Foreign fighters in Iraq & Syria

[davidbfpo]

Part of the problem today is looking at the 'foreign fighters' (FF) issue through Syrian "lens" and not considering the history.

Bob's World stated:

Anyone who volunteers to go fight in someone else's war for anything other than significant money is an "extremist." After all, what could be more extreme behavior?

History has plenty of examples of FF participating in the "good fight" and allowing for the cause to be truly foreign. So I have excluded the French aid to your War of Independence and that rendered to Texas against Mexican rule.

How about the pilots who came to aid Great Britain in WW2 (WW1 too IIRC) and the unofficial mission to China, Chenault's Tigers?

[Firn]

As written before there are good reasons why one should be careful to keep the legal and the intelligence issue distinct:

1) It would be criminal not to monitor their activities closely because their decision and their stay proves that they are much more likely to use violence to achieve their political goals compared to a control group. That does of course require ressources but likely a lot less then reaction 2.

2) Creating now harsh laws to throw them quickly into prison for a considerable amount of time is not only problematic from a legal point I guess but requires a lot of ressources for a long time.

Generally I'm not surprised that the British gov has used an additionally path in many cases, stripping holders of two passports of their British one. Once again it seems to me that this raises legal questions but can be a 'cheap' solution for the respective group.

[davidbfpo]

Not a development that anyone anticipated. A short US article:http://www.buzzfeed.com/mikegiglio/s...ere-do-they-go

Facing a sudden backlash in Syria, some foreign fighters are now doing just that — dropping their weapons and fleeing the war — according to rebels, activists and analysts tracking the conflict.

[davidbfpo]

A serving Australian soldier has been killed fighting with rebels in Syria.

The ABC has been told that the man was an infantry soldier who was still a member of the Australian Defence Force when he travelled to Syria to fight against the regime of Bashar al-Assad.....However, it is understood that he died two months ago....But the Australian is believed to be the first serving member of a Western army to be killed while fighting with the rebels.

Link:http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-1...-syria/5329184

[davidbfpo]

Raffaello Pantucci has a medium length commentary, with a Syrian focus, as the title suggests 'Foreign fighters – Battle-hardened Europeans return from Syria':http://raffaellopantucci.com/2014/01...rn-from-syria/

He concludes:

Rising numbers of European citizens travelling to fight for Islamist groups in the Syrian civil war increase the domestic terrorism threat as they return home.

European fighters in Syria are from a diverse range of nationalities and ethnicities, with the domestic threat seemingly most elevated in the Balkans, Belgium, and the United Kingdom.

The risk of domestic militant attacks in European countries will rise further should Syria’s civil war continue.

[AdamG]

Dual post from the MidEast thread on Syria.

Terrorists who shuttle back and forth to fight in Syria may pose the next big threat to the West, according to U.S., European and Russian intelligence officials.

Intelligence professionals tell NBC News that Islamic militants act almost like vacationers as they travel back and forth to the world’s most active conflict zone, where they are being trained to conduct attacks both inside and outside the war-torn country.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investig...t-syria-n72371