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Up to 11,000 Foreign Fighters in Syria; Steep Rise Among Western Europeans
(International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation-King's College-UK) Aaron Y. Zelin - Based on more than 1,500 sources, we estimate that up to 11,000 individuals from 74 nations have become opposition fighters in Syria - nearly double our previous estimate in April. Among Western Europeans, the number has more than tripled from (up to) 600 in April to 1,900 now. This does not mean that the fight against Assad is led or dominated by "foreign forces." The "foreign contingent" still doesn't represent more than 10% of the militant opposition. The writer is a fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.