An Islamic cleric has cleared the path for rebels in Syria, who are trying to oust President Bashar Assad, to rape women, so long as they’re non-Sunni.

Salafi Sheikh Yasir al-Ajlawni, who hails from Jordan but who lived in Damascus for 17 years, sent a message via YouTube: It’s a “legitimate fatwa” for Muslims waging war against Mr. Assad and trying to put in place a Sharia government to “capture and have sex with” Alawites and other non-Sunni, non-Muslim women, Human Events reports. Mr. Assad is part of the Alawites sect.

In the video, the cleric called non-Muslim women by their Arabic term, “melk al-yamin,” Human Events reports. The term is from the Koran and refers to non-Muslim sex slaves, Human Events says.

This isn’t the first time Islamists have called for the raping of women.

A preacher in Saudi Arabi, Muhammad al-Arifi, sent forth a fatwa a few months ago giving jihadi fighters the right to have “intercourse marriage” with Syrian women they caught, and for that act to take enough time “to give each fighter a turn,” Human Events reports.

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