(Asia Times-Hong Kong) Sami Moubayed - Gaza, held for the past decade by Hamas, itself a jihadi militia, is a perfect incubator for radical Islam. In 2015, a militia emerged in Gaza called the Omar Hadid Brigade. Having started out as a group of 50, according to sources in West Bank intelligence, it now boasts 3,000 men. Most of the Palestinians who joined the Omar Hadid Brigade were ex-Hamas fighters who knew Gaza City inside out, and had access to its arms, weapons storehouses, and secret coffers. They accused some Hamas commanders of being too soft on Israel, especially after Hamas leaders toyed with the idea of a ten-year truce with the Jewish State. In May 2015 they killed Hamas commander Saber Siam with a car bomb in Gaza. The Egyptian branch of ISIS, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which has been active in the Sinai Peninsula since 2012, helped their Palestinian comrades set up the Gazan ISIS-affiliate. These Palestinian militants went to Sinai to procure arms. They were given NATO weapons, stolen from the Libyan battlefield. In their online videos, these Palestinians play ISIS anthems, carry its black flag, and pledge an oath to its "caliph," Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
2017-01-11 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive