Manama: In a tragic development for the Al Harithi family of Saudi Arabia, two brothers of the family, one a military pilot and the other a terrorist with Daesh, died days apart in separate incidents..
While Nasser was killed during a military mission for his country in Yemen, Zaher died in a suicide attack he conducted on behalf of the terror group Daesh.
London-based daily Al Hayat said that Nasser was a pilot with the Saudi-led coalition to restore the rule of Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and that he died when his Apache helicopter went down. Another pilot, Ali Al Qarni, also died in the incident at the southern tip of the kingdom on Saturday.
“The two pilots fell as martyrs when their aircraft crashed while they were defending the borders of Saudi Arabia from these aggressors,” the coalition said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), referring to the Al Houthi militia that has staged a coup in Yemen.
Zaher was a technician working for the health ministry — and not a doctor as initially reported in the news about the suicide attack on a factory on Thursday near Samarra, north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. The bomber reportedly targeted an assembly of Iraqi soldiers.
Daesh sources said that Zaher had joined its ranks two years ago and that he registered himself as a suicide bomber.
The sources said he had a Daesh wife who was pregnant in her ninth month and that Zaher had refused to delay the suicide attack until the birth of his baby.
The wife of Nasser, the pilot, too was pregnant in her last month, their brother Dakheel told Al Hayat. The couple already had a daughter.
According to Dakheel, Zaher had a diploma in nursing and was appointed in Tabuk in the northern part of the kingdom. He married his cousin, but left her for one year, before divorcing her.
He then left again and the family knew nothing about his whereabouts for two years, Dakheel said.
Their resilient father, Mohammad, told Saudi Television Al Ekhbariya that he regularly communicated with Nasser, but had no contacts with Zaher for a long time.
“Nasser often requested me to support him and to pray for him,” Mohammad said from Bisha, a town in the southwestern province of Asir.
“He often told me that he wanted me to be pleased with him and satisfied with his behaviour. I often stressed in my advice to him to be faithful to his religion and loyal to his country. We thank God for his death in honour while serving his country, nation and the king,” he said.
The father added that he had no contact at all with Zaher and that the two did not communicate since the son left Saudi Arabia.
“I knew nothing about him or from him and the news of his death reached me through his brothers. Unfortunately, Zaher has upset me, just like he has upset his country,” the father said.
Mohammad said Zaher had been a good man before he left their home.
“They are both my sons, and they were brought up together in the same house. However, Zaher was snatched from me and they changed him when he went to work in the northern part of the country. He could have died as a martyr, like his brother,” the father said.
