Tunisia’s senior cleric, Othman Battikh, has described calls for jihad against the government in Syria a “huge mistake” that is not permitted under Islam.

The Mufti of Tunisia said during a press conference on Friday that a “Muslim mustn’t fight a Muslim” under any pretext.

    Battikh stressed that those who went to fight in Syria under the banner of Jihad were “fooled and have been brainwashed.”

His remarks came at a time many of Tunisian youths are being recruited by terrorist networks to go to Syria and fight against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Tunisian cleric also said he considered what has become known as "sex jihad" a form of prostitution and adultery.

He said 16 Tunisian girls have been so far deceived and sent to Syria to take part in the so-called sex or marriage jihad, adding this is a moral depravity.

Syria has been gripped by a deadly unrest since March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of government forces, have been killed in the violence.

Damascus says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.

The Syrian government says the West and its regional allies including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are supporting the militants.