Al-Qaeda recruits entering Syria from Turkey safehouses

Hundreds of al-Qaeda recruits are being kept in safe houses in southern Turkey, before being smuggled over the border to wage “jihad” in Syria, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
The network of hideouts is enabling a steady flow of foreign fighters – including Britons – to join the country’s civil war, according to some of the volunteers involved.
These foreign jihadists have now largely eclipsed the “moderate” wing of the rebel Free Syrian Army, which is supported by the West. Al-Qaeda’s ability to use Turkish territory will raise questions about the role the NATO member is playing in Syria’s civil war.
Turkey has backed the rebels from the beginning – and its government has been assumed to share the West’s concerns about al-Qaeda. But experts say there are growing fears over whether the Turkish authorities may have lost control of the movement of new al-Qaeda recruits – or may even be turning a blind eye.
”Every day there are Mujahideen coming here from all different nationalities,” said Abu Abdulrahman, a Jordanian volunteer managing the flow of foreign fighters. He handles a network of receiving centers in southern Turkey for volunteers wishing to join al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, known as “the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL).
He spoke from inside an al-Qaeda safe house, using the Skype account of an intermediary and with volunteers from several countries, including Britain, listening in.
Once the volunteer reaches Turkey, there are “procedures” before he can join al-Qaeda, explained Abu Abdulrahman: “If you want to enter, you have to be a proper Muslim. We have to research you to make sure you are not a spy. If you are foreign, someone in our network needs to recommend you,” he said.
These hideouts are generally apartments rented under false names in villages along Turkey’s frontier with Syria. The recruits sometimes wait for weeks until they are cleared to cross the border. The homes are also used as “rest houses” for al-Qaeda fighters from the frontline in Syria.
Perhaps 10,000 foreign fighters may now be in Syria, according to analysts. Some are hardened veterans of the Iraq war; others are young “first-time jihadists” – with a significant proportion from Western countries.
Abu Abdullah, an Australian volunteer, said that he left to fight in Syria because a “Western lifestyle stands against Islam”.
But Abu Abdullah faltered as he tried to recall a passage from the Koran: “I am sorry, I am not the most knowledgeable of Muslims. Allah forgives me for that,” he said.
Charles Lister, from IHS Jane’s, a defense consultancy, said: “There are strong suggestions that the number of foreign jihadists in Syria is increasing. Definitely taking a look at the nature of ISIL presence, the geographical spread of foreigners is expanding. This is likely to do with the ease with which recruits can cross the border.”
Another analyst said that Turkey was “turning a blind eye” to the number of foreign fighters entering Syria across its territory, including through Antakya, the capital of the border province of Hatay. The result, he added, was that jihadists had become a “thorn” in Turkey’s side, seizing de facto control of towns and villages near the border.
Turkish officials vehemently deny this, blaming the influx on the failure of the international community to settle the Syrian war. “We have never been soft on this issue. We do not tolerate the presence of extremists and terrorist elements on our soil,” said one Turkish official. “If jihadists have crossed, it has been without our knowledge and out of our control. The presence of extremists in Syria is a common concern for Turkey and other countries – and the reason why the numbers of jihadists continues to grow in Syria is because of the failure of the international community to solve the crises at hand.”
In the border town of Kilis, three hours drive from Antakya, jihadists feel comfortable enough to sip coffee in the lobbies of hotels murmuring quietly to their colleagues. This week the Telegraph spoke to one a member of ISIL in one of these hotels. Whether Turkey wants to or not, “she has been very good to us,” the jihadi, who wouldn’t be named, said, with a wink.

Source: Breaking News Network