Bahrain Salafists Increase Involvement in Syria War
Bahraini Salafists are playing a role in the fight against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The Bahraini Salafist preacher Sheikh Faisal al-Ghurair must be feeling great. Within four months, and with the help of MP Abdelhalim Murad from the Salafist al-Asala Islamic Society, Ghurair has been able to organize 1,640 jihadists and send them to fight in Syria.
Ghurair announced the “good news” to his followers in a June 14 speech in Manama. “We are happy to tell you that we have sent arms and ammunition to the mujahedeen in Syria,” he said.
Asala is close to the Bahraini royal court and is overseeing an overt project that is providing military support, both in personnel and logistics, from the Bahraini capital, Manama.
In August, Murad and three of his comrades crossed the Turkish border into Syria, where they met jihadists belonging to the radical groups Suqur al-Sham and Liwaa Dawud and gave them enough money to support 85 fighters. The Bahraini government said at the time, “The visit by a number of Bahraini MPs to Syria happened without the knowledge of or prior coordination with [the Bahraini government].”
