France’s Interior Ministry has disclosed that some French citizens are taking part in jihadist activities alongside rebels in a number of hot spots – including Syria and Mali.
A statement was given by the Minister of the Interior, Manuel
Valls, who spoke to the French channel BFM TV on the difficulties
of ascertaining the exact whereabouts of French citizens and the
networks used to transport them between training camps and conflict
areas. He said that “it is well known that there are cells and
underground networks – there could be whole chains, when it comes
to the transportation of mujahedeen newcomers who yesterday could
well have been in Afghanistan or Pakistan.”
According to France, Syria currently harbors around several dozen
of their citizens who have joined the jihadist cause, that is a
good deal more than is estimated for other conflict zones, which
also include Somalia, Yemen and countries in the Sahel. “This is
obviously still a great cause for concern for us”, the minister
added.
The news comes after two French nationals were detained last week
in Mali. They had joined the Islamist rebels to fight the French
troops stationed there, France’s Defense Ministry reported on
Friday. There has always been a worry that disaffected French
youths could be traveling to Mali and returning home with the
skills to stage terrorist attacks in Europe. Preventing this was
one of the key objectives of France's Operation Serval, which has
been on-going since January 2013.
One of the French nationals was detained by Malian police and
extradited to France on Thursday, while another was caught while in
combat in the north of the country and was extradited the following
day. To the Defense Ministry’s knowledge, there are currently about
a dozen French nationals fighting alongside Islamist extremists in
Mali.
French law enforcement continues its strong crackdown on extremist
groups at home and abroad, as a result of which some have already
been discovered and shut down back home. There is extensive
cooperation on this matter between France and Mali. The interior
minister has said that “if it weren’t for this intervention,
Mali would now be a terrorist state right next door to the
countries of the Maghreb. Extremism is also a domestic enemy”.
Meanwhile, France, together with Britain, is taking part in a
US-led training program for those they describe as secular rebels
from the Syrian opposition. According to The Guardian, this is
being done in case security and order need to be upheld in the
event of the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad.