Source: Irish Times
A Jordanian-born man who grew up in Ireland has been killed fighting with rebel forces in Syria.
The circumstances surrounding the death of Alaa Ciymeh (26) remain unclear given the difficulties of obtaining reliable information from inside the country.
His father, who lives in Dublin, was informed of his son’s death this week. Mourners gathered at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland in Clonskeagh, Dublin, on Wednesday to offer condolences to the family.
The Ciymeh family, who are Palestinian, moved to Ireland when Alaa was very young. He attended the Muslim National School in Clonskeagh, before going on to study at De La Salle College in Churchtown.
Source: Irish Times
Two young volunteers from Ireland have died fighting with Syrian rebels in recent months. There is increasing disquiet, here and in Syria, about the role of young men from abroad in the conflict
The story of how Shamseddin Gaidan’s short life took him from a Navan classroom to an untimely death amid the chaos of Syria’s uprising begins in early 2011. In February that year the Libyan-born schoolboy watched, fascinated, as anti-regime demonstrations inspired by the toppling of dictators in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia erupted in the country that he and his family had left years before.
Source: Irish Central
Shamseddin Gaidan joined rebels in Syria last year without his parent consent. The circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear. His father Ibrahim, who runs a halal grocery shop in Navan, was informed of his son’s death in a phone call from Syria the Irish Times reports.
“We don’t know where or how he was killed and we don’t know where his body might be,” said Mr Gaidan.
“It is very difficult to get any information. This confusion makes our grief much worse.”
Source: Irish Times
A 22-year-old man from Drogheda who earlier this year joined rebels battling to oust Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has been killed by regime forces in the northern province of Idlib.
Hudhaifa ElSayed was shot dead on Tuesday during a skirmish between rebels and forces loyal to Assad. Syrian state media reported he had been killed but the exact circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear. He was one of an estimated 10-20 men from Ireland who have joined the Syrian uprising as rebels.
Mr ElSayed was born in Egypt but his family moved to Ireland when he was a young boy after his surgeon father, Abdelbaset, secured a job here. He attended St Mary’s diocesan school in Drogheda before working as a coach and trainer. Mr ElSayed, a naturalised Irish citizen, was well-known within the Muslim community for his involvement in youth projects.
He and other men from Ireland joined the Syrian rebels as part of Liwa al-Umma, a brigade founded by a Libyan-Irish man named Mehdi al-Harati, who also commanded a rebel unit during the Libyan revolution last year.
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