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North African Fighters in the Syrian and Iraqi Conflict

(Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah - About 5,000 fighters originating from North African countries have joined the ranks of IS and Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria and Iraq. The biggest contingent is Tunisian (3,000), followed by Moroccan (1,500) and Algerian (500-800). There are also European fighters of North African origin (mostly from France and Belgium) estimated at 1,500-2,000. The North Africans represent roughly 50% of the foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq. Recently, North Africa's younger jihadist generation has broken away from al-Qaeda, seeking to join IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's caliphate in order to benefit from its success and wealth. The U.S.-led coalition's sporadic airstrikes in Iraq and Syria seem to have afforded the Islamic State with even more legitimacy in the eyes of North Africa's jihadists. By November 2014, 219 Moroccans had died in Syria and 32 in Iraq, including 20 in suicide attacks. About 500 Tunisians had died in combat. Most of the Moroccans who have joined the Islamic State come from the north of the country, an area hit by severe unemployment. The fact that the Islamic State pays salaries that cannot even be imagined in Morocco - $2,000-3,000 a month (with more if married and for each child) - is definitely a factor in their enrollment as jihadists.
2015-01-30 00:00:00
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