Over 200 Algerian fighters in Syria out of 20,000 fighters

According to figures that were provided by the American “Soufan Group” which is specialized in security studies, show that 200 fighters, which it said they are Algerians, have joined the ranks of the “Daesh” in the Shem, led by the so-called Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and that of the total of more than 20,000 fighters from various countries, who joined the ranks of the terrorist group which splinted from “al-Qaeda”.

Number of foreign fighters who have traveled to Iraq and Syria, to join the armed organization and other armed groups, reached more than 20,000 who came from various regions of the world, according to the American Foundation which asserted that “Daesh” managed to attract the largest number of fighters, more than the figures which were recorded in Afghanistan, during the ten years of the war between the coalition forces and al-Qaeda.

American Foundation’s report, that was issued on Friday, under the title “Islamic State: Foreign fighters in Syria”, shows that the Tunisian fighters are ranked first in ” Daesh”, in term of the number of nationalities which joined this organization, with 3,000 Tunisians.

Saudi Arabia ranked second behind Tunisia with 2,275 fighters in Iraq and Syria, then Jordan came third by exporting more than 2,000 fighters, while the number of fighters who are Moroccan reached 1,500 fighters, and what is exciting in the ranking is the large number of fighters from Russia, Turkey and France, as the number of Russian fighters reached 800 fighters, the French 700, then Turkish and English reached 400 fighters each, Australia and Belgium with 250 fighters for each one of them.

Foreign fighters who joined “Daesh” came from 81 countries, according to the American Foundation, as they came from China, Somalia, Bosnia and Pakistan, to Denmark, Austria, Norway, and even Australia, Canada, without offering any data on the number of youth people who have migrated to Iraq and Syria.

As for the reasons of the refusal of Algerians to join the jihadist organizations abroad, especially “Daesh”, Middle East Center provided, in a lengthy study three reasons, the most important is the Algerian public discourse, religious circle and the Algerian state policies towards them, and the level of security in the country.

The institute explained that the first reason is the black decade experience that made the longing for security and stability after that stage, a matter of urgency for the Algerians, the second reason is “the rise of the Salafist Preaching Movement, or the so-called Scientific Salafism, that befell as a substitute for jihad and political action”, while the third is the security rigor, despite that some sporadic jihadist attacks, the Algerian security forces have high capabilities to counter them”.