June 16 2013
The Dutch newspaper Volkskrant has published an email interview with an individual using the name Abu Fidaa, claiming to be fighting with rebel forces in Syria. In the email interview Fidaa writes that he and his fellow fighters estimate there are 100 to 150 Dutch youths in Syria. Two Dutch fighters have died so far, he writes.
Fidaa denies that youths are being recruited against their will, and refuses to say which group the Dutch men are fighting with for “security reasons”. “What use are young men who don’t want to fight?… If youngsters are being recruited it is by the west thanks to its barbaric wars in Muslim countries. The years of images we have seen in Iraq and Afghanistan have planted a longing for jihad in our hearts.”
