Question Time: How Many Jihadists Have Military Backgrounds? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Taking the cue from a Der Spiegel report on the mastermind behind the structure of ISIS, Palestinian blogger Iyad El-Baghdadi tweets:
After that Spiegel story about the "mastermind" behind ISIS's takeover of Syria – noticed just how many Jihadists have military backgrounds?
— Iyad El-Baghdadi (@iyad_elbaghdadi) April 21, 2015
Der Spiegel names Iraqi Samir Abd Muhammad al-Khlifawi, killed in Tal Rifaat in Syria in January 2014, as the “architect” of the ISIS, an Al Qaeda off-shoot which has come to control larges swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, leaving terror, death and destruction in its trail. It says al-Khlifawi was a former colonel in the intelligence service of Saddam Hussein's air defense force.
El-Baghdadi adds:
ISIS higher command has many ex-Iraq Baath officers; in Libya ex-Gaddafi officers form some of their core support…
— Iyad El-Baghdadi (@iyad_elbaghdadi) April 21, 2015
And explains:
ISIS in Egypt (Sinai) also has several ex-Egyptian army officers; the chief of Ansar Bayt al Maqdis is an ex-Egypt army commando.
— Iyad El-Baghdadi (@iyad_elbaghdadi) April 21, 2015
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