Hundreds of Europeans Fighting Along Syria Rebels

Local Editor

The EU's anti-terror chief revealed Wednesday that hundreds of Europeans are now fighting with rebel forces in Syria.

In an interview with the BBC channel, Gilles de Kerchove estimated the number of Europeans in Syria at about 500.

He further revealed that Intelligence agencies are concerned some could join groups linked to al-Qaeda and later return to Europe to launch terrorist attacks.
The UK, Ireland and France are among the EU countries estimated to have the highest numbers of fighters in Syria.

"Not all of them are radical when they leave, but most likely many of them will be radicalized there, will be trained," de Kerchove said.
"And as we've seen this might lead to a serious threat when they get back."
Across Europe, intelligence agencies have stepped up investigations, says the BBC's Europe correspondent Duncan Crawford.

In Britain and Belgium they have increased efforts to track how people are recruited.

In the Netherlands, officials have raised the terror threat level there to "substantial" - partly over concerns about radicalized citizens returning from Syria.
Meanwhile, Soeren Kern, a senior expert for the New York-based Gatestone Institute, more than 1,000 European extremists are fighting in Syria.

In an article for Gatestone in March titled "The Latest Export," he wrote that Syria "has replaced Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia as the main destination for militants seeking to obtain immediate combat experience with little or no official scrutiny."
"Although there is no consensus among analysts on the exact number of Europeans fighting in Syria, I believe the number 1,000 is about right based on a compilation of intelligence estimates and media reports from across Europe."

He added that "it is relatively easy for Europeans to travel to Turkey and then cross over the border into Syria undetected, making it difficult to determine the true number, which could presumably be even higher than 1,000."
Kern finds the figure of 500 mentioned by the EU to be too low and believes that it "may be an effort not to alarm the public."

He said that the recent estimate by the London-based International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence (ICSR), at between 140 and 600, is also low.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org