Special to WorldTribune.com

ABU DHABI — Bahrain lawmakers have issued an alert about the work of Al Qaida recruiters for the war in Iraq and Syria.

Officials said Al Qaida networks were offering young Muslims salaries and other benefits to join the war in Iraq and Syria. They said the recruitment was conducted for such groups as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as well as Nusra Front for the Defense of the Levant.

“There is going to be a surge in the number of people planning to fight in Iraq, and the [Bahraini] Interior Ministry should deal with these groups according to the law,” Bahraini parliamentarian Abdul Halim Al Murad said.

Al Murad, head of the Asala bloc and deemed close to the Sunni kingdom in Manama, said Al Qaida was using both mosques as well as gyms to recruit Sunni Muslims. He cited recruitment in such areas of Manama as Busaiteen and Muharaq.

“There is a well-known group in Busaiteen that is responsible for recruiting young Bahrainis to fight in Syria and now even Iraq because of the instability,” Al Murad said. “They go and meet the boys in school and use religion as a tool to manipulate their thoughts.”

Officials acknowledged Al Qaida recruitment in Bahrain, which contains a Shi’ite majority. They said the recruitment appeared to focus on the large expatriate Iraqi community in the Gulf Cooperation Council kingdom. At least four Bahraini nationals have been reported killed in the Sunni revolt against Syrian President Bashar Assad. In March 2014, the Interior Ministry offered amnesty to those Bahraini fighters who return to Syria. The amnesty expired in April.

“No one has returned and we urged all clerics in Bahrain to play a bigger role in educating young men in Bahrain,” Al Murad said.

Officials said Al Qaida recruiters visit schools, mosques and even the homes of potential recruits. They said teenagers have been targeted for ISIL wars in the Middle East.

“Many parents are still waiting to hear from their sons, while there are others who have just disappeared and no one knows about them,” Sunni cleric Sheik Salah Al Jowder said. “I know that young men under the age of 17 are been targeted by these groups in the name of Islam to participate in holy wars.”

  Abdul Halim Al Murad, Bahrainis warns parents: Al Qaida recruiting youths in mosques, gyms, gyms and ‘no one is returning’, ISIL, Nusra Front