UK citizen invites Britons to battle in Syria, video shows

A British man operating alongside militants in Syria has called on fellow citizens in a recruitment video to join armed groups in the Arab country.

In the video, released by an al-Qaeda-linked group, the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a masked man with a London accent encourages “brothers and sisters” back home to rush to Syria to engage in what he calls the “holy war.”

The man also claims that he has helped three other British citizens make the journey into Syria.

The footage, entitled “UK brothers in Syria,” is believed to have been shot in Syria’s western Syrian city of Hama.

The video also shows another Briton who urges people to ignore London’s travel warnings and join the growing ranks of foreign militants operating against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Western intelligence agencies have warned that foreign militants inside Syria pose a potential security threat when they return home.

In February, Charles Farr, head of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism in the UK Home Office, said the security threat from those militants fighting the Syrian government is the “biggest challenge” facing the UK police and intelligence agencies since the September 11, 2001 attacks targeting London.

UK intelligence sources told the Daily Telegraph in December last year that from among the 1,000 Westerners operating against the Syrian government over 300 are British nationals.

Britain played a major role in fanning the flames of Syria conflicts by arming and training militants.

The European Union foreign ministers agreed in May last year to lift the arms embargo on the militants in Syria. The UK was among the countries that lobbied to persuade other EU member states to lift restrictions on the supply of weapons to the militants.