Daesh to hit back at West over airstrikes: Ex-member

A European member of the Daesh (ISIL) terror group says the militants will have their revenge for US-led strikes by targeting Western targets.

Harry Sarfo, who joined ISIL in Syria and appeared in a terrorist execution video, told The Independent that the so-called US-led coalition against Daesh will prompt the insurgents to launch more terror attacks in the West, the British daily reported Friday.

The ISIL terrorist, who once worked for Britain’s Royal Mail as a postman, made the comments in an exchange with the UK daily from a German prison where he awaits trial on terror charges.

Sarfo said the US-led strikes drive the militants to carry out further attacks in Europe.

“The bombing campaign gives them more recruits, more men and children who will be willing to give their lies because they’ve lost their families in the bombing,” said the former ISIL militant.

“For every bomb, there will be someone to bring terror to the West,” said Sarfo, adding, “They know the West is scared to put boots on the ground. Even if that happens one day, they’ve got plenty of men waiting for Western troops to arrive.”

He was arrested upon his return to Europe three months later and has now been indicted on charges including being a member of a foreign terrorist group and violating German weapons laws.

The German-born man, who grew up in the UK, was reportedly disillusioned with the scale of Daesh brutality and fled the terror group three months after joining them in April 2015. He was arrested upon his return to Europe three months later.

Since September 2014, the US along with some of its allies has been conducting air raids against what are said to be the Daesh terrorists inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate. The air assaults in Syria are an extension of the US-led aerial campaign against purported Daesh positions in Iraq, which started in August 2014.

The US-led strikes have on many occasions targeted infrastructures and left many civilians dead. 

Many parties to the coalition are widely accused of having contributed to the formation of terror groups in Syria over the past few years.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. According to a February report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injuring 1.9 million others, and displacing nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.

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