Report: Al-Qaeda Has Long-Term Plans for Westerners in Syria

Pakistan Jihadists Sent to Train Westerners for Attacks Elsewhere

New reports are claiming al-Qaeda’s senior leadership is behind the recent deployment of seasoned jihadists from Pakistan into Syria, and they are part of “long-term plans” that have little to do with Syria itself.

The focus rather is on something else Syria’s civil war has attracted, Western fighters. Jihad-minded fighters with EU or American passports but not much experience have been flocking to Syria to join the Islamist factions there, with over 1,000 on the ground there now.

That’s been a concern for Western officials, and an opportunity for al-Qaeda, which is hoping their better trained fighters in Pakistan can organize and train the Westerners to be sent to launch attacks back in Europe and America, where their passports can get them into places the Pakistanis just can’t go.

Several al-Qaeda factions have seized control of large portions of northern Syria, and the protracted civil war there continues to be a better recruiter than al-Qaeda ever was, allowing them to get access to a lot of Western fighters.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.