More than 20,000 Foreign Fighters May Be in Iraq and Syria, More than Afghanistan in 1980s
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Hope Milam/iStock/Thinkstock(LONDON) — The International Center for the Study of Radicalization, at London’s Kings College, a leading think tank, released a report on Monday placing the number of foreign fghters in the Syrian/Iraq conflict at over 20,000 — more than there were in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
The report includes about 4,000 Europeans and 100 Americans believed to be among the ranks of the jihadists. Relative to population size, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden were the most heavily affected countries, though in sheer numbers, there are more foreign fighters from France, the United Kingdom and Germany.
Still, the Middle East remains the dominating source of foreign fighters, with 11,000 individuals from other Middle Eastern nations believed to be joining the fight in Iraq and Syria. Another 3,000 come from countries that formely belonged to the Soviet Union.
The ICSR says that the current mobilization is the largest number of foreign fighters in Muslim-majority countries since 1945.
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