A study released last week by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Information Center in Tel Aviv, which culled open source materials including jihadist web sites, has assessed that Shiite foreign fighters in Syria may outnumber Sunni jihadists battling in that country’s nearly three year war. The evaluation, which was conveyed last week by the Washington Post, carries with it potentially high political and policy stakes.

According to the study released this week by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Information Center in Tel Aviv, there are currently 6,000 to 7,000 Sunni foreign fighters in Syria battling forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. The number of Shiite foreigners fighting on Assad’s behalf is estimated at 7,000 to 8,000. Syria has emerged as a powerful magnet for jihadist volunteers, who because of their religious fervor and outside financing play oversize roles in the fighting for and against the Assad regime, in what looks some days like a Sunni-Shiite proxy war.

The Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, which is backed by the Shiite regime in Iran, has consistently characterized itself as waging a counter-insurgency against terrorist groups linked to Al Qaeda and other radical jihadist groups. Iranian leaders, including Foreign Minister Mohamed Javad Zarif, have decried Sunni groups for fueling a sectarian conflict in the country. The Post notes that “the Israeli figures largely track other recent estimates made by groups such as the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the International Center for the Study of Radicalization in Britain.”

[Photo: Freedom House / Flickr ]