Eurojust Acknowledges: Hundreds of Europeans Joining Terrorists in Syria

CAPITALS, (ST) – “Hundreds of Europeans, including Belgians are joining armed terrorist groups in Syria,” acknowledged Head of the European Union Judicial Cooperation Unit (Eurojust) Michele Coninsx on Sunday, but she didn’t explain how they arrived in the country.

The remarks came amidst reports by Belgian newspapers on the increasing number of Belgians who join the mercenary terrorist groups in Syria.

In the light of these reports, the Belgian authorities decided to adopt necessary procedures to prevent young Belgians from joining the ranks of armed groups to take part in the’ “war” in Syria.

According to media reports, the number of Belgian gunmen in Syria is between 50 and 80. A banned movement in Belgium calling itself “Sharia for Belgium” is responsible for helping these gunmen come to Syria.

Meanwhile, in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and within the same context, the Yemeni “Al Share'” independent newspaper uncovered on Sunday that Yemen’s President Abd Rabbuh  Mansur Hadi two days ago received a secret intelligence report on more than 5000 young Yemenis having been recruited to fight against the Syrian state. According to the report, those fighters were illusively sent to Qatar under the pretext that Qatar want to recruit them in the “Qatari Guards” in preparation for sending them later to Syria across Turkey. 

A high ranking security source, who asked not to be named, said that religious leaders in the (Yemeni Reform Party) have worked hard over the past four months to recruit young people from several Yemeni tribes by cheating them that Qatar wants to recruit Yemenis within the ranks of its guards for attractive financial offer. Many young Yemenis accepted to travel to Qatar where they received training and later on they were moved to Turkey in preparation for being sent to Syria to fight along with the so-called “Free Army”.     

According to the source, tens of the recruited Yemenis fled across the Syrian-Lebanese borders and a number of them were able to return to their homeland.

On Saturday, the Yemeni “al-Jumhour” newspaper published a report saying that 10000 young Yemenis were sent to fight with terrorists in Syria. Most of them joined the “al-Nusra Front” while others joined the so-called “Free Army”.

In Tunis, the Tunisian “al-Shouroq” newspaper said that the country’s current authorities have encouraged sending Tunisian terrorists to Syria, referring in this regard to statements made by Tunisia’s interim President Munsef al-Marzouki concerning what is called “jihad” in Syria, and which caused a big legal trouble to the Tunisian judicial authorities.

In this connection, a number of legal Tunisian figures called for implementing the terrorism law against all who are involved in the process of recruiting Tunisian youths and sending them to join “Jihad” against the Syrian people.

H. Mustafa