Syria is the only conflict in which this type of deviancy as sexual jihad was so pronounced and caused such a fuss. In previous conflicts involving Islamists or Jihadists, this problem was either non-existent or so low key that it wasn't even worth talking about. This time around it's different, and the topic has ignited media and popular interest around the world, as it provokes a mixture of disgust and incredulity in many who hear about it. Any Muslim who knows even the bare basics of his religion, will tell you that sexual jihad is a perversion and an abomination to the teachings of Islam, which stresses piety, chastity and morality as pivotal and core concepts both in the makeup of society and the individual. Looking back at Islamic history, you won't find any precedents for this divinely sanctioned sexual promiscuity in times of war, or any other times for that matter. While true that Jihadists have been sometimes derided for having their ultimate goal in martyrdom to ascend to heaven and be rewarded with 70 beautiful virgins, that's as far as the concept of mixing sex and holy war went. The idea that a woman can have sexual relations with many partners is as foreign to Islam as Hugh Hefner is to......well to Islam I suppose. No doubt, the whole thing started with an abhorrent "Fatwa", or religious edict that was issued by some sort of warped extremist Sheikh. The same type of person who preaches that it's fine to slaughter and blow up innocent civilians, Muslim or otherwise as long as you're doing it in God's name. That Jihadist militants take spiritual advice and council from such people makes them even more dangerous to society as a whole, and Islam in particular. The extent and truth about sexual Jihad in the Syrian conflict is very murky. Islamists are by nature a secretive and paranoid lot, and will not discuss such matters openly. While the regime had claimed long ago that such practices were taking place among the insurgents it was fighting, it was jokingly dismissed at the time as an infantile propaganda ploy. However, pro-regime websites and social media groups would regularly bring the subject up, and post the rotational schedules for Jihadi sexual intercourse seized after regime forces overran rebel positions. No one took much attention until international mainstream media took the story up, and stirred a frenzy and a scandal in the Arab world. While most opposition activists flatly denied it at the beginning, they now concede that such practices do exist, but they insist that they are very isolated cases and quite rare. The majority of women involved seem to be from North African Arab countries, mainly Tunisia, or from the Caucasus. The majority of fighters involved seem to be non-Syrian, mainly Gulf Arabs or from the Caucasus too, but proper figures are not yet known. The fact that many young girls seem to have been coerced or maybe even tricked into leaving their own countries to perform this act in the name of religionv, casts a dark shadow over the persons and groups facilitating and organizing this. All in all, this does not seem to be a homegrown phenomenon, but rather an imported one, just like those engaged in its practice. Indeed, such perverted acts are very foreign and alien to Syrian customs and society and are for the most part flatly rejected by the general public. Sentiments vary about this issue depending on which side you talk to. Most opposition supporters when asked about it are either dismissive or regard it as just another smear campaign to deride Islam and Islamist fighters. They view it as a part of an overall trend recently in global media to discredit political Islam. Regime supporters will tell you that it is further affirmation that they are fighting terrorism and destructive anti-social forces. They will point out that it is consistent with other heinous acts perpetrated by a depraved opposition, in their view. Whatever the true extent of Sexual Jihad in the Syrian conflict, and time will probably uncover more details and facts, there can be no denying its negative and damaging impact on perceptions toward the region as a whole, and the countries of the Arab Spring in particular.
