Published Wednesday, October 15, 2014
An estimated 15,000 militants from at least 80 countries are believed to have entered Syria to join units that are now part of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), The Washington Post revealed in a map tracking the flow of foreigners travelling to Syria.
The map is a compilation of data provided by the CIA as well as studies conducted by The Soufan Group and International Center for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR) regarding the number of foreign militants fighting with extremist groups in Syria.
According to the map, Tunisia comes in first place with an estimated 3,000 militants currently operating in Syria.
Saudi Arabia follows with 2,500, Jordan with 2,089, and then Morocco with 1,500.
Lebanon, with a population of four million, comes in fifth place with 890 jihadists.
With Western countries exporting a fifth of the militants (an estimated 3,000), Russia comes in first place with 800 fighters and UK in second place with 488.
When it comes to the US, a total of 130 militants have left the country to join ISIS.
On May 25, a young American man, Mounir Mohammed Abu Salha, known as al-Amriki, detonated a massive truck bomb in Idlib in north-western Syria.
A video showing the Florida-born Abu Salha shredding his passport before the attack has raised fear and public awareness among US citizens of foreign fighters leaving the country to Syria.
The map also shows 20 fighters coming from occupied 1948 Palestine. However, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth puts the number at 30.
The death of Israeli-Palestinian Ahmed Habashi in Iraq after joining ISIS highlighted the growing trend of Israeli-Palestinians joining terrorist groups in Syria. Fouad Mansour, an activist from the Israeli-occupied town of Tira, said "that despite a new government decision to outlaw any signs of support for ISIS, the police and courts do not implement any sanctions against the group's local supporters."
"They just let them go. Even those who enter Syria and then come back get off with a light sentence of up to two years. That means that Israel is just turning a blind eye and giving supporters a green light to continue," he explained.
According to a study conducted by The Soufan Group, “the influx of fighters joining al-Qaeda affiliated groups in Syria raise questions about the effectiveness of the work that has gone in undermining the appeal of terrorism since 2001, and the general understanding of its causes.”
(Al-Akhbar)
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