Wave of British Jihadists Flock to Syria War

Over 100 British Islamists Fighting in Syria

The increasingly sectarian tone of the Syrian Civil War has seen Sunni militants flocking to the nation to join the rebel forces. They came en masse from Libya, from Egypt, recently a large influx came from Chechnya, but Great Britain?

Apparently so, as The Independent is reporting a wave of British jihadists flocking to Syria, with over 100 fighters now believed to be on the ground, fighting for assorted rebel factions, many of them al-Qaeda aligned.

The influx reflects Syria’s beginning to replace places like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia as the fashionable place for up-and-coming Islamist militants to be, fight a war endorsed not only by al-Qaeda’s leadership, but also by the British government.

Of course Britain isn’t encouraging its citizens to flock to Syria in such numbers to become fighters for a new Islamic Emirate, but it is actively working to change EU laws so they can ship them advanced weaponry to achieve their common goal. The long-term concern of what happens when these British citizens come home from war, or when their interest turns to a war the British government isn’t on the same side of, cannot be overstated.

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.