In a video admission, the member of the ISIL said the radical group actually is led by Prince Adbul Rahman al-Faisal, the son of the late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia and the brother of the current Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, the WorldNetDaily reported on Thursday.
The revelation suggests a high level of direct involvement by the Saudi royal family in terrorist activities not only in Syria but in other locations where Takfiri militants are operating.
The captured ISIL terrorist said his group was monitoring the movements of the so-called Free Syrian Army, which forms the main opposition to the Syrian government.
This revelation suggests the Saudi leadership is directly funding the militant groups, which have basically taken over the opposition forces, since the FSA isn’t regarded as being capable of ousting the Syrian government.
The captive said he was under orders to do so “from the leadership of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.”
Asked who in the leadership of the ISIL gave him the orders, the captured militant said without hesitation, “Prince Abdul Rahman al-Faisal, who is also known as Abu Faisal.”
ISIL, also known as ISIS, is the al-Qaida branch in Iraq and Syria. Its battlefield commander is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who is considered to be ruthless and has been attacking other militant groups that he believes aren’t as strict as he is.
The revelation that high levels of the House of Saud are behind the militant groups in Syria and elsewhere comes as President Barack Obama prepares to visit Saudi Arabia in March in an effort to smooth out US-Saudi relations strained over the US stance on Syria and Iran.
The Saudis turned on the US after Obama decided not to take military action against Syria’s chemical weapons in an effort to oust the Syrian government. In addition, Obama decided to press forward with negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.
The Saudis, in effect, felt betrayed and decided on the basis of the US approach to Syria and Iran to undertake an independent foreign policy aimed at changing the Syrian leadership and halting Iran’s entire nuclear program.