Special to WorldTribune.com

LONDON — Europe has served as a key recruitment ground for the Sunni
revolt in Syria, a report said.

The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation asserted that
up to 600 Europeans have been recruited for the war against the regime of
President Bashar Assad.

In a report, the center said recruits stemmed from
at least 14 countries, including Britain, France and Germany.

“Between 140 and 600 Europeans have gone to Syria since early 2011,” the
report, authored by researcher Aaron Zelin, said.

Titled “European Foreign Fighters in Syria,” the report, released on
April 2, said up to 441 Europeans were still in Syria. The center said the
recruits also came from the Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain and other European Union states.

The center, part of Kings College in London, monitored Islamic website
linked to Al Qaida. The report said it found 250 notices of fighters killed
in Syria, with 134 of the dead having come from Britain.

“As with previous conflicts, the picture is far from complete and will
probably remain so for years to come,” the report said. “There is no true
census of foreign fighters, and publicly available sources are inevitably
incomplete.”

Zelin, the report’s author and a U.S. researcher, said that up to 5,500
foreigners arrived in Syria to fight the Assad regime. He said Europeans
comprise no more than 11 percent, although they might have fought in other
Islamist campaigns, including Iraq and Libya.

“The foreign fighters’ impact and military value may be disproportionate
when compared to locally recruited forces, given that foreigners are more
likely to have been involved in conflicts like Libya and Iraq and,
therefore, bring experience and skills that the locals don’t have,” the
report said.

An Islamist backlash in the aftermath of the Sunni revolt in Syria was
not expected, Zelin said. But he said those Europeans returning from combat
with the rebels could represent a threat.

“Not everyone who has joined the Syrian rebels is Al Qaida, and only a
small number may ever become involved in terrorism after returning to
Europe,” Zelin said. “That said, it would be wrong to conclude that
individuals who have trained and fought in Syria pose no potential threat.”

  Al Qaida, Bashar Assad, Hundreds of Europeans have been recruited to fight in Syria, International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, King College