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Disillusioned Foreign Fighters Abandon Rebel Ranks in Syria
(Financial Times-UK) Erika Solomon and Sam Jones - Hundreds of foreign fighters have abandoned rebel ranks in northern Syria as frustration rises over bloody infighting there - a trend that suggests declining enthusiasm among hardline Sunni Muslim militants participating in Syria's civil war. More than 4,000 people have died in three months of rebel-on-rebel clashes across opposition-held territories in northern and eastern Syria. "Since the second week of January until now...hundreds, if not more than two thousand, went back to their home countries," said a coordinator for the Nusra Front, a Syrian rebel group affiliated with al-Qaeda that has embraced many foreign fighters. An estimated 11,000 foreign fighters remain in Syria and European intelligence analysts say the number of militants leaving is small - and fighters are still coming.