Up To 7,000 Foreign Jihadis Fighting In Syria, New Study Finds
Majority come from Arab countries; volunteers undergo radicalization, continue terrorist activities in countries of origin.
Between 6,000 and 7,000 foreign fighters have arrived in Syria to take up arms with rebels against the Assad regime, with a large majority of them joining jihadi organizations, the Nusra Front being foremost among them, a study released Thursday said.
The Tel Aviv-based Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center that published the study is a part of the Israeli Intelligence and Heritage Commemoration Center, founded in the 1980s by leading members of the Israeli intelligence community.
Researchers who spent several months putting together the study warned that in Syria, foreign jihadis gain military experience, and undergo a process of radicalization.
“They are liable to continue terrorist and subversive activities in their countries of origin when they return,” the document said. It added that “this past year saw a marked increase in the involvement of foreigners in the fighting against the Syrian regime.”
The two central jihadi organizations, the Nusra Front, headed by al-Qaida’s central leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and its competitor, the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria, a branch of al-Qaida in Iraq, have a combined membership of 9,000, of which an estimated 6,000 are foreign volunteers, according to the study.
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http://www.jpost.com/Syria/Up-to-7000-foreign-jihadis-fighting-in-Syria-new-study-finds-336933