ISIS permeates rebels by agents and loyalists: Saudi cleric

Translation by Dani Murad

(Zaman Al Wasl)- A Saudi Islamic preacher and a big supporter to the Syrian revolution, revealed what he called an “ IS’s penetration of the Syrian brigades” referring to “espionage agents” recruited by the Islamic State in the ranks of Assad’s opponents, particularly the Jihadist battalions.

Mousa al- Ghanami, was very hesitant to reveal his information, but the recent martyrdom of Ahrar Al Sham’s leaders including Hassan Abboud, is what forced him to open this file, clarifying that the State’s Shura Council includes 3 of the most prominent intelligence members in the former regime of Sadam Hussein, and they are : “Abu Ayman al-Iraqi, a litunant whose real name is Ali Aswad al-Jubouri, in addition to the colonels Fadel al-Ethawi, and Asi al-Obeidi, the leader of frogmen battalion in the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein’s regime.

According to al- Ghanami, the Islamic State penetrates the factions through agents and sympathizers giving an example: when the head of Khawarij “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ” announced the birth of his ominous organization, the response of Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, Al Nusra’s Prince was to refuse this announcement, and therefore al-Baghdadi sent him a message, saying: “ you have three days from now, change your personal guards, or your end will be on their hands, and I’m only informing you in order not to say I backstabbed you”, consequently, al-Joulani fled the scene, knowing that Al Nusra is entirely penetrated by the State”.

To prove his point further, al- Ghanami mentioned the assassination of al-Qaeda leader “Abu Khaled al-Suri” whose death was masterminded by a person affiliated with IS called “Ahmad Lulu”, in addition to that, al-Ghanami stressed again that Al Nusra is penetrated by the State giving another example “Abu Mohammed” or the “Shadow”, a name he obtained because he used to follow al-Joulani everywhere, and two months ago Abu Mohammed stole 120 thousand dollars and fled to join IS! And God only knows how many leaders have been tracked and assassinated because of this informant.

“Infiltration was not only limited to brigades, but also included individuals such as the Saudi cleric “Abdullah al-Mohaisany” who survived an assassination attempt, and after that accused on his tweeter account the so called “Abu al-Hareeth”, surprisingly he is his closest companions and the same person who used to advise al-Mohaisany to be cautious and warned him of IS’s betrayal in order to gain his trust”, al- Ghanami said.

Moreover, the traitor “Shaker al-Shami, one of Al Nusra’s journalists and media workers, who was allowed to fabricate lies about the Mujahideen, and when they announced the war on IS, he pledged allegiance to the Khawarj, and began insulting everyone including Al Nusra, Paradoxically, he was considered the person to reveal betrayals.

Examples of brigades’ infiltration were concluded by him with two incidents, the first is about "Abdul Baset Primo" who joined Ahrar al Sham claiming that he defected from the "State", and when he gained their trust, he killed the commander of Ahrar Al Sham with 4 of his fighters in “Al Halak” neighbourhood in Aleppo, while they were praying Salat al Fajr, to flee later to “Raqqa”, to IS’s biggest stronghold in Syria.

In "Al-shammaitih" Deir Ezzor, fighters from Ahrar Al Sham captured one of IS’s members, who claimed repentance in front of them, to soon be part of the group, working on gaining their trust until he became the guard of their main headquarter in the town ,and during a meeting for Ahrar Al Sham and Al Nusra, he blew himself up and killed the military leaders and Sharia officials there ,and among the victims of the bombing, was the prince of Ahrar al-Sham in the eastern region, "Abu Abdullah al-Shami.

Then he listed other examples of IS’s penetration to the Syrian brigades through the “sympathizers” , noting that: "they become the first victims after being used and manipulated by IS”, adding: "Abu Muhammad al-Fateh, Al Nusra’s Prince in Idlib, opposed the arrest of IS militants who remained after the state fled the area, and his reward was a suicide operation by a traitor from the state, in which he lost his life, children, and the entire family in a very painful incident” .

Another infiltration of the brigades is when Abu Suleiman al-Khalidi, the shari'a official of Jabhat Al-Nusra in Homs, had prevented the Free Army from killing IS’s Khawarj, and even threatened to stand beside them, his reward was to be unmercifully killed by the State, while his group which is made of 11 Mujahideen were arrested and looted of their weapons and money, he added.

And in an incident, when one of Ahrar Al Sham leaders held a truce with the State to allow their military convoy to pass near Al Jarah airport, heading to Aleppo to fight the Mujahideen there, few days later, the state sent the group a threat, that it will execute suicide operations against them in Deir al-Zour.

Moreover, after IS betrayal in Tel Rifaat in Aleppo’s countryside, Liwa al-Tawhid, and Jaish al-Mujahideen decided to eliminate them, but Al Nusra smuggled more than 700 IS militants to al-Bab city, yet those same fighters betrayed Al Ahrar Al sham and Al Nusra after that in the events of al-Bab and Jarabulus, he said.

Al- Ghanami goes on, pointing out to Al Nusra’s prince in al-Badia when he stood against fighting the state militants there, under the pretext that they did not hurt anyone, and after gaining the needed power, they tried to kill him but he ran a way, and later those deserters attacked a convey sent by “Abu Maria al-Qahtani “ the former shari'a official of Jabhat Al-Nusra, which was sent to lift the siege on Homs, and they even tried to loot the convoy.

al- Ghanami concluded his speech by talking about “Al Nusra prince in Qalamoun “who is known for sympathizing with the State or as described by al- Ghanami himself “might be one of them and share their follies”, accusing him of “Arsal incident”, when they entered the area and fortified in a refugee camp that doesn’t protect from the sun nor the bullets, then dragged the Lebanese army to kill the oppressed people."

“The State used penetration tactics to kill 74 leaders from Ahrar Al Sham in the operation of “Ram Hamdan” and no one knew of the meeting, not Assad’s gangs, nor the international intelligence, or even the leaders of the Islamic Front”. Al Ahrar leaders have a very high sense of security and therefore the operation would not be conducted if it wasn’t for IS’s breaching”, he confirmed.