Fayiz Al-Sarhani and his sons Miteb and Omar.

Mortar shells killed a Saudi man in the Syrian city of Aleppo last Wednesday after his father and brother both died fighting in the country last year.

Miteb Fayiz Miteb Al-Hamdan Al-Sarhani, believed to be in his 20s and from Sakaka in Al-Jouf province, went to Syria last September after his father and brother Omar died fighting there, Al-Hayat daily reported.

His eldest brother Abdullah also fought in Syria but returned to the Kingdom, the paper said.

Miteb fought in Iraq for three months before returning to Syria, where he remained for 11 months before his death. Al-Hayat tried to get more information on the circumstances of his death by contacting his family but they refused to talk to the media.

According to tweets by his brother Abdullah, Miteb is the youngest son of Fayiz Miteb Al-Hamdan Al-Sarhani, a diabetic who, despite his old age, took part in the fighting against Syrian government forces in several regions of the country.

According to jihadist websites and former fighters, Fayiz first fought in Afghanistan and more recently took up arms against the Syrian regime. The father joined his sons, Abdullah and Omar, by sneaking into Syria via Turkey. He was killed in an operation that targeted Menagh Air Base in the suburbs of Aleppo in June last year. Two months later in August his other son Omar was killed fighting in the suburbs of Latakia. The eldest son, Abdullah, nicknamed Abul Abbas Al-Joufi, returned to the Kingdom.

Meanwhile, Iraq witnessed the death of two other Saudis. One of them carried out a suicide operation in Kadhimiya, north of Baghdad, while the other died in Haditha. Both had fought in Syria before shifting to Iraq.

Yusuf Al-Atiyah alias Abu Azzam Al-Jazrawi joined fighters from the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) in carrying out two successive suicide operations against a security camp. In the first attack, a Lebanese fighter blew up his car in Kadhimiya square while Al-Atiyah blew up his car at the gate.

Al-Atiyah fought for more than a year in Syria before joining the IS in Iraq. Ahmed Al-Qahtani alias Al-Muhajir Al-Ghareeb was also a fighter in the IS.

He died in a confrontation in Haditha. He had allegedly worked as a Qur’an teacher in the Syrian city of Idlib before joining the IS in Iraq.

About a week ago, local media reported that a Saudi father had smuggled his young sons into Syria via Turkey join the IS. Photos showing Abed Al-Shayeq, 11, and Ahmed Al-Shayeq, 10, posing with their father in front of an IS banner have been widely shared on social media.

 
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