KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 ― More evidence of Malaysian involvement in a militant group in Syria emerged today, after a video appeared on YouTube showing Malay-speaking men in military garb participating in the jihadist movement in the Middle Eastern state.
Titled “Syria ― Asian mercenaries fighting in the terrorist ranks” in Spanish on the popular video-sharing website, the 1 and a half minute-long video has been viewed over 5,000 times since it was uploaded on June 7, 2014.
“The tanks are leaving towards their destination, the war zone,” said the cameraman in Malay language, tinged with the northern Malaysian accent.
Beside him was a bearded young Malay man, smiling as he captured a moving tank with the camera of his Apple iPhone.
The video then showed dozen other men in the back of the truck, wearing camouflaged combat attire with bulletproof vests over them, and with bags and assault rifles were slung over their shoulders.
“Here we are, the handsome mujahids,” said the man with the iPhone in Malay, using the Arabic word for jihadists, before laughing.
“All of us will be martyrs,” said the cameraman as he captured the faces of other men, some of them smiling.
“Our friends are already heading to fight. They are not afraid and will not quiver,” he added, followed by a shout of “hero Malaya ni” (these are Malayan heroes).
The video ended with the truck finally driving off, with the men on its back shouting “Allah is great” in Arabic several times.
The video was originally from the website SyrianTube.net, which professes to show videos of the Syrian army’s military operations.
On YouTube, it was reuploaded with this comment in Spanish: “Indonesia. Hundreds of Asian mercenaries fighting alongside terrorists in exchange for money. And these are the ones who the US says Syrian Rebels?”
Yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that fifteen Malaysians were allegedly killed in Syria after joining in terrorist and jihadist activities with Islamist militant group Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), according to the Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations in New York.
It said that the news was conveyed by the Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations in New York in a press conference on June 18, 2014.
ISIS, also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is a splinter group of al-Qaeda that wants to set up an Islamic caliphate encompassing both Iraq and Syria.
ISIS is viewed as a terror organisation by authorities both here and abroad.
A Malaysian suspected of being a member of ISIS was believed to have been the suicide bomber who killed 25 members of an Iraqi police team last month.
Earlier this month, three local men were arrested by police for suspected links to ISIS.
