Exodus of French volunteers for Syria jihad growing
Growing numbers of French youths are leaving to fight with Islamist rebel groups in Syria as a first wave of volunteers returns home and steps up a recruitment drive for jihad, a top anti-terror judge said on Wednesday.
Several Western European countries are struggling to contain a trend that has seen as many as 2,000 youths travel to Syria to combat President Bashar al-Assad's government since a rebellion started nearly three years ago.
With Europe's largest Muslim population, France has become a major centre for recruitment and judicial authorities are grappling with a fresh wave of adolescent volunteers, some of whom are as young as 15 years old.
"Major events like the use of chemical gases have inspired many people" to join Islamist groups in Syria, said Marc Trevidic, an investigating judge specialised in counter-terrorism and Islamist radicalization.
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But there has also been a very obvious accelerator, which is that the first generation of recruits have come back home to fetch their buddies," he told Reuters.
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