have participated in IS’s incursion into Iraq in the first half of 2014. – It is said that he was part of a force of ISIL fighters who moved into Iraq and did the preparatory work for the conquest of Mosul in the summer of 2014, says Glent to news. The terrorist group captured the Iraqi city on 10 June 2014. IS obtained 2,300 armored vehicles that the Iraqis had received from the United States. Two days later, the Norwegian showed off the captured vehicles on Facebook. In 2014, IS took over large parts of northern Iraq. As the Iraqi defenses retreated, they abandoned ammunition, weapons and vehicles. Marked a “highlight” In the time that followed, IS became widely known for its brutality and boundless violence. In propaganda videos, Western hostages were beheaded, people were drowned and burned. Nevertheless, Tønessen believes that “The End of Sykes-Picot” represents something special in the group’s history. – There were other videos that could get more attention because they were brutal. But this video fit so well with the ideological message of IS and matched what they were actually doing on the ground. – It was released on the same day that the caliphate was declared. IS had been present at the border earlier and could have released the video earlier, but held back enough to mark this moment which was a high point in the history of the group, concludes the researcher. IS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi gives a speech at the Al Nuri Mosque in Mosul in the summer of 2014. In July of this year, he urged Muslims to come to the new state. Photo: Uncredited / Ap
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Claims several Norwegians participated in central terrorist video – Norway
