Syria jihad mission teenager shot dead
Manama, May 20, 2014
A teenager has become the fourth known Bahraini to have been killed fighting against government forces in Syria.
Ali Yousif Al Binali, 19, from Busaiteen, was reportedly fighting alongside rebel forces against Syrian President Bashar Al Assad when he was shot, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.
Photographs of Al Binali, also known as Abu Hamza, holding AK47s in Syria were circulated online yesterday, but no further information was available.
His death was announced by a Bahraini man, who allegedly masterminded the recruitment of young Bahrainis to fight as jihadists, according to Lebanese daily newspaper Al Akhbar.
It comes a day after MP Abdulhaleem Murad warned of a surge of Bahrainis taking up arms in war-torn countries, mainly Syria.
Murad demanded a crackdown on terror groups in Bahrain that "brainwash" young men to join "jihad missions".
"I have learned that this boy had told his parents that he is going on a picnic and went to Syria, which is wrong," he told the GDN yesterday.
"It is a lie and against Islam.
"Most of these youngsters are lonely and often hooked on social media, where they fall into such traps.
"Only serious and strong punishments will help curb this dangerous move.
"It is important that we take stern action against those masterminds."
Ibrahim Mohideen Khan, 20, died fighting against Al Assad's forces in September last year, while Abdulrahman Hassan Al Hamad was ambushed by government forces and was buried in Syria on May 27 last year. Seventeen-year-old Abdulaziz Al Othman, from Arad, was killed in 2012.
The GDN yesterday reported on a YouTube video, showing a Bahraini among a group of Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham fighters.
The young armed man, holding a Bahraini passport, criticised the kingdom's officials for "standing by the US" and for taking action against citizens who fought in jihad missions abroad.
He addressed a group of alleged foreign fighters, who were waving black flags associated with Al Qaeda, and screamed "we are fighting for Islam" before he ripped the Bahraini passport to pieces as two other armed men also tore their Saudi passports. - TradeArabia News Service
