Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — Gulf Arabs and their governments have been financing the Sunni revolt in Syria, a report said.

Human Rights Watch asserted that leading clerics in several Gulf Cooperation Council states were raising money to fund Islamist militias in the war against Syrian President Bashar Assad. The New York-based group issued a report that identified financiers from Kuwait.

In a report on Oct. 11, HRW outlined Gulf Arab support for an Al Qaida-led drive through the Mediterranean coast in August 2013. The report identified one of the financiers as Sheik Hajej Al Ajami from Kuwait, said to have raised millions of dollars for the failed rebel operation.

“On April 16 Sheik Hajej Al Ajami, a Kuwaiti, announced the beginning of the operation to ‘Rescue the Syrian Coast’ on what is believed to be his Twitter account,” the report said. “He would later become one of the most prominent donors to the operation.”

The report also cited Shafi Al Ajami, deemed a “prominent fundraiser” for the Islamist rebel campaign, which included such Al Qaida-aligned groups as Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, Nusra Front for the Defense of Levant and Ahrar Al Sham. HRW said Al Ajami reported on Aug. 4 that 40 groups convened to discuss the rebel offensive, and 13 of them agreed to join the battle.

“He [Al Ajami] further explains that Ahrar Al Sham operating in the
coastal region was chosen to lead the battle, that the group chose a
committee to receive funding and weaponry, and resolve disputes, and that
the brigades which were voted in to lead the operation drew up a plan of
attack and chose a military leader,” the report said.

Al Qaida-aligned militias in Syria said they received funds from at
least four GCC states, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates. HRW said individual donations exceeded hundreds of thousands of
dollars.

“Hajej Al Ajami also appears in videos posted on YouTube in the coastal
area before the campaign, making calls for support to the operation,” the
report said.

  Ahrar Al Sham, Human Rights Watch, Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, Nusra Front, Report IDs financiers in Gulf states sponsoring Islamist militias in Syria, Sheik Hajej Al Ajami