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| Group 'Sharia4Belgium' |
Belgium no longer known for Beer and Chocolates alone, now also 'Hotbed' of Jihad export. (Jamestown). By Guy VanVlierden.
Belgium has in recent years produced some of the largest numbers of foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, both in absolute and relative terms of any European country.
This article aims to take a critical look at the numbers of Belgian fighters active with the Islamic State and other militant groups in Iraq and Syria, and explain why and how Belgium has become a leading exporter of jihadist fighters.
The Belgian government’s latest estimate of the number of Belgian fighters in the Syrian-Iraqi conflict is about 380 (HLN, April 7).
However, independent research by the Belgian historian and Arabist Pieter Van Ostaeyen and this author found that 482 people are known to have at least departed to the conflict, including those who were stopped before they reached their goal, were killed or who have since returned. a total number of nearly 500 Belgians who have joined—or tried to join—the Syrian jihad seems plausible.
Even the Belgian government’s lower estimate of 380 would give Belgium the largest number of jihadists per capita, with 33.9 fighters per one million inhabitants. In Western Europe, only Sweden (30.6) and Denmark (26.3) come close to that, and only when calculated at their highest estimates. High end estimates for Germany (22.3) and France (18.1) show far fewer relative numbers of jihadists, and only high end estimates of 2,000 fighters for the UK (31.0) result in a comparable rate (Daily Telegraph, November 24, 2014).
Strikingly, on the entire European continent, Belgium’s number of foreign fighters per capita is only surpassed by two Muslim-majority Balkan states, both of which have a recent history of war and related jihadist activity: Bosnia and Herzegovina with 87.2 fighters per million inhabitants, and Kosovo with a stunning 157.9.
Underlining the high levels of sympathy for jihadist groups, in an Italian study of two million posts on Twitter and Facebook, the only countries showing a higher proportional level of popular online support for the Islamic State than Belgium were Qatar and Pakistan (Guardian, November 28, 2014). Hmmm.....A year ago i already said Belgium was the 'hotbed' for Jihad, mainly because the Belgian Gov let things 'go with the flow' for many years in the past. Read the full story here.
@zaidbenjamin @kufr666 If anything it shows again that #Belgium is a hotbed for jihadis , considering the small population @GuyVanVlierden
— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) January 13, 2015
Related: Aug 2014 -"Belgistan" Hotbed for Jihadis, 270 Belgians in the ranks of the Islamic State.
Belgium the 'hotbed' for terrorists? Belgian arms dealer confesses to supplying Charlie Hebdo attackers
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