Influx of foreign fighters add to Syria's carnage- Dekusada

HE WAKES at dawn and disguises himself as a peasant to cross the river from Lebanon into Syria. There he joins fellow militants in a "holy" war against President Bashar al-Assad.

When night falls, Sheikh Saad Eddine Ghia, 50, creeps back home to north Lebanon after burying his weapon on Syrian soil. He will retrieve it for action the following day.

Jihad is a familiar routine for the sheikh. He fought side by side with al-Qa'ida in Afghanistan and Iraq, and has no time for the secular rebels of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

"As chaos escalates, the regime will be weakened and so will the FSA," he said. "In the end, the people will join the jihadists."

Ghia is one of hundreds of foreign Sunni fighters said to have crossed Syria's borders to fight the Alawite-dominated regime.

Many are extreme Salafist jihadists who combine respect for Islam's sacred texts in their most literal form with a ruthless dedication to attacking the perceived enemies of their faith.

As well as the Lebanese contingent, Tunisians, Algerians, Libyans, Saudis, Iraqis, Egyptians, Jordanians and Kuwaitis have swollen the ranks of the jihadists. Dozens have been killed, including two British men of Algerian origin...

http://dekusada.blogspot.com/2012/06/influx-of-foreign-fighters-add-to.html