"Kill Muslims and destroy mosques" is the objective in a new PlayStation video game called "Close Combat: First to Fight."
The game has gained considerable popularity in a number of countries and has even appeared in some Arab states. The stated objective of the game is to "cleanse the city of all mosques, terrorists, bearded men, sheikhs and religious scholars."
The game begins with a briefing that updates the player on a fictitious situation in Lebanon, where the PM has stepped down prompting Syria and Iran to attempt to take control of the leaderless country. After the two "rogue" states supply fundamentalist Lebanese groups with weapons, the US sends in its Marine Corps to counter the threat.
According to the instructions of "Close Combat," gamers play the role of a US Marine facing four kinds of enemy, including Lebanese militias, an Iranian-backed "radical Islamic movement," the Syrian army–able to field tanks and heavy weapons–and Iranian Special Forces.
In the game, players must launch missile attacks on mosques and tear copies of the Quran to pieces. Players can hear the Muslim call to prayer in the background while launching their rocket attacks.
According to Ahmed Zayed, a sociology professor at Cairo University, games such as these are "designed by intelligence agencies who know very well how attached Muslims are to their mosques, and the sacredness they attach to the Holy Quran."
"These games have a negative impact on both Muslim and non-Muslim children," Zayed added.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
