0.02 (Source: ISIS)
"In the name of Allah and supported by the Koran", chants the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. In a one-hour documentary ISIS explains their world.
0.15
It is a world of horror - one that they display brazenly.
0.23
The professional video starts in Fallujah - only 50 kilometers away from the gates of Baghdad. Here - where ten years ago America fought a bloody battle - masked men with black flags now dominate the streets.
0.41
When these fighters attack they don't take prisoners. This assault on an Iraqi military base is documented by their cameras, showing their atrocities in detail. The ISIS video grants anonymity to the offenders, but exhibits victims without mercy.
1.03
The ISIS offensive troubles this Iraqi family. They have lived in quiet Switzerland since 1996. Today, close relatives back in Iraq are in great danger.
1.13
SALAHADDIN AL BEATI (physicist): A relative of mine told me - I had asked him if he was still alive - he told me: Waiting for death is worse than death itself. And that's what they are doing now.
1.32 (Source: ISIS)
In a town of the Anbar province the ISIS calls former soldiers of the Iraqi army to a mosque. Non-Sunni men are barred. The common enemy is now the mainly Shia government in Baghdad. The men deliver confessions - they repeat what they are told to declare - while the camera is rolling.
1.52 O-Ton
UNKNOWN SUNNI MAN: I am innocent to Allah from the infidel deeds I used to do.
2.00
One by one the Sunni men approach the microphone. Afterwards, they receive a brotherly kiss.
2.09
Salahaddin Al Beati, exiled in Switzerland, is of Shia origin. His wife is Sunni, his mother Kurdish - a jeopardized coexistence in Iraq today.
2.20
IMAN AL SHARIFI (Shiite): We lived in Iraq for a long time. We never heard about who was Sunni or Shiite, who was married to whom, what's forbidden. Nothing.
SALAHADDIN AL BEATI (Sunni): They have forgotten the real religion. And now they are full of hate and revenge.
2.40 (Source: ISIS)
The ISIS documentary presents fighters from all over the world: from Chechnya, from the Gulf Region and from Europe. But old nations mean nothing for this ISIS speaker. His long-term objective is an Islamic Empire.
2.55 O-Ton
UNKNOWN JIHADIST: I swear by Allah, we will cleanse the Arabian Peninsula of you, you defiled ones. We will conquer Jerusalem, o Jews. We will conquer Rome, and Andalusia will be retained by the will of the noble god. Shout: Allah is the Greatest!
3.16
UNKNOWN JIHADIST: These are your passports, o tyrants all over the world. By Allah, we're but Muslims.
3.22
It's a recurrent ritual: the holy warriors destroy their passports. It's their way to enter a new world.
3.30
The short-term goal of ISIS is a caliphate - reaching today from Fallujah almost to Aleppo, the stronghold of Syrian rebels. But you won't find ISIS in Aleppo today.
3,43
Some weeks ago, our camera only recorded traces of ISIS. Black flags here and there. In recent months the Free Syrian Army has forced the black masked fighters out of town.
3.55
Anwar Mohamad has returned from exile in Turkey. This rebel media activist escaped from an ISIS prison six months ago. He wants to show us the place where he had been tortured: it is a former children's hospital. ISIS also offered him money to join them, but Anwar refused.
4.17
ANWAR MOHAMAD (Syrian rebel media activist): Soundbite in English - They said: we give you money. 1000 Dollar per month. And they offered me to work with them, too.
4.26
The scenery displayed in this ISIS document about Syria is totally different. In the town of Al Bab, north-east of Aleppo, you will find clean shops, according to their manifesto. Peace everywhere - no guards required. Their photographs show a lot of things, including gasoline - but rarely people.
4.48
In Aleppo rebels of the Free Syrian Army are frustrated. Rashwan al Shaheeb tells us that he also was tortured by ISIS. Previously he believed that the jihadists had joined them to support the insurgence against President Assad. Today he finds himself in a two-front war.
5.08 O-Ton
RASHWAN AL-SAHHEEB (fighter of Free Syrian Army): They accuse us of breaking with the faith. I have witnessed their violence in prison. They have kidnapped our revolution.
5.20 (Source: ISIS)
ISIS troops are well armed. Their video shows how an ISIS expert checks information in an online "wanted database".
5.33
Arabic subtitles proudly give the details.
5.38
This member of the local government is recorded in the jihadist search list. He will be shot on the spot.
5.48
Such activities are meticulously recorded in an ISIS annual report, 400 pages long. 7681 times ISIS attacked in 2013. From suicide bombs to sniper shots: everything is noted.
6.10
In the Washington based ‘Institute for the Study of War' a team led by Jessica Lewis analysed the ISIS report:
6.18
JESSICA LEWIS (Institute for the Study of War) - English soundbite: This reminds us of so much of an annual report a company would produce that perhaps ISIS is showcasing its performance to potential donors or existing donors. I think that's compelling. But because we also assess that ISIS is capable of drawing much of its resources from within Iraq and within Syria that it becomes a question whether ISIS is really targeting a broader foreign fighter audience to articulate a message of victory as a way of recruiting.
6.53 (Source: ISIS)
How strong is the local support ISIS gets in this discontented Sunni region? That's the big question of this conflict. The ISIS video shows a gathering of Sunni tribal leaders - somewhere in the province of Anbar. A senior ISIS member denounces elections and democracy.
7.13 O-Ton
UNKNOWN ISIS-LEADER: Now, brothers, what's called elections is a new plot in a dirty dress to return the Sunnis to the party and agenda of Al Malki.
7.27
The video does not reveal the face of this ISIS leader. Is he Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi? The mystery top man who is publicly visible in a few photographs only? The 43-year-old, who clashed with Bin Laden's heirs in Al Qaeda?
7.43
JESSICA LEWIS (Institute for the Study of War) - English soundbite: Al Baghdadi's vision of the way forward to bring about the caliphate someday differs significantly from Bin Laden's direct successor. I think he actually is the visionary for ISIS who is articulating a way forward to apply this military force in order to create an Islamic State that tears down the border between Iraq and Syria.
8.10
In her Swiss exile, Iman Al Sharifi worries about her family in Iraq. Many Iraqis living abroad now struggle to get news from relatives. But she manages to reach her brother Mahuri in an Iraqi barracks.
8.25
IMAN AL SHARIFI: How is the situation?
8.31
MAHURI: To be honest - they are not far away any longer. About 40 kilometers. It's okay where we are. But in Mossul and Tikrit it's terrible.
8.44
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Whether they will achieve their goals is uncertain. However, in their attempts, ISIS is set to bring chaos to the whole region.
Credits: 08:50 - 08:58
Report: Dölf Duttweiler, Kurt Pelda, Jürg Brandenberger
Editor: Oliver Wüst