Young Jihadi Weeps Before Committing Suicide Attack in Syria

A video shows a young Uzbek jihadi male, aligned with al-Nusra Front, breaking down in tears right before he takes part in a suicide attack bomb mission in Syria. The attack against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces occurred in the town of Fua in Idlib province on September 18.

Media identified the male as 20-year-old Jafar al-Tayyar. He fought with Imam Bukhari Jamaat, “an Uzbek-led faction that pledged allegiance to the Afghan Taliban last year.” The faction released the video on September 20.

The narrator tells the audience al-Tayyar is the “‘first volunteer mujahid (jihad fighter) of Mawarannahr,’ a term used by some jihadists to refer to an area corresponding to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, southern Krygyzstan, and parts of southwestern Kazakhstan.” Despite this alleged honor, al-Tayyar bursts into tears. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL) reports:

An Uzbek-speaking militant warns the young man that “shaytan,” the devil, is going to try to frighten him.

“Jafar, my brother, don’t be afraid. When you are scared, remember Allah,” the militant says.

Jafar says that he is not afraid of the devil.

“I’m just scared I won’t succeed,” he tells his fellow militants, before they send him off to die.

Then the video shows the man driving off to his target and blowing up.

The entire attack involved “more than 200 rockets and seven suicide bombs” against Syrian troops led by al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. No one knows how many died.

RFERL reports Tawhid wal-Jihod (TWJ) is another Uzbek group in Fua. They are independent, but “fought many times alongside the Nusra Front.” This group released a video on September 19, which shows one Uzbek fighter who allegedly survived a suicide attack. He told the other militants he “exploded a remote-controlled vehicle bomb,” but appears shocked. He collapsed with the other fighters cheering him.

The news of the video comes only days after sources claimed U.S.-trained Syrian rebels defected and gifted their weapons to Nusra Front. The Division 30 rebels trained and graduated “from a US-led training programme in Turkey.”