Saif al-Islam el-Masry

Saif al-Islam el-masry (Arabic: سيف الإسلام المصري‎‎) is the name of a certain member of al-Qaeda. The name is probably, but not certainly, a nom de guerre; Saif al-Islam means Sword of Islam and el-Masry means the Egyptian, but either or both could be a real name. Little is publicly known about this person, but his name has come up in reports and testimony on a variety of major terrorist attacks and related paramilitary and financial activities. According to those sources, Saif al-Islam

• was one of fifteen men—all Arabs—captured in the Pankisi Gorge in a joint operation by Georgian and American Special Forces, in early October 2002^[1][2]
• was until then a member of al-Qaeda's majlis al-shura^[3] and its military committee^[1]
• was handed over to the Americans^[4]
• ran the Jihad Wal training camp near Khost, Afghanistan in 1992^[5]
• had been an officer of the Chechnya branch of the terrorist charity Benevolence International Foundation^[3]
• fought against American forces in Somalia^[1]
• instructed Ali Mohamed to get training from Hezbollah in south Lebanon.^[6]

References

1. 1 2 3 Al-Qaida: Dead or captured, MSNBC, last updated in 2005
2. ↑ In the Caucasus, a Foreign Element Threatens, CDI archive of a Los Angeles Times article of 29 November 2002
3. 1 2 Treasury Designates Benevolence International Foundation and Related Entities as Financiers of Terrorism, United States Department of the Treasury
4. ↑ Behind the Moscow-theater attack by Mark Riebling and R.P. Eddy, National Review, 24 October 2002
5. ↑ Saif al Islam el Masry at GlobalSecurity.org; cites forensic and other sources
6. ↑ Bin Laden's "Brothers" by Thomas Joscelyn, Weekly Standard, 27 September 2006; quoting Ali Mohamed's testimony