The Beatles (terrorist cell)

"The Beatles"
Allegiance	Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Role	Kidnappers Guards Torturers Killers
Size	4
Garrison/HQ	Syria
Nickname	The Beatles[1]
Colors	Black
Commanders
Ringleader	"George"[2]
Members	"Jihadi John" "Ringo" "Paul"

The Beatles, dubbed as such by their hostages because of their English accents, are an active Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorist group. Its members were nicknamed John, Paul, George, and Ringo by the hostages,^[3] after the four members of the British rock group the Beatles.

They are responsible for beheadings in Iraq and Syria, most notably as shown in the beheading videos of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, in 2014. The group have also kidnapped hostages, and guarded more than 20 Western hostages of ISIL in Western Ar-Raqqah, Syria. They are harsher than other ISIL guards, using electric shock Taser guns, mock executions (including a crucifixion), and waterboarding.

United Kingdom and United States anti-terror experts have ascertained the identities of three of the four Beatles, and the countries' intelligence and security agencies are tracking down the group.

Activities

The Beatles are reportedly a cell^[3] of 4 (though some sources have only referred to 3 of the members) of an estimated 500 British Muslims fighting on behalf of the extremist, jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant to impose a caliphate in Syria and Iraq.^{[4][5][6][2][7][8]} They have taken hostages; have guarded more than 20 Western hostages of ISIL in cramped cells in Western Ar-Raqqah, Syria; have beheaded four of the hostages; and have memorialized their acts in beheading videos that they made public.^{[9][10][11][12][13][14]}

The Beatles spoke to each other in English, and struggled with Arabic.^[2] They always kept their faces hidden.^[15]

Guarding, torturing, and seeking ransoms for hostages

The Beatles, who have been assigned responsibility to guard foreign hostages by ISIL commanders, are harsher than other ISIL guards.^[16][17] One source said: "Whenever the Beatles showed up, there was some kind of physical beating or torture."^[18] They are the most feared of the jihadists because of their taste for the macabre and their beatings, use of electric shock Taser guns, mock executions (including a crucifixion of Foley), and waterboarding, according to a freed French hostage.^[2][6][19]

Haines, for example, was severely tortured and subjected to electric shock Taser punishments by the Beatles, from the time of his March 2014 abduction.^[20] The group have also forced hostages to fight each other in boxing matches as the group watched, and then tortured the losers.^[21] Because of their excessive brutality, at one point they were removed from their guard duties by ISIL.^[2][8]

The Beatles were interested in obtaining ransoms for their hostages.^[8] A former hostage reported that the Beatles bragged that they had been paid millions of dollars in ransoms by certain European countries; enough to "retire to Kuwait or Qatar."^[22] The group contacted families of some UK hostages, and are believed to be maintaining links to their associates and friends in the UK.^[17] James Foley's mother, Diane Foley, said in an interview: "their requests were impossible for us, 100 million Euros, or all Muslim prisoners to be freed. The requests from the terrorists were totally directed towards the government, really. And yet we as an American family had to figure out how to answer them."^[23][24]

The Beatles cell held at least 23 foreign hostages, some of whom were killed or ransomed.^[14]

2014 beheadings

"Jihadi John" beheaded or participated in the beheadings of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as British humanitarian aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, and American aid worker Peter Kassig and 18 members of the Syrian armed forces in a period from August to November 2014.^[16][25][26] He had also previously beheaded two Syrian soldiers.

A former ISIS member said that using a British man to carry out the beheadings was likely a deliberate effort by ISIS to "project the image that a European, or a Western person, killed an American so that they can ... appeal to others outside Syria and make them feel that they belong to the same cause."^[27]

Peter Kassig

A video was posted by ISIS showing a beheaded Kassig on November 16, 2014.^[28]

Hostages

"Jihadi John" has claimed that there are more than 20 hostages remaining.^[29] Many hostage families have chosen not to reveal their relatives' names in order to avoid drawing attention to them and compromising their safety.^[30]

John Cantlie

Members

"Jihadi John"

The jihadist known as "John" was identified by The Washington Post, in February 2015, as Mohammed Emwazi, and appears in a video as Foley's killer. His identity was known to US and UK intelligence agencies in September 2014, but was not released for reasons of operational security.^[31]

"George"

George, the leader of the Beatles, often spent time repeating sections of the Koran and promoting the ISIS’s extremist views publicly.^[2][8][32] George uses the nom-de-guerre of "Abu Muhareb", which means "Fighter" in Arabic.^[8][32][33] It was the view of the hostages that George was not very intelligent.^[2]

"Ringo" and "Paul"

Ringo was frequently seen by the hostages.^[2] Paul appeared in the cells of the hostages less than the other Beatles, and appeared to be a guard only.^[2]

Reactions

The use of "Beatles" as a nickname for the group elicited a response from English musician Ringo Starr, who expressed his disgust at the use of his former band's name in this context, saying: "It’s bullshit. What they are doing out there is against everything The Beatles stood for," and adding that the Beatles had stood for peace and opposed violence.^[34][35]

British Prime Minister David Cameron said: "British people are sickened that a British citizen could be involved in murdering people – including a fellow British citizen who had gone to Syria to help people – in this way. It is the very opposite of what our peaceful, tolerant country stands for."^[36]

Manhunt

The British intelligence and security agencies MI5, MI6, Scotland Yard, and GCHQ are working on tracking down the group, in coordination with the CIA, FBI, and a Joint Terrorism Task Force of the United States.^[37] Sources reported that UK and US anti-terror experts have ascertained the identities of three of the four Beatles, and are tracking down the group.^[38]

A significant force of the British Special Air Service was deployed to Northern Iraq in late August 2014, and according to former MI6 chief Richard Barrett will be sent to Syria, tasked with trying to track down the Beatles using a range of high-tech equipment and with potentially freeing other hostages.^{[32][39][40][41]} As of September, British intelligence and security agencies including MI5 and Scotland Yard, aided by GCHQ communication monitoring, were working with the FBI and CIA, and field teams from MI6 and the CIA in Northern Syria, to identify and locate the group.^[42] British and US electronic eavesdropping agencies have targeted communications by the group.^[17] In October, British Prime Minister Cameron told the heads of MI5, MI6, and GCHQ that the manhunt was their top priority.^[37]

See also

• Beheading in Islamism

References