Syria, the New Afghanistan

Once upon a time it was Afghanistan where would-be jihadis went to receive training in terror tactics, so that they could return to their home countries and wreak havoc. Now, the Telegraph says, the jihadi destination of choice is Syria: “Al-Qaeda training British and European ‘jihadists’ in Syria to set up terror cells at home.”

British people fighting in Syria are being trained as “jihadists” and then encouraged to return to the UK to launch attacks on home soil, an al-Qaeda defector has told the Telegraph.

In a rare interview on Turkey’s border with Syria, the defector from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) said that recruits from Britain, Europe and the US were being indoctrinated in extremist anti-Western ideology, trained in how to make and detonate car bombs and suicide vests and sent home to start new terror cells. …

His comments echo the concerns of the security services at a time when it is feared that up to 500 Britons are fighting in Syria and could return to emulate attacks such as the London bombings and 9/11. …

It is feared that as genuine opposition groups fade in the war-torn country, extremist and terror groups such as ISIS will have an increasing influence allowing them to target more foreign recruits for their cause. …

“The foreigners were proud of 9/11 and the London bombings. The British, French and American mujahideen [holy warriors] in the room started talking about places that they wanted to bomb or explode themselves in Europe and the United States. Everyone named a target. The American said he dreamed of blowing up the White House.”

Nothing about this should be surprising. The Telegraph portrays its source, the al Qaeda defector, sympathetically. He became disillusioned with ISIS when they murdered a friend of his who was a loyal Muslim rebel, but not an al Qaeda pawn. Personally, however, I find this rather chilling–although, once again, not surprising:

“What is happening in Syria is not jihad. ISIS is not protecting Muslims it is killing them,” he said. “I want to tell all the mujahideen not come to Syria. This is not jihad; you will find yourself killing other Muslims.”

Right. For proper jihad, you need to be murdering Christians, atheists and Hindus. If that had been the case, this particular turncoat would still be happily committing jihad in Syria.

As noted earlier, there is nothing surprising about this report. However, the Europeans probably have more to worry about than we do, from this particular threat, since it is so much easier for European Muslims to make their way to Syria.