Tunisian jihadist killed in Syria

A Tunisian family in Mahdia, central Tunisia, is mourning the death of a son, after he travelled to Syria to fight a jihadist struggle against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. A source close to the family revealed that the 26-year-old Tunisian, recently graduated from engineering college, left his home country two months ago before joining rebel forces inside Syria. He was reportedly killed last Thursday. Alia Alani, an academic specialising in jihadist movements across the Middle East, has claimed some 500 Tunisian fighters are currently inside Syria and Mali. Most of them are students and unemployed, he said. Alani blamed mosques under the control of Salafists in Tunisia for the recent hike in jihadist ideology amongst Tunisia’s youth, allowing imams to mobilise young people to fight.