Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
London, SANA, A terror leader whom the United States released from the Guantanamo prison in 2006 has sent at least 2,500 jihadis from Saudi Arabia and some from Yemen to join the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS), according to a highly placed Pentagon source.
Ibrahim al-Rubaish, now the spiritual leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula(AQAP), was captured by American troops in 2001 and spent five years at Guantanamo before the US administration released him into Saudi custody.
‘There’s no doubt that he’s sending fighters,’ the Department of Defense official told Daily Mail on Wednesday ‘Twenty-five hundred is a conservative estimate.’
al-Rubaish was let go from Guantanamo in 2006 along with 16 other prisoners, and quickly returned to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula becoming its spiritual leader and he’s now recruiting for ISIS.
The official refused to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the information, and because he is not authorized to speak to the press.
A second Pentagon official, lower-ranking but with knowledge of the Obama administration’s tactical toolbox and Middle Eastern intelligence, confirmed the first source’s account.
‘That’s correct,’ he said in a phone interview when asked if al-Rubaish was sending large numbers of extremists to join ISIS.
He said some Guantanamo detainees spend time behind razor wire building networks and strategic connections that become useful once the United States government repatriates them.
The Department of Defense wouldn’t comment on al-Rubaish’s ISIS recruiting, instead sending a generic statement recounting parts of his history.
‘Ibrahim Al Rubaysh arrived at Guantanamo in 2002 and was transferred in 2006,’ wrote Lt. Col. Myles B. Caggins III, a U.S. Army spokesman.
‘Since 2009, the Defense Department and five government departments and agencies conduct thorough security and intelligence reviews prior to transferring Guantanamo detainees; more than 90 percent of detainees transferred during the Obama administration have resumed quiet lives in various countries.’
‘I can’t comment on behalf of security officials in Yemen or KSA,’ he insisted.
ISIS can muster up to 31,500 fighters, the Central Intelligence Agency reported in October.
If that number is correct, al-Rubaish is responsible for mobilizing at least one out of every 13 ISIS fighters.
The office of the Director of National Intelligence reported in 2013 that 171 detainees Guantanamo prisoners released during the Bush years were confirmed or suspected of having re-engaged in hostilities.
H. Zain/ Barry