The U.S. State Department bounty rewards of up to $5 million each for information that may aid the capture of 3 Al-Qaeda leaders in Syria.
According to the State Department, the men lead Hurras al-Din (HAD, or the “Guardians of Religion” organization), that was formed in early 2018. The three leaders have been active in Al-Qaeda several years and have remained loyal to Al-Qaeda emir, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Abu ‘Abd al-Karim al-Masri, who is an Egyptian national is also known as Karim. The State Department describes Karim as a “member” of Hurras al-Din Shura Council. The States adds that Karim has been serving as a mediator between the group and the Nusrah Front (Nusrah Front has been known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS) since early 2017.
The States Department further adds that its possible Karim is the same man who goes by the nom de guerre Abu ‘Abd al-Karim al-Gharbi. Gharbi has threatened the U.S. and Russia in messages posted on Telegram and Al-Qaeda-linked websites.
The second terror operative named States announcement is Faruq al-Suri. He is a Syrian national who is also known as Samir Hijazi and Abu Hammam al-Shami. He is believed to have fought in Afghanistan in the 1990s and also trained Al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq, among other activities.
The States Department also announced the third terror operative as Sami al-Uraydi, also known as Abu Mahmud al-Shami, a Jordanian national and senior sharia official for Hurras al-Din. The State Department indicated that al-Uraydi has previously been involved in terrorist plots against the United States and Israel.
