December 07, 2013 12:19 AM
By Rami G. Khouri
The Daily Star
STORY SUMMARY
The worsening situation in Syria threatens the Middle East in many ways that will continue to evolve in the months and years ahead. But perhaps the most troubling threat is the continued expansion of the hard-line groups of Salafist-takfiri Islamists, such as the Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), that have established themselves in parts of Syria.
Syria is critical for the global network of militants because it allows local, regional and global groups to establish secure bases from where they can operate, mobilize and train recruits, coordinate globally, and carry out operations in Syria or abroad.
Europeans also now speak openly about the growing number of young Europeans flocking to Al-Qaeda-linked groups in Syria, and who now pose a “potential threat” for the European Union and its allies, as French and Belgian officials warned this week.
The French and Belgian interior ministers said that between 1,500 and 2,000 youths have gone to Syria to join Islamist groups working to topple the regime in Damascus.
As local and regional groups establish themselves in Syria, as they did in Iraq after the 2003 Anglo-American invasion, it becomes easier for Al-Qaeda to connect with them and expand its global network.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/2013/Dec-07/240166-worry-about-militant-islamists-in-syria.ashx#ixzz2my3eUWHh
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
Categories: Arab World, Asia, Syria
It is hypocritical for the Europeans to express ‘worry’ about European Militants flocking to Syria. Turkey is a NATO member and the NATO forces could easily stop the fighters travelling to Syria if they wanted to.
Most nations will be destroyed not by out side forces or armies but by local converts and they will destroy own nations ( due to teachings) like 57 islamic nations once christian or hindu or bhudhist.