As always, the jihadist appeal to non-jihadist Muslims is based on Islamic texts and teachings — the one aspect of their call to other Muslims that non-Muslim analysts are determined to downplay or deny altogether.
“Syria: Islamists Seize Kurdish Village,” by Dalit Halevy and Ari Soffer for Israel National News, November 15:
An Islamist Syrian rebel brigade has uploaded a video to Youtube documenting the conquest of a Kurdish village, and demanding that Kurdish Muslims participate in “jihad”.
The documentary captures the seizure of Kurdish village al-Mursifeh by the Islamist “Champions Brigade”, and reveals some of the military tactics used by rebels in the fight for control of the country.
After bombarding the village with heavy weapons, including Grad missiles, Syrian rebels push forward with the use of armoured vehicles, including at least one tank, eventually paving the way for infantrymen to overrun Kurdish positions.
Later on in the video a masked Islamist rebel can be seen berating a group of captured Kurdish fighters, “reminding them” that their faith is Islam and that as such they should be partaking in “the jihad” against the Assad regime, as opposed to fighting for Kurdish national rights.The full documentary – in Arabic – is available [above].
Despite the fact that most Kurds are Muslim by faith, there is a greater groundswell of support for secular Kurdish nationalism than for Islamist ideology….