Al-Youm Al-Sabe'a daily has released a detailed report including interviews with a number of militants who have returned to Egypt after fighting the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
The militants told the daily that after being recruited, they were sent to Lebanon to receive military trainings organized by certain Lebanese terror groups.
“Having gained the training, we were dispatched to Turkey to be passed through the Syrian borders, thanks to the Turkish security forces.”
The report also reveals that a great number of Egyptian militants have already joined the extremist al-Qaeda-linked groups of ISIL and al-Nusra.
Al-Youm Al-Sabe’a has also cited one of the repatriated terrorists named Abu Omar as saying that like thousands of his compatriots, he was brainwashed by the ISIL propaganda and decided to join the armed militants in Syria.
To that end he travelled to Lebanon, received the so-called “Jihad” military training and headed to Syria via Turkey.
“The Muslim Brotherhood provides necessary facilities for the dispatch of armed terrorists to Syria as the Turkish government gives them easy access to the neighboring Syria via its border crossings” Abu Omar added.
The newspaper also says after the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt, security checks have been intensified for the youth travelling to or coming back from Turkey.
Given the links between ISIL and a number of terrorist groups in Egypt, Al-Youm Al-Sabe’a has predicted that the link can lead to the duplication of the activities of the Syrian terrorists in Egypt.
This is while many countries around the world have expressed concerns over the possibility of terror attacks from their own citizens who are now fighting in Syria.
NGD/NJF