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In mid-March 2024, an Afghan jihadi fighter, identified as Yasir, aka Abu Yusuf Al-Afghani, was killed fighting Israel in Gaza. On March 19, pro-Afghan Taliban accounts on X (formerly Twitter) shared a picture of Yasir, claiming he traveled to Syria a year ago and joined the Syrian jihadi group Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS).[1]
From the tweets, it appears Yasir later moved from Syria to the Gaza Strip, where he was killed on March 18, 2024, along with four Arab nationals, out of 30 others who moved from Syria to the Gaza Strip. One Twitter account noted that he was killed in Rafah, in southern Gaza.[2]
On March 20, an Afghan Twitter account wrote in English, that Yasir "was martyred while fighting with Israeli forces in the Palestinian city of Rafah. Yasir was a mujahideen from Afghanistan, but he fought for the Muslims of Palestine too as well as Afghanistan. First Islam then Afghanistan."[3]
On March 25, a pro-Afghan Taliban account on X tweeted a picture of Yasir taken after he was killed. A Pashtu-language tweet accompanying the picture confirmed that he had departed from Syria together with 30 other Arab fighters to go to Palestine, where he was "martyred" by Israel.[4]
[1] Twitter, March 19, 2024.
[2] Twitter, March 20, 2024.
[3] Twitter, March 21, 2024.
[4] Twitter, March 25, 2024.
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