Americans Being Recruited As The New Face Of Jihad Martyrdom

A recent Jihad video circulating around the web calling for more people to step up to the fight and become a Martyr for the Jihad fight has some American’s bewildered. The video has all the markings of a Hollywood production. It opens with loud music and the words, “Coming Soon” in its opening credit, explosions and gun-play, a flashback of a jetliner flying into the World Trade Center, burning flags, and an American-born citizen as the leading man.

The blurred-face individual in the video is believed to be a 22-year-old Floridian man who blew himself up last month in a suicide attack on the Syrian government that killed 37. The man in the video makes a direct request for other Americans to join him in the fight just before the video ends with a US passport being burned to the tune of laugher and Arabic praises to God’s greatness faded in the background.

The man, Moner Mohammad Abusalha, reportedly took his own life in a truck-bombing mission, and is one of roughly 100 Americans who have attempted to travel to Syria to fight alongside Islamic extremists, according to the Houston Chronicle. His message has US officials deeply concerned that the video may inspire others to follow his path.

US authorities tracked Abusalha indirect travels to Syria, and although it was not illegal for him to travel there, as many Americans have done so for humanitarian reasons, it was only after he arrived in Syria that US authorities learned through intelligence sources that he was planning a suicide attack, senior officials said.

According to government officials, once Abusalha intentions were clear to carry out his extremist actions, there was little the US could do to stop him. Officials also indicated that had they gathered enough intelligence to understand his plans to fight alongside Jihad militants, they most likely would have charged him with providing material support to terrorist, as they have done with several other Americans.

According to the New York Times, officials declined to say how the United States obtained intelligence that he was fighting alongside militants and was planning to blow himself up in a suicide truck-bomb attack. But in the past year, the authorities have obtained similar information in Syria from contacts on the ground, electronic intercepts such as cellphones, and foreign intelligence agencies.

One area of concern in the US is Minnesota where FBI received reports that several young men of Somali decent traveled to Syria to fight alongside Islamist extremist, and at least three have carried out suicide attacks in the country.

“There’s an active investigation ongoing to discern how many have traveled there,” said Kyle Loven, a spokesman for the FBI’s Minneapolis field office.

In the video clip of what many government officials believe is the 22-year-old Florida-born man just prior to his death, he points at the camera and pats his chest as he describes why Americans should travel to Syria to fight. He uses the Arabic word “haq,” which means “divine obligation.”

“Jihad is protecting Islam,” he said. “It is now haq on you to protect your brothers and oppressed, and it’s haq on you to fight.”

The Global Islamic Media Front, a group that has released several similar videos from Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups released the video last month. The video did not say which group the suicide bomber had joined, but it was promoted as a preview for a larger clip that will soon be released about an American martyr who died fighting a holy war in Syria, according to intelligence analysts.

[Photo Credit: Bing, Facebook]