Ras al-Ayn is a town in Hasakah province that was captured by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) from the Syrian Democratic Forces as part of the 'Peace Spring' operations launched east of the Euphrates last year. To learn more about the present situation in Ras al-Ayn I conducted an interview on 24-25 March 2020 with a military commander in the al-Hamza Division, one of the SNA formations present in the area. The interview is slightly edited and condensed for clarity. Any parenthetical insertions in square brackets are my own.

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Anah is a town in western Anbar that fell into the hands of the Islamic State in 2014 and was then retaken by Iraqi forces in 2017. The main tribes of Anah are:

- Dalah Ali
- al-Kahli
- al-Jubur
- al-Obaidi
- al-Mashahada
- al-Marasama
- al-Sada
- al-Mahamada
- al-Jumailat

Like other localities in Anbar, Anah has a local Hashd Sha'abi force that works with the Iraqi army. On 28 March 2020 I interviewed Ahmad Hani Muhammad Abd al-Hamid al-Marsumi, commander of the Hashd of Anah. Any parenthetical insertions in square brackets are my own.

Q: When was the Hashd of Anah formed? And in which area was it formed?

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The Islamic State's days of territorial control and governance in Iraq and Syria are long past, but that does not mean the group has ceased to use memories of those days for propaganda purposes. This week's issue of the al-Naba' newsletter features an example of that with the biography of one 'Abu Hassan al-Sudani', a British-Sudanese medic who joined the Islamic State in March 2015 along with a group of other British-Sudanese medics. Their case was publicized in the British media at the time. Abu Hassan al-Sudani was eventually killed in fighting in northern Iraq in 2017 during the campaign of Iraqi forces to liberate Mosul and Ninawa province from the Islamic State. This biography serves to confirm that he was indeed killed during that campaign.

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Previously on this blog I have documented the Islamic State's perspectives on the coronavirus pandemic expressed through its official al-Naba' newsletter. Here I will illustrate other jihadist perspectives (and any other Islamic State perspectives) through primary sources with translation. Hopefully this should serve as a useful resource.

Corona: destroyer of the oppressors and martyrdom for the believers

In the name of God and praise be to God and prayers and peace be upon the Messenger of God. As for what follows:

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The coronavirus pandemic has caught the world's attention and arguably dominates the news. In an exclusive guest post, Sheikh Abu al-Yaqdhan al-Masri (Muhammad Naji), who is an Egyptian cleric based in northwest Syria and was previously interviewed on this site, writes on the coronavirus, offering his analysis and advice regarding the pandemic. Note that this article was submitted in its final form for publication on 24 March 2020. Any parenthetical insertions in square brackets are my own. The reference citations are those of Sheikh Abu al-Yaqdhan al-Masri.

Coronavirus

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