UN worried about foreign fighters
18 Oct 2012 6:28 AM IST
Foreign militants fighting in Syria could contribute to an increased ‘radicalisation’ of the conflict, members of a UN commission investigating rights abuses in the wartorn country said.
‘The presence of foreign militants, radical Islamists or jihadists, worries us very much,’ commission head Paulo Sergio Pinheiro told reporters, estimating there were hundreds of foreign combatants on the ground in Syria.
‘Their presence can contribute to radicalisation... this presence is particularly dangerous in a very volatile conflict,’ he said. Pinheiro added that the commission feared the foreign combatants were not fighting for ‘the building of a democratic state in Syria’ but ‘for their own agenda.’
‘The presence of foreign militants, radical Islamists or jihadists, worries us very much,’ commission head Paulo Sergio Pinheiro told reporters, estimating there were hundreds of foreign combatants on the ground in Syria.
‘Their presence can contribute to radicalisation... this presence is particularly dangerous in a very volatile conflict,’ he said. Pinheiro added that the commission feared the foreign combatants were not fighting for ‘the building of a democratic state in Syria’ but ‘for their own agenda.’
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