Thursday, May 31, 2012

Jihadi allies of the West

"According to Mustapha and other Lebanese affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, the main armed rebel group in Syria, some 300 Lebanese Sunnis from the northern Bekaa Valley area alone have taken up arms against the Assad regime in the past year. Most of them have joined FSA brigades in the area of Homs, Syria’s third-largest city.  The Lebanese recruits are not the only non-Syrians to volunteer for the struggle against the Assad regime, the FSA volunteers say. Other foreign fighters include Jordanians, Tunisians, Algerians, and Saudis."  In fact, the Libyans may be the biggest contingent.

PS I have to register a word of caution.  The article is by Nicholas Blanford, whose credibility (after the Time magazine fiasco interview with suspects of the Hariri court and after interviews with Hizbullah "fighters") is very low.