Just 18 years old, Hamad al-Tamimi says he was a religious studies student in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, before jihadists influenced and recruited him online. Now he's in the hands of Iraqi authorities, accused of being an ISIS fighter captured in Iraq's west.
Al-Tamimi is one of numerous foreign fighters believed to have swelled the Sunni extremist group's ranks in recent months. On Thursday, the CIA made a startling announcement: The number of people fighting for ISIS is more than three times the previous estimates. Analysts and U.S. officials initially estimated there were as many as 10,000 fighters, including those who were freed from prisons by ISIS, and Sunni loyalists who have joined the fight as the group advanced across Iraq. But now ISIS, which calls itself the "Islamic State," can "muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria," a CIA spokesman told CNN on Thursday.
"This new total reflects an increase in members because of stronger recruitment since June following battlefield successes and the declaration of a caliphate, greater battlefield activity and additional intelligence," the spokesman said.
INC News, 12/09/2014
No comments:
Post a Comment