ASSESSMENTS

Jihadist Presence in the Syrian Uprising

Aug 1, 2012 | 10:30 GMT

Jihadist Presence in the Syrian Uprising
Members of a jihadist group train near Aleppo, Syria, on July 19

BULENT KILIC/AFP/GettyImages

Summary

At the beginning of the uprising in Syria, the opposition's fighters were mostly defected Syrian army soldiers and Syrian citizens. But as the rebel movement grew in size and intensity, reports emerged of fighters from Libya, Tunisia and other North African states joining the fight against the regime of President Bashar al Assad. Despite the influx of North African fighters, however, the opposition remained poorly armed and displayed no clear and organized command structure.

By the end of 2011, it became evident that Syrian citizens, army defectors and North African fighters were not alone in battling the regime. Jabhat al-Nusra, a jihadist faction, claimed a Dec. 23 double vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack on Syria's Office of the Security Directorate in Damascus — the opposition's first major blow against hardened security infrastructure. Since that time, Islamist and Salafist jihadists have been trickling into Syria from Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Jordan. Even with the removal of the al Assad regime, elements of the growing and increasingly diverse rebel movement, especially the jihadists, can be expected to sustain an insurgency that will have spillover effects in the region.

Foreign jihadists have joined Syria's rebels, but they may not be satisfied with regime change....

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