Foreign fighters in the Syrian Civil War and War in Iraq
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Despite this long history, many European states found themselves overwhelmed by the flow of foreign fighters and the wave of terrorism that swept Europe during the Syrian jihad. Some of this was related to the staggering scale of the foreign fighter flows. Almost 6,000 European Muslims traveled to fight in Syria, compared with around 700 between 1990 and 2010 to Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, and Iraq combined." --"Trump’s Syria withdrawal is a boon for ISIS — and a nightmare for Europe" Daniel L. BymanTuesday, October 15, 2019 [1] |
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Foreign fighters have fought on all four sides of the Syrian Civil War, as well both sides of the Iraqi Civil War. The conflicts are sectarian, with foreign Sunnis fighting for the Syrian opposition and the Islamic State, foreign Shias fighting for the Syrian government, and foreign leftists fighting for the People's Protection Units.
Belgium
As an International Centre for Counter-Terrorism report from April 2016 shows, Belgium has the highest per-capita foreign fighter contingent. The estimated number is between 420-516 individuals. This group consists of a wide age rage, with people between 14–69 years old – with an average of 25,7.
The Chief of the 'Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis', Paul Van Tigchelt, said on 28 September 2016 that there are 632 known persons designated as 'foreign terrorist fighters'. Out of these 632 people, 273 are believed to be abroad, fighting or dead.
An article on Iraq and Syria based foreign fighters from Belgian was written by Pieter Van Ostaeyen. They number 563. He also attempted to determine the death of a Belgian, Hicham Chaib.
See also
- List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War
- Final Report of the Task Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel
- Military activity of ISIL
- European jihadism
