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The Syrian
rebel groups pulling in foreign fighters
by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
BBC
December 24, 2013
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Throughout the Syrian civil war, one of the major
concerns of Western powers in particular has been the inflow of Sunni
foreign fighters, who come from the wider Arab world, Western Europe, and
as far afield as Kazakhstan and Indonesia.
According to a recent estimate
by Aaron Zelin of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, there
could be up to 11,000 of these fighters. It raises the questions of which
groups they join, and what the relations between these groups are.
By far the two most popular banners for these foreign fighters are
al-Qaeda's official Syrian affiliate, the al-Nusra Front, and the Islamic
State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).
ISIS is the result of a unilateral attempt by the leader of Iraq's
al-Qaeda affiliate, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to merge his group with al-Nusra.
The move was rejected al-Nusra's leader, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, and by
al-Qaeda overall leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, but Baghdadi refused to disband
ISIS.
Activist
networks
Of the two organisations, ISIS appears to attract more foreign fighters.
They constitute a majority of ISIS's elite fighter corps and are
disproportionately represented in its leadership, as opposed to native
Syrian majorities on both counts in al-Nusra.
However, it would be a mistake to conclude, as is often reported, that
ISIS in Syria overall is primarily a group of foreigners.
On the contrary, I would estimate at least a 60-70% Syrian majority in
ISIS's Syrian branch.
This is because the group, bolstered by abundant financial resources,
maintains extensive activist and service networks run by locals, such as
the Islamic Administration for Public Services, which provides electricity
and buses among other services in Aleppo.
In any event, ISIS is increasingly recruiting native Syrians to conduct
important military operations, and understands that to perpetuate its
existence in Syria, it must recruit from the next generation.
Hence, outreach to children is a key part of ISIS's modus operandi for
consolidating power.
Saudis and
Moroccans
Besides al-Nusra and ISIS, there are several other groups to which
foreign fighters congregate.
They are particularly concentrated in the Latakia countryside, near the
Mediterranean coastline.
During the summer, these groups - along with al-Nusra and ISIS - played
a leading role in an ultimately unsuccessful rebel offensive on Alawite
areas, with the aim of scoring a symbolic victory by capturing President
Bashar al-Assad's ancestral village of Qardaha.
Of these other groups, some are formations independent of both al-Nusra
and ISIS, even though they have ideological affinity.
For example, primarily based in the Latakia countryside, there are the
two groups Suqour al-Izz and Harakat Sham al-Islam.
The former, founded at the beginning of this year, is led by Saudi
foreign fighters; the latter, established in the summer, is led by Moroccan
foreign fighters.
Both have attracted fighters of other nationalities, including some
Syrians.
Ideological
affinities
Outside of Latakia, the most notable independent formations are the
Green Battalion and Jamaat Jund al-Sham.
The Green Battalion is based in the Qalamoun area of Damascus province
and was founded in the summer by Saudi fighters who are of similar
ideological orientation to ISIS and al-Nusra but had personal problems both
groups.
However, in the recent intense battles in Qalamoun with regime forces
and Shia militias, the Green Battalion co-ordinated operations with ISIS
and al-Nusra.
Jamaat Jund ash-Sham was founded last year by Lebanese fighters in
western Homs governorate but has since incorporated many Syrians into its
ranks. Ideologically, it is close to ISIS and al-Nusra, and nothing
suggests personal tensions with either organisation.
Other foreign fighter groups are or have been mere fronts for ISIS. The
most notable case is Jaysh al-Muhajirin wa al-Ansar, based primarily in
Aleppo, Idlib and Latakia provinces.
In May, its leader- Omar al-Shishani - was appointed northern commander
for ISIS by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, with authority over Aleppo, Raqqa,
Latakia and northern Idlib provinces.
From that time until late November, Jaysh al-Muhajirin became synonymous
with ISIS, both in its own discourse and in the eyes of other rebels.
Yet since late November, Jaysh al-Muhajirin has split, with Shishani and
his followers now only identifying themselves as part of ISIS, and those
wanting to operate as an independent group appointing a new commander:
Salah al-Din al-Shishani.
Also in November, an independent group of foreign fighters in Latakia -
the Lions of the Caliphate Battalion, led by Abu Muadh al-Masri - pledged
formal allegiance to ISIS.
'World
domination'
The concluding question that vexes governments is what kind of threat,
if any, these foreign fighters may pose to the outside world.
Of all the above groups, ISIS most openly expresses the ultimately
global nature of its struggle, in which the end goal is world domination,
delusional as that may seem.
Indeed, it is likely for this reason that ISIS appears to be attracting
the most foreign fighters, who generally come from global jihadist
ideological backgrounds and already had this worldview before coming to
Syria.
At the same time, ISIS fighters and supporters make clear to me that a
fight against the UK, for example, is destined for the far future, after an
Islamic state is established in Iraq and Syria and then extended throughout
the Muslim world as a caliphate.
Some statements purportedly from ISIS and al-Nusra have appeared with
threats to attack Turkey, but these have all been forgeries from pro-Assad
circles.
As for the other groups, the testimony of one fighter who went to
Latakia has suggested that Harakat Sham al-Islam is using Syria as a
training ground to prepare to fight the government in Morocco - something
that has otherwise not appeared in the group's discourse.
As an official al-Qaeda affiliate, al-Nusra is committed to a
transnational project of a caliphate, but its leader and its native Syrian
component tend not to talk openly about such a goal. Instead, they
emphasise the more immediate objective of establishing Islamic law for the
people of Syria.
Turkish
corridor
Given the protracted nature of the conflict in Syria that will likely
continue without a meaningful peace agreement for at least 10 to 15 years,
the problem of inflow of foreign fighters will remain for quite some time
to come.
At present, however, there is little that can be done beyond pressuring
Turkey (which it can be argued has for a while turned a blind eye partly in
the belief that the foreign fighters are useful proxies against Syrian
Kurdish militias seen as the greater threat) to take rigorous measures to
crack down on smuggling networks for foreign fighters and adopt more
thorough vetting policies at airports.
To be sure, Turkey has always denied facilitating the inflow of foreign
fighters, but testimony from both foreign fighters and those who run
smuggling networks points to neglect on the part of Turkish authorities.
To a lesser extent, Iraq and Lebanon have also served as conduits for
foreign fighters - both Shia and Sunni.
However it is not only lack of central government control over porous
border areas which has enabled foreign fighters to reach Syria from Iraq
and Lebanon.
Factionalism, sectarianism and dysfunction have also led to a lack of
united effort and willpower to deal with the problem.
Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a student at Brasenose College, Oxford
University, and a Shillman-Ginsburg Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
Related
Topics: Radical Islam, Syria | Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
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