Where Syria & Iraq's Foreign Fighters Come From

From Niall McCarthy


The United States and its allies have carried out at least 5,000 airstrikes against the so-called Islamic State since August 2014. While the campaign has proved effective in halting the terror group's territorial gains, it has not stopped the flow of foreign fighters into the region. In 2012, there were an estimated 3,500 foreign militants inSyria and Iraq, a number that grew to over 25,000 in 2015. Tunisia is the largest origin country, followed by Saudi Arabia and Jordan.



This chart shows the estimated number of foreign fighters in Iraq/Syria from selected countries in 2015.

Source

Syria’s drained population

OVER the past few summers—when the paths are clear and the seas calm—Syria has churned out high numbers of migrants and refugees. But this year has seen the greatest outflow yet. The latest UN figures obtained by this newspaper (as yet unpublished) show that Syria’s population has shrunk to just 16.6m, down from a pre-war level of around 22m. With 4m UN-registered refugees abroad, at least 1m more unregistered and 7m internally displaced people, more than half the country’s population has been forced to move. UN officials think the number could be significantly higher than that, since estimates of the pre-war population vary widely. One indicator of this is satellite images of night-time electric-light intensity (evidence of human activity) which has fallen over 80% since the start of the war. Up to 250,000 people have died over the same period.

Those leaving cite several motives for moving now. Syria’s war is intensifying: the number of armed incidents rose from 4,000 in January to 6,000 in August, according to a data agency with scores of monitors on the ground. Some are fleeing Islamic State (IS) though many more are leaving from rebel-held areas that are being attacked by President Bashar Assad’s regime. Yet none of the four main countries hosting Syria’s registered refugees—Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq—recognises them as such. This means that they are unable to work legally. And by their own accounts, hostility towards them is rising. Small wonder Europe seems a more welcoming prospect.

See full article here. Source: I Fucking love Maps and  and The Economist

Syria’s night-time light emissions