Harald Doornbos and Jenan Moussa
By Harald Doornbos and Jenan Moussa
European jihadists in Syria have been blamed by some Syrians for ruining the purity of their revolution, held up by Bashar Al Assad’s regime as a sign of that the rebels are foreign-backed radicals, and feared by Western security agencies as a potential terrorist threat. But despite all the talk about them, they rarely speak with outsiders about their beliefs and goals. So when two European jihadists agreed to speak with us, it marked the first time that fighters working with Al Qaeda inside Syria explained to the world why they are doing battle in Syria and what future they imagine for the country.
The two fighters — one of whom is an ethnic European who converted to Islam, while the other is ethnically neither European nor Arab, and was born a Muslim — set a couple of preconditions. Their real names and countries of origin could not be published; as they put it, “Europe will do.” They also wore masks during the interview, so they could not be recognized. “I still want to travel to my family in Europe,” one said.
It was also strictly forbidden to name the town where the interview would take place. “You can mention somewhere in northern Sham,” one of the men declared, a reference to Greater Syria — encompassing not only modern-day Syria but also Lebanon, Israel-Palestine, Jordan and Iraq — that existed in the early Islamic period.
Getting to the location of the interview posed another problem. In a sign of how perilous Syria has become, Al Qaeda-affiliated militants man a checkpoint slightly more than a mile outside the Atmeh refugee camp along the border with Turkey. And there were many more such checkpoints along the way to where the two European jihadists live. With kidnappings of journalists and aid workers by rebels spiking in recent months, locals all advised against the idea of driving deeper into the country. After long deliberations, we chose to stay in Atmeh and send a trustworthy Syrian middle-man on our behalf deeper inside the country. He carried our questionnaire, a camera and conducted the interviews.
The meetings with the European jihadists occurred separately, on two days in two locations. The interviews were conducted in English, as the fighters are not fluent in Arabic.
The phenomenon of European jihadists flowing into Syria is increasingly attracting the attention of Western security agencies, which fear what they will do when they return home. According to American and European intelligence officials speaking to The New York Times, more Westerners are currently fighting in Syria than in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia or Yemen: The estimates range from 600 to 1,000 fighters. Their primary motivation is religion — the vast majority are white converts to Islam or naturalised immigrants with a Muslim background.
The jihadists’ religious extremism, military experience in Syria, and the ease with which they could travel around Europe and the US make a potentially lethal cocktail.
Matthew Olsen, Director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, recently told a conference that Syria has become “the predominant jihadist battlefield in the world,” and raised fears that such jihadists could return “as part of really a global jihadist movement to Western Europe and, potentially, to the US.”
Abu Talal, a blond-haired, blue-eyed fighter sporting a black balaclava, is just the sort of religious warrior that keeps Western security officials up at night. He says that he came to Syria “to help the mujahideen [jihadists] against Bashar,” but refuses to say how he arrived from Europe. However, he adds that he “will visit my family [in Europe] again and then return to Syria.”
In the interview, Abu Talal, who carries a gun and sits in front of a black banner used by jihadist groups, says that he has joined the “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” (ISIS) — the Al Qaeda affiliate in Iraq that is both fighting against the Assad regime and attempting to extend its “Islamic emirate” into Syria.
The ISIS, which is headed by Iraqi national Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, is considered the most radical group in Syria. With bases in and around the Bab Al Hawa border crossing with Turkey, the northern cities of Raqqa and Aleppo, and the northwestern Turkmen Mountains, it is an extension of the Al Qaeda forces that battled US and Iraqi government troops in Iraq during that country’s civil war.
The jihadists often stated their conviction that the US will sooner or later get involved in Syria — not to topple the Assad regime, but to target them for death. Both believe that the US will use drones against Syrian jihadists — just like what is happening in Pakistan or Yemen.
Abu Salman is something of a free agent in the Syrian jihad, moving fluidly between groups depending on who needs his services.
But Abu Salman adds that he mostly works with Al Qaeda affiliates such as Jabhat Al Nusra and ISIS, or alternatively Ahrar Al Sham and Suqoor Al Sham, militias known for their strict interpretation of Islamic law. “They are the best fighters of Islam,” he explains.
Abu Salman believes that foreign jihadists in Syria have gotten a bad rap: He says he agreed to give this interview to explain to the world what foreign fighters are doing in Syria.
The presence of foreign jihadists is controversial among local supporters of the Syrian revolt. Foreign Islamists regularly flog or execute alleged regime supporters in Raqqa, while in Aleppo jihadists executed a Syrian youth they believed had committed blasphemy.
Kidnappings of Syrians, foreign journalists, and aid workers by Islamists are on the rise. Just this week, Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, a well-known Jesuit priest who lived in Syria for three decades and was staunchly pro-revolution, disappeared in Raqqa.
WP-BLOOMBERG
By Harald Doornbos and Jenan Moussa
European jihadists in Syria have been blamed by some Syrians for ruining the purity of their revolution, held up by Bashar Al Assad’s regime as a sign of that the rebels are foreign-backed radicals, and feared by Western security agencies as a potential terrorist threat. But despite all the talk about them, they rarely speak with outsiders about their beliefs and goals. So when two European jihadists agreed to speak with us, it marked the first time that fighters working with Al Qaeda inside Syria explained to the world why they are doing battle in Syria and what future they imagine for the country.
The two fighters — one of whom is an ethnic European who converted to Islam, while the other is ethnically neither European nor Arab, and was born a Muslim — set a couple of preconditions. Their real names and countries of origin could not be published; as they put it, “Europe will do.” They also wore masks during the interview, so they could not be recognized. “I still want to travel to my family in Europe,” one said.
It was also strictly forbidden to name the town where the interview would take place. “You can mention somewhere in northern Sham,” one of the men declared, a reference to Greater Syria — encompassing not only modern-day Syria but also Lebanon, Israel-Palestine, Jordan and Iraq — that existed in the early Islamic period.
Getting to the location of the interview posed another problem. In a sign of how perilous Syria has become, Al Qaeda-affiliated militants man a checkpoint slightly more than a mile outside the Atmeh refugee camp along the border with Turkey. And there were many more such checkpoints along the way to where the two European jihadists live. With kidnappings of journalists and aid workers by rebels spiking in recent months, locals all advised against the idea of driving deeper into the country. After long deliberations, we chose to stay in Atmeh and send a trustworthy Syrian middle-man on our behalf deeper inside the country. He carried our questionnaire, a camera and conducted the interviews.
The meetings with the European jihadists occurred separately, on two days in two locations. The interviews were conducted in English, as the fighters are not fluent in Arabic.
The phenomenon of European jihadists flowing into Syria is increasingly attracting the attention of Western security agencies, which fear what they will do when they return home. According to American and European intelligence officials speaking to The New York Times, more Westerners are currently fighting in Syria than in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia or Yemen: The estimates range from 600 to 1,000 fighters. Their primary motivation is religion — the vast majority are white converts to Islam or naturalised immigrants with a Muslim background.
The jihadists’ religious extremism, military experience in Syria, and the ease with which they could travel around Europe and the US make a potentially lethal cocktail.
Matthew Olsen, Director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, recently told a conference that Syria has become “the predominant jihadist battlefield in the world,” and raised fears that such jihadists could return “as part of really a global jihadist movement to Western Europe and, potentially, to the US.”
Abu Talal, a blond-haired, blue-eyed fighter sporting a black balaclava, is just the sort of religious warrior that keeps Western security officials up at night. He says that he came to Syria “to help the mujahideen [jihadists] against Bashar,” but refuses to say how he arrived from Europe. However, he adds that he “will visit my family [in Europe] again and then return to Syria.”
In the interview, Abu Talal, who carries a gun and sits in front of a black banner used by jihadist groups, says that he has joined the “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” (ISIS) — the Al Qaeda affiliate in Iraq that is both fighting against the Assad regime and attempting to extend its “Islamic emirate” into Syria.
The ISIS, which is headed by Iraqi national Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, is considered the most radical group in Syria. With bases in and around the Bab Al Hawa border crossing with Turkey, the northern cities of Raqqa and Aleppo, and the northwestern Turkmen Mountains, it is an extension of the Al Qaeda forces that battled US and Iraqi government troops in Iraq during that country’s civil war.
The jihadists often stated their conviction that the US will sooner or later get involved in Syria — not to topple the Assad regime, but to target them for death. Both believe that the US will use drones against Syrian jihadists — just like what is happening in Pakistan or Yemen.
Abu Salman is something of a free agent in the Syrian jihad, moving fluidly between groups depending on who needs his services.
But Abu Salman adds that he mostly works with Al Qaeda affiliates such as Jabhat Al Nusra and ISIS, or alternatively Ahrar Al Sham and Suqoor Al Sham, militias known for their strict interpretation of Islamic law. “They are the best fighters of Islam,” he explains.
Abu Salman believes that foreign jihadists in Syria have gotten a bad rap: He says he agreed to give this interview to explain to the world what foreign fighters are doing in Syria.
The presence of foreign jihadists is controversial among local supporters of the Syrian revolt. Foreign Islamists regularly flog or execute alleged regime supporters in Raqqa, while in Aleppo jihadists executed a Syrian youth they believed had committed blasphemy.
Kidnappings of Syrians, foreign journalists, and aid workers by Islamists are on the rise. Just this week, Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, a well-known Jesuit priest who lived in Syria for three decades and was staunchly pro-revolution, disappeared in Raqqa.
WP-BLOOMBERG
