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Source: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/08/01/we_will_win_this_fight_european_jihadists_syria
Blue-Eyed Jihad
(Foreign Policy) Harald Doornbos and Jenan Moussa - Two European jihadists working with al-Qaeda inside Syria explained to us why they are doing battle there and what future they imagine for the country. One is an ethnic European who converted to Islam, while the other is ethnically neither European nor Arab, and was born a Muslim. With kidnappings of journalists and aid workers by rebels spiking in recent months, we chose to stay along the border with Turkey and send a trustworthy Syrian middle-man on our behalf who carried our questionnaire, a camera, and conducted the interviews in English. Estimates of Westerners currently fighting in Syria range from 600 to 1,000. Their primary motivation is religion - the vast majority are white converts to Islam or naturalized immigrants with a Muslim background.