No Script

Please Wait...

Al-Ahed Telegram

Terrorists from 81 Nations Trigger Syria Insurgency: US Intelligence Firm

Terrorists from 81 Nations Trigger Syria Insurgency: US Intelligence Firm
folder_openSyria access_time9 years ago
starAdd to favorites

Local Editor

The Soufan Group, a New York-based intelligence firm, has estimated that there have been at least 12,000 foreign militants from 81 countries in the Syrian conflict, including some 3,000 European nationals.

Terrorists from 81 Nations Trigger Syria Insurgency: US Intelligence Firm

 

It is estimated that the three-year conflict in Syria has drawn foreign terrorists to its frontlines at a rate faster than any such war in modern memory. 

The group that likely boasts the majority of such terror elements is the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" [ISIL] militant group, which it said "commands a stretch of territory from central Syria to the environs of Iraq's capital, Baghdad."

The presence of these foreign extremists has greatly dominated media attention recently.
Earlier this week, reports emerged of an American fighter slain in a battle with another extremist faction in Syria.
Meanwhile, the White House on Thursday identified nearly a dozen Americans believed to have joined the foreign-backed insurgency in Syria.

This is while a British national is suspected of beheading American journalist James Foley this month [August], while a pair of Australians have gained notoriety for their habit of posting selfies on social media of them grinning while clutching the severed heads of Syrian soldiers.

Given the "ISIL" ascendance - and its slick online recruitment operation - it's probable that the bulk of the Western terrorists are in its ranks. 

The Economist published a handy graphic of the breakdown recently this week. 

Furthermore, The New York Times reported on Friday that more than 100 Americans have participated in the conflict in Syria, according to US intelligence officials. 

The Independent, meanwhile, says that a quarter of the roughly 2,000 European militants in the "ISIL" ranks are from Britain.

For months now, European governments have wrung their hands over the consequence of this migration and the threat of radicalized terrorists returning home, spreading their extremism and plotting terror attacks.

As the map above shows, the geographical spread of foreign militants in the war is vast, implicating even Japan and Singapore, countries most would think are alien to the turmoil of the Middle East. Moreover, "ISIL" recruitment videos have been translated into myriad languages, including Urdu, Tamil, and Bahasa Indonesia.

Still, the majority of foreign militants in the conflict, as the Economist's chart shows, are from Arab countries.

Hence, that foreigners are playing an outsize role in its most barbaric acts ought to be a chilling sign for world leaders elsewhere, struggling for a strategy to counter this growing threat.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

 

Comments