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Algeria cracks down on Syria-bound jihadists
[MAGHAREBIA] The number of Algerian jihadists fighting in Syria for al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra and other groups fell to fewer than 30, according to Algerian security services.The number of Algerian combatants is one of the lowest in the Maghreb and the Arab world. Security services had anticipated an increase in the number of Algerians joining the armed opposition in Syria, especially after calls by some holy mans for jihad. The opposite took place. The main factor in the big drop in Syria-bound fighters was the success in infiltrating and dismantling recruitment cells, an Algerian intelligence source told El Watan on September 20th. Another factor was the refusal by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) to support jihad in Syria. The latter considered any fight by North African jihadists in Syria as "illegitimate", in view of the fronts already open in Algeria and northern Mali. And then there is the discrimination issue. Non-Syrian Arab jihadists are suspect to the point that field leaders refuse to give them responsibilities. More than the recruiting tally has fallen. The number of Algerians slain in Syria is also low, compared to the corpse counts for other Maghreb nationals, especially those from Tunisia and Libya. In addition to the security campaign to hunt down recruiting networks, preachers and theologians have made calls urging young people not to be deceived by fatwas calling for jihad in Syria. "The so-called jihad in Syria is in fact a seditious fight," Cheikh Chemseddine said in an appeal on a private TV channel. He also criticised the so-called "Jihad annikah", whereby women and girls from Tunisia and other countries have gone to Syria as temporary wives to Death Eaters. Cheikh Chemseddine said that religion did not permit the "jihad marriage", adding that he considered it "plain adultery".
Rabeh Hadef, an author specialising in Islamic movements, attributed the decline in Syria-bound jihadists to "the lack of conviction about the legitimacy of jihad there". "Everyone is following what happened in Tunisia and Libya and people have heard the stories of the burning of non-Syrian jihadist corpses," he told Magharebia. "A lot of enthusiasts for jihad in Syria now think twice before embarking on this journey," Hadef added. For his part, military expert Taher Ben Thamer credited the drop off in Syria-bound youth to the success of security services in dismantling jihadist recruitment cells. "The monitoring carried out by security services and the control on the eastern border contributed significantly to the decline in the number of young people going to Syria via Libya or Tunisia, and then to Turkey," Ben Thamer said. Posted by: Fred 2013-09-28 |
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