Saif al-Islam al-Masri (Arabic: سيف الإسلام المصري) is the name of a certain member of al-Qaeda. The name is probably, but not certainly, a nom de guerre; Saif al-Islam means Sword of Islam and al-Masri means the Egyptian, but either or both could be a real name. Little is publicly known about this person, but his name has come up in reports and testimony on a variety of major terrorist attacks and related paramilitary and financial activities. According to those sources, Saif al-Islam
- was one of fifteen men—all Arabs—captured in the Pankisi Gorge in a joint operation by Georgian and American Special Forces, in early October 2002
- was until then a member of al-Qaeda's majlis al-shura and its military committee
- was handed over to the Americans
- ran the Jihad Wal training camp near Khost, Afghanistan in 1992
- had been an officer of the Chechnya branch of the terrorist charity Benevolence International Foundation
- fought against American forces in Somalia
- instructed Ali Mohamed to get training from Hezbollah in south Lebanon.
References
- ^ Al-Qaida: Dead or captured, NBC News, last updated in 2005
- In the Caucasus, a Foreign Element Threatens, CDI archive of a Los Angeles Times article of 29 November 2002
- ^ Treasury Designates Benevolence International Foundation and Related Entities as Financiers of Terrorism Archived 2007-03-11 at the Wayback Machine, United States Department of the Treasury
- Behind the Moscow-theater attack by Mark Riebling and R.P. Eddy, National Review, 24 October 2002
- Saif al Islam el Masry at GlobalSecurity.org; cites forensic and other sources
- Bin Laden's "Brothers" by Thomas Joscelyn, Weekly Standard, 27 September 2006; quoting Ali Mohamed's testimony
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