The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that hundreds of Al Qaeda-linked jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) advanced overnight toward a Turkish border crossing. The move comes shortly after the group battled with elements of the more moderate Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA).
Meanwhile on Syria’s eastern border, jihadists are being described by journalists and outlets as spreading their “brutal influence” into Iraq.
The developments may trigger renewed calls to deepen Western efforts to influence and moderate opposition forces battling the Bashar al-Assad regime. Recent efforts have been halting, and within the last few weeks several rebel groups have realigned away from the West and with Al Qaeda.
Israeli officials had already over the summer begun issuing pointed warnings about the need to dampen the role of jihadists in Syria. Major General Aviv Kochavi, Israel’s head of Military Intelligence, had gone so far as to warn of an emerging “center of global jihad,” describing “thousands of global Jihad activists and radical Islamists from the region and from beyond.”
Roughly at the same time, the passport of an American was found at an Al Qaeda base in Syria. The Daily Beast recently reported that at least 10 Americans have joined Al Qaeda-affiliated groups in Syria.
While Americans have been found on both sides of the conflict – Rafiq Lotof, a New Jersey businessman, is known to have assisted in coordinating militias for the Syrian government – the movement of Western Sunni jihadists has become an issue of particular concern. France recently charged four people for having ties to Syrian jihadists.
Last month Reuters wrote up the dynamic as a Europe-wide problem:
Officials in Western countries say they are worried about the threat from their own nationals going abroad to fight in Syria and one day returning to carry out attacks at home.
“There is a key factor in the Syria war now: the number of French nationals who are fighting there. It is a problem of national security,” a senior French diplomat told Reuters.
Radicals heading to Syria are learning about the war online from social media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and user forums. Security experts say that makes it harder than ever to disrupt the networks that might lure them in… As many as 600 Europeans have already joined the rebellion against him, according to the European Union, which in May recommended better tracking of social media to spot foreign fighters.
[Photo: Scott Bobb / Wiki Commons]
