position:jihadi head

  • AP Interview: Jihadi head says Gaza groups growing - Yahoo News
    http://news.yahoo.com/ap-interview-jihadi-head-says-gaza-groups-growing-182557905.html

    We are six groups and we have thousands of fighters, maybe 4,000," he said.

    A Hamas official said he believes there are at most dozens of Salafi fighters, while an Israeli expert on al-Qaida, Aviv Oreg, estimated there were up to 1,000.

    Under the local truce agreement, the Salafis have halted attacks on shops, hair salons and coffee shops after Hamas provided assurances there would be no drinking of alcohol, racy movies or mixing of the sexes in these places.
    [...]
    He also claimed that 100 Gazans have gone to Syria to battle the regime of President Bashar Assad, and 10 have been killed so far.

    • Mohammed Hijazi, a Gaza-based expert on Salafi groups, said their numbers have grown in recent years because of an influx of money from wealthy Gulf Arab states opposed to Assad. He said the money is meant to bring fighters to Syria.