British Fighters in Syria Urge Others to Join ISIL

Local Editor

A British citizen fighting with an extremist groups in Syria has issued a call for others to join the country's civil war.

In a video posted online, a masked man speaking in a London accent says that "the doors of jihad are still open," and claims that he has helped three other Brits make the journey to Syria.

The man is believed to be a member of the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" - an extremist group formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda and similar in ideology. He has appeared in several other videos uploaded by a group called Rayat al-Tawheed, which claims to be the distributor of English-language materials for ISIL.

The plea from the fighter comes as UK authorities are becoming increasingly concerned at the number of British citizens travelling to Syria to join extremist groups in the three year old civil war. British and other non-Syrians travelling to Syria tend to gravitate towards al-Qaeda-type groups.
The total number of British participants in the conflict is estimated to be in the "hundreds", with as many as 20 thought to have died in the fighting. Charles Farr, the Home Office's terror chief, warned recently that Brits travelling to Syria represented the "the biggest challenge" to the security services since the 2001 Twin Tower attacks.

In a previous video, the same man spoke of the difficulties of fighting in Syria, saying "you don't just come here, put on a tactical vest, grab a Kalashnikov and get a big beard." In the video uploaded yesterday he takes a different approach, and actively encourages others to join him."We have managed to bring in three or four beloved brothers of Islam. You can see for yourself," he says, while sitting atop a heavy machine. The camera then turns to another man, wearing a balaclava, who also speaks with a British accent.

"We send you the greetings of Islam from the blessed lands of al-Sham. By the grace of Allah [..] he has enabled us to enter the blessed lands. The lands which the kuffar back home always tell you that if you plan to reach there will be a consequence for you."
Thousands of foreign fighters are thought to have travelled to Syria since the beginning of the conflict in 2011, with many of them crossing Syria's porous border with Turkey.
Scotland Yard revealed earlier this year that Syria-related terrorism arrests are soaring with 16 so far this year, compared with 24 for all of 2013.

Source: The Independent, Edited by website team