Hooray, We Have a "Fighter"

And in that previous NYTimes' story, look what I found:-

Sami Fayyad, 30, was a fighter with Islamic Jihad’s military wing

.

and

At the Khan Yunis hospital were the bodies of two other Palestinian fighters killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops. Munir Burhom, 22, and Burhom Abu Lehyia, age unknown, were members of Hamas’s military wing. Two more Hamas fighters were also killed Thursday...

A fighter. A military wing member. Not a militant.

But is a fighter closer to soldier or to terrorist?