Associated Press reporter Sarah El Deeb and Abu Bilal al-Homsi, the person she now describes as a "Syrian fighter," have had a long acquaintance.
Sarah's and Abu's long-term relationship culminated in a Tuesday afternoon story which AP condensed into 140 characters on Twitter as follows: "Marriage, honeymoons and welfare: @AP exclusive shows Islamic State membership has its privileges." A great deal of justified outrage has followed the release of El Deeb's dispatch for "romancing the Stone Age" by glorifying the advantages accruing to an Islamic State jihadist. More attention needs to be paid to her history with al-Homsi, and her "reporting" in general.
Here are several paragraphs describing al-Homsi's currently wonderful life:
For an IS fighter, a paid honeymoon in caliphate's heart
The honeymoon was a brief moment for love, away from the front lines of Syria's war. In the capital of the Islamic State group's self-proclaimed "caliphate," Syrian fighter Abu Bilal al-Homsi was united with his Tunisian bride for the first time after months chatting online. They married, then passed the days dining on grilled meats in Raqqa's restaurants, strolling along the Euphrates River and eating ice cream.
It was all made possible by the marriage bonus he received from the Islamic State group: $1,500 for him and his wife to get started on a new home, a family — and a honeymoon.
"It has everything one would want for a wedding," al-Homsi said of Raqqa — a riverside provincial capital that in the 18 months since IS took control has seen militants beheading opponents and stoning alleged adulteresses in public. Gunmen at checkpoints scrutinize passers-by for signs of anything they see as a violation of Shariah, or Islamic law, as slight as a hint of hair gel. In the homes of some of the IS commanders in the city are women and girls from the Yazidi religious sect, abducted in Iraq and now kept as sex slaves.
The Islamic State group is notorious for the atrocities it committed as it overran much of Syria and neighboring Iraq. But to its supporters, it is engaged in an ambitious project: building a new nation ruled by what radicals see as "God's law," made up of Muslims from around the world whose old nationalities have been erased and who have been united in the "caliphate."
To do that, the group has set up a generous welfare system to help settle and create lives for the thousands of jihadis — men and women — who have flocked to IS territory from the Arab world, Europe, Central Asia and the United States.
"It is not just fighting," said al-Homsi, who uses a nom de guerre. "There are institutions. There are civilians (that IS) is in charge of, and wide territories. It must help the immigrants marry. These are the components of a state and it must look after its subjects." Al-Homsi spoke in a series of interviews with The Associated Press by Skype, giving a rare look into the personal life of an IS jihadi.
El Deeb at least disclosed the wire service's past association with al-Homsi. But in the process, she also advertently revealed, thanks to evidence seen in other reports, that she has access far inside the Islamic State — so far that one has to wonder why, especially as a woman in an Islamic fundamentalist environment, she is allowed such a degree of privilege:
The AP has spoken with al-Homsi repeatedly over the past three years, since he started as an activist covering the fighting in his home city of Homs in central Syria. An IT specialist before the civil war in 2011, al-Homsi always espoused ultraconservative views in media interviews, sympathizing with the idea of a caliphate.
He said he had supported IS as early as 2013. But it was in mid-2014, after a two-year punishing siege of Homs, that he turned into a fighter. When the siege ended in a May 2014 truce, al-Homsi emerged as an official IS member.
Note the abuse of the word "ultraconservative" — as if anyone with genuinely conservative political views advocates sex slavery and serial slaughter.
Who is Abu Bilal al-Homsi? Well, it's difficult to know for certain, because, as noted, the name is an alias, as El Deeb reported previously in a June 2013 story filed from Beirut ("Syrian TV: Regime troops take control of another rebel-held town"):
Syrian state TV also said Saturday that government troops took control of the village of Buwaydah between Qusair and Homs after intensive clashes.
Abu Bilal al-Homsi, an activist in the old quarter of the city of Homs who has links with several rebel groups, said via Skype that rebels sustained heavy losses late Friday as they attempted to flee the village with their wounded and civilians. Al-Homsi asked to be identified by his alias because of security concerns.
The AP's Barbara Surk also reported similarly on "Abu Bilal al-Homsi" in May 2014 in advance of a Syrian "election." But she also noted, despite the clear and disingenuous impression in El Deeb's current story that al-Homsi is just, well, you know, an everyday jihadist trying to make ends meet, that al-Homsi (assuming it's the same person, which seems to be very likely) is in a leadership position:
Negotiations over the deal continued at Homs’ Safir Hotel, which would allow the passage of some 2,000 fighters and activists from 13 opposition-held districts, said two activists who use the names Abu Bilal al-Homsi and Samer al-Homsi.
Additionally, just last week, according to this Google-translated web page from Indonesian to English, "Abu Bilal al Homsi," whose photo there appears to match others I've seen elsewhere, is described as a "Syrian activist" who is outraged at "slanted news" coming from "mass media."
There's more. A December 2013 report from a Hindu-based news site indicates that Abu Bilal al Homsi (again, assuming it's the same person, which, again, seems quite likely) is a "military leader," and is about as intense as any Islamic fundamentalist can be:
Syrian Islamists: No to Democracy, Minority Rights... A video released by a leading Islamist faction shows Islamist military leader Abu Bilal al-Homsi exhorting his followers to reject the largely secular Free Syrian Army, led by Salim Idris.
According to Al-Homsi, Idris has said that the Free Syrian Army under his command is fighting for "democracy, secularism, communism, and the rights of minority groups", including Syrian Druze.
Rebels must fight not for democracy or rights, but for Islam, Al-Homsi declared. From the beginning, the purpose of the rebellion was to institute Islamic law, he argued.
Sarah El Deeb's degree of access, combined with her failure to disclose Abu Bilal al-Homsi's apparent leadership position in her current report, should cause the Associated Press to question why she is allowed to continue "reporting" — and that's before looking into her checkered, clearly Islamist-sympathetic past.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
