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Egyptian Fighters Join 'Lesser Jihad' in Syria

Mohamed Fadel Fahmy reports on Egyptian jihadists who are fighting in Syria.
Mohammed al-Zawahiri (C), leader of Salafi Jihad in Egypt, takes part in a demonstration organised by Egyptian Islamists against the French intervention in Mali on January 18, 2013 in Cairo. The brother of Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri joined dozens of Egyptian Islamists in a protest near the French embassy in Cairo. AFP PHOTO/GIANLUIGI GUERCIA        (Photo credit should read GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images)

Fighters from across the globe have joined the war against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including hundreds of Egyptians who have completed their engagement in their own revolution and turned toward the “holy war” in Syria.

The argument that people who join jihadist organizations are impoverished or uneducated does not apply to Abu Rami, 37, an Egyptian jihadist and father of two children who is a graduate student in Islamic Shariah. He has been back and forth between Syria and Egypt four times in the past year alone. Abu Rami has gained the confidence of the Syrian Revolutionary Security Association, which has taken over law enforcement roles in liberated areas in Syria. The association plays an executive and judicial role to punish criminals and others who take advantage of the security vacuum. At one point, the association asked him to run one of its offices, but he said he preferred to teach the ways of Islam when he was not actually firing his weapon.

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