A Militant Honeymoon? ISIS Takes on Tourism

The infamous ISIS are diversifying what their self-proclaimed Caliphate has to offer, having recently expanded into tourism, taking militants on honeymoons and civilians on family trips to other parts of the region they want to claim as their own.

AFP has reported that there are two weekly tour buses that travel back and forth between Raqa in Syria and Anbar in Iraq, flying their notorious black flags, and blasting militant music, to really get newly-weds in the mood. One of the first to take an ISIS sponsored honeymoon was Chechen militant Abu Abdel Rahman al-Shishani who took his Syrian bride to Iraq to seal the deal. However, activist Hani Salameh (a pseudonym he uses, lest ISIS find him) told AFP that it was hardly a great start to the marriage as “women sit in the back, and men at the front. The bus driver plays militant songs all through the ride, and the ISIS black flag flies over the bus.”

A Syrian rebel fighter, known simply as Abu Quteba, added that “most of [those who use the busses] are foreigners. They communicate in English, and wear the Afghan-style clothing preferred by militants.”