In 2013, Saudi regime and GCC sponsored a conference in Cairo

And the convened clerics called for Jihad in Syria. This is how the story of fanatic militant Jihadism took off--contrary to the narrative of Anne Barnard and Liz Sly, who claim that civilian feminists and secularists and democrats turned Salafi Jihadist because of the repression of the regime.  The regime is repressive indeed but Jihadis are Jihadis with or without repression. There are Jihadis in Lebanon and Tunisia, two of the most democratizing Arab countries.  And the story of the conference was carried and prominently displayed by Al-Arabiyyah from 2013.  This is how recruitment of Jihadi terrorists from around the work took off.