Video - Saudi-backed Syrian islamist rebels Jaysh al Islam (“Army of Islam”) parade Alawite women in a cage.

Video - Saudi-backed Syrian islamist rebels Jaysh al Islam (“Army of Islam”) parade Alawite women in a cage.

An insurgent group fighting the Assad regime is reportedly parading civilians around in cages in an attempt to ward off airstrikes in the suburbs of Damascus. The Sham News Network has posted a video, just over four minutes long, showing captured civilians and fighters caged in the back of trucks. At least one of the cages is filled with women, who are being used as a human shield against Syrian and Russian airstrikes.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports that Jaysh al Islam (“Army of Islam”) is responsible.

Jaysh al Islam has “spread cages over several areas and squares in the Eastern Ghouta putting inside them regime forces’ officers, soldiers and their families.” The eastern Al Ghouta is an area on the outskirts of Damascus where Jaysh al Islam is one of the strongest groups fighting the Assad regime. Hmmm......Erdogan's 'Admirers and allies' (See Tweet below). Read the full story here.

Jaish al-Islam, one of #Syria's largest rebel groups, congratulated #Turkey's @Akparti for the success in elections pic.twitter.com/X6DCD6GE5N

— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) November 2, 2015

Syrian opposition activist tweets after posing in front of caged Alawites: "In front of cages with group of apes." pic.twitter.com/MQw0VMQTqs

— Harald Doornbos (@HaraldDoornbos) November 1, 2015

#SOHR confirms it has info about rebels using caged women as human shields. Bright future for #syria, indeed pic.twitter.com/9ay3u09A5T

— Murad Gazdiev (@MuradoRT) November 1, 2015

Gaza militant group denies pledging allegiance to Islamic State.

Gaza militant group denies pledging allegiance to Islamic State. (xinhuanet).

A militant group in the Gaza Strip denied on Saturday that it had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group, after an earlier an announcement on the social media said it did so.

The Salafi militant group in Gaza is called Jaish al-Islam, or the Army of Islam. Its commander, Mumtaz Dughmush, made the denial in a statement published on the Arabi 21 news website.

On Friday, several IS activists published a leaflet on their Facebook pages which was signed by the Army of Islam, saying that the group pledged allegiance to the IS and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

"We are not aware of any leaflet signed by our group that is pledging allegiance to the IS," Dughmush said. "Some Palestinian intelligence groups are standing behind issuing such a fake leaflet."

Jaish el-Islam is was one of Gaza's three militant groups. It has involved in kidnapping Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit in southeast Gaza in 2006.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, the Hamas strongman, has earlier said that there is no IS in Gaza and the whole Gaza Strip is under the full grip of his movement.

Over the past three months, Hamas security forces have been cracking down on Salafists by arresting dozens of them.

Bin Laden Documents Tie Gaza-Based Terrorist Group Army of Islam to Al- Qaida.

Bin Laden Documents Tie Gaza-Based Terrorist Group Army of Islam to Al- Qaida.(TIP).A document seized from Osama bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan by the U.S. Army reveals correspondence between al-Qaida and the Army of Islam, according to a report released by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center earlier this month.
A translated document from 2006 shows that the al-Qaida leadership corresponding with the Army of Islam, then a newly created Gaza Strip-based Salafi-jihad organization. Two of its operatives played a role in the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006, and the group was responsible for the kidnapping of British journalist Alan Johnston.
The Army of Islam carries out attacks against Israel via the Sinai Peninsula and has been linked to the 2011 bombing of a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt.
In the letter, the Army of Islam asks an al-Qaida leader close to bin Laden about funding its jihad activities. The respondent notes that it is clear that the Army of Islam is in need of financial assistance and therefore it could an accept financial assistance even from an "infidel" country like Iran. The unidentified respondent wrote:
"If you are currently unable to support yourselves financially by legitimate means…then accepting funds from other organizations-for instance, from several Islamic organizations such as Hamas and the PIJ, or even nationalist movements [referring to Fatah] which cooperate with you in hitting the Jewish enemy – to be used for jihad and against the Jews – is better than abandoning jihad due to financial difficulties."
According to the Meir Amit report, "The Army of Islam has strong military capabilities compared with other Salafi-jihadist networks in the Gaza Strip, and apparently possesses large quantities of weapons."
In May 2011 the U.S. State Department announced the designation of the Army of Islam as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.Read the full story here.