Group affiliation & current Location:
At least 59 of the Belgians who are or have been in Syria are in some way affiliated to Sharia4Belgium. Of these at least 28 have proven ties with the Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS). One still fights in the ranks of Jabhat an-Nusra and one, who has arrived on May 2nd 2014, claims to be affiliated with Jaysh al-Muhajireen wa’l-Ansar. It must be pointed out however still more of the unidentified are most likely fighting in the ranks of these last two groups. This could be explained by the mere fact that outside IS the use of social media seems to be in some way regulated.
In total at least 50 Belgians are affiliated with the Islamic State, 10 are linked to Jabhat an-Nusra, one with Kata’ib Al Muhajireen Fi Ard Sham, the previously mentioned one with Jaysh al-Muhajireen wa’l-Ansar, one is linked to Liwa Shuhada Idlib, one is affiliated with Faylaq as-Sham and 10 are linked to Suqur as-Sham.
For the first time we also found a Belgian fighting on the side of the regime. One guy from Mazée (Namur) is openly proud about fighting in the ranks of Bashar al-Assad’s army. Atleast two Belgian fighters are now in Iraq.
Origins & Identities:
Of the 385 Belgians fighting in Syria, 20 of them females, 113 have been identified fully and an additional 38 are known by one or more kunya’s (nom de guerre). Hereby the total of (semi-) identified Belgians fighting in Syria and Iraq
As for their origins; the previous trend continuously builds up:
- Brussels : 54
- Antwerp : 46
- Vilvoorde : 25
- Mechelen stable at a maximum of 14; only one female identified by kunya
- 10 people originate from smaller towns or cities.
It still remains remarkable most of the known Belgian fighters stem from Flanders and especially the axis Antwerp – Mechelen – Vilvoorde – Brussels. As noted in the previous update the amount of Walloon fighters stays remarkably low (updated to three, including the pro-regime fighter)
We know the ages of about 100 of them, varying between 13 (Younes Abaaoud) and 65 (Shaykh Bassam al-Ayashi). The average age of the Belgian fighters is about 24,5 years old.
Locations:
As far as our open source intelligence gathering allowed us, we were able to locate 73 Belgians in Syria. Some of them over the course of due time moved to ar-Raqqa as they became affiliated with the Islamic State.
Original count:
- Aleppo : 35
- Idlib : 12
- ar-Raqqa : 9 (most of them recently arrived)
- Homs : 7
- Damascus : 5
- Latakkia : 3
- Deir ez-Zor: 1
- Saraqib : 1
Updated count:
- Aleppo : 2 (but most likely more based on recent field-research byMontasser AlDe’meh.
- Idlib : 4
- ar-Raqqa : 20
- Homs : 0
- Damascus : 4
- Latakkia : 0 (killed in action)
- Deir ez-Zor : 0 (killed in action)
- Saraqib : 0 (killed in action)
The Belgian “Convoy of Martyrs”:
(in random order)
- Abd ar-Rahman al-Ayashi (aka Abu Hajjar), 38, Idlib, Suqur as-Sham
- Abdalgabar Hamdaoui, 34. Previously incorrectly linked to Sharia4Belgium, killed fighting in the ranks of Jabhat an-Nusra
- Abdel Monaïm Lachiri (aka Abu Sara), 33, Aleppo, ISIS
- Abu al-Bara’ al-Jaza’iri, N/A, Saraqib
- Abu Ali al-Baljiki, Idlib
- Ahmed Dihaj (aka Abu Atiq), 32, Sharia4Belgium, Jabhat an-Nusra
- Ahmed Stevenberg, Lattakia
- Anonymous (Vilvoorde)
- Anonymous (Vilvoorde)
- Anonymous (Brussels)
- Faysal Yamoun (aka Abu Faris al-Maghribi), 30, Antwerp, Sharia4Belgium, Jabhat an-Nusra
- Hamdi Mahmoud Saad, 32, Latakkia
- Houssien Elouassaki (aka Abu Fallujah), 22, Vilvoorde, Aleppo, Sharia4Belgium
- Isma’il Amghroud, 22, Maaseik, killed June 2013
- Khalid Bali (aka Abu Hamza), 17, Antwerpen, Deir ez-Zor, Sharia4Belgium, ISIS, killed May 2014
- Mohammed Bali (aka Abu Hudayfa), 24, Antwerp, Sharia4Belgium, ISIS, killed in Hama
- Noureddine Abouallal (aka Abu Mujahid), 23, Antwerp, Sharia4Belgium, killed in July 2013
- Raphael Gendron (aka Abdurauf Abu Marwa), 38, Brussels, Suqur as-Sham, Idlib, killed in April 2013
- Sean Pidgeon, Left Belgium in November 2012, killed in March 2013.
- Tarik Taketloune, Vilvoorde, 19, Sharia4Belgium, brother and wife still in Syria, killed in May 2013
- Younis Asad Rahman (aka Asad ar-Rahman al-Baljiki), Latakkia, killed in August 2013
- Abu Dujana al-Mali, ISIS, ar-Raqqa, killed in March 2014
- Saïd El Morabit (aka Abu Muthanna al-Baljiki), 27, Sharia4Belgium, ISIS, killed in March 2014
- Abu ‘Umar, ISIS (Brussels)
- Rustam Gelayev (son of Chechen warlord Ruslan Gelayev), Aleppo, killed in August 2012
- Nabil Azahaf (aka Abu Sayyaf), 21, Brussels, Sharia4Belgium, ISIS, killed in May 2014
- Anonymous, known as Abu Dujana Al Mali, ISIS, ar-Raqqa, killed in March 2014
- Karim Azzam (aka Abou Azzam), 23, Brussels, killed in April 2014
- Anonymous, known as Abu Salma Al-Belgiki, Deir ez-Zor province, killed in August 2013
- Anonymous, known as Abu Handalah, killed in Aleppo
- Anonymous, killed in clashes with tribal fighters on July 30th 2014 in al-Keshkeyyi, Deir ez-Zor province (see here for details)
- Iliass Azaouaj, 23, Brussels, killed by The Islamic State for alledged betrayal. Raqqa, August 2014 (source)