Special to WorldTribune.com

AMMAN — Officials said Al Qaida militias were recruiting Sunni Muslims in Jordan for the revolt against Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The officials identified the militias as Nusra Front for the Defense of the Levant and Islamic State in Iraq and Levant.

“They offer young poverty-stricken men financial incentives, with some money paid up front, to infiltrate Syria and fight Assad,” an official said.

Jordanian authorities have captured dozens of suspected Al Qaida recruits for the revolt in Syria. Officials said many of the detainees were linked to the banned Salafi Jihadi movement, a key element in the unrest in 2011. On Sept. 29, authorities were reported to have arrested 20 Salafi agents.

On Sept. 23, a military court sentenced five Jordanians to five years
with hard labor. The Jordanians, in their 20s and 30s and said to have
confessed to the charges, were convicted of trying to cross into Syria and
join Nusra.

Officials said at least 400 Jordanians were believed to have been
recruited for the war in Syria. They said recruitment has taken place in
mosques, schools and Palestinian refugee camps.

  Al Qaida militias recruiting Sunnis in Jordan to fight Syria’s Assad, Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, Nusra Front, Sunni Muslims