An Israeli official remarked for the first time publicly about events unfolding in Iraq on Thursday, in a UN discussion on the situation and on the growing problem of foreign jihadists entering Syria.
Israeli ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor opened the discussion in the UN General Assembly by condemning the violence in Iraq and reaching out to Turkey over the hostage crisis in Tikrit. On Wednesday, the Al Qaeda-linked group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) stormed the Turkish embassy, kidnapping over 80 people; Turkey has threatened to intervene if any citizen is armed.
“The thoughts and prayers of the Israeli public are with the hostages and their families,” Prosor stated.
The ambassador then warned the Assembly that the Iraq situation proves that the problem of foreign jihadists in Syria is spiraling out of control.
“More than 10,000 foreign fighters have joined the fighting in Syria, and some of them have managed to return home and are spreading terror,” Prosor stated. “The citizens of the world should be aware that fundamentalist terrorists are moving from place to place.”
“Borders today are being invaded – and this week, we are seeing more than ever how terror organizations are sitting relatively quietly and then waiting for the right moment, gaining strength to bring ruin and destruction,” he continued. “The current situation demands international intervention.”
Earlier this week, ISIS forces from Syria invaded the northwestern cities of Mosul, Tikrit, and Kirkuk, imposing Islamic Sharia law and a sparking a mass refugee crisis. On Friday morning, officials also admitted that ISIS terrorists had seized the eastern town of Jawlala, security sources told BBC.
The front – which analysts say is closing in slowly on Baghdad – highlights the phenomenon of terrorism being exported from Syria, in the civil war which has mushroomed from a mere political conflict to an all-out Islamic holy war, now responsible for the deaths of 160,000 people.
Over 75,000 foreign nationals have been estimated to be fighting in the Islamic holy war in Syria, and western security services are concerned about what this means for their own countries’ future security.
In January, eyewitness accounts have confirmed what analysts have long suspected: that Al Qaeda is training Western nationals in the war-torn country to bring fundamentalist Islam – and terrorism – back home with them.
Foreign nationals have also been linked to several anti-Semitic incidents and terror attacks in other countries, most notably May’s horrific shooting attack at the Jewish Museum in Belgium.
But the terror war has also enveloped other regions in the Middle East as well, with Syria-based conflicts and sectarian clashes spreading from Damascus to Syria’s neighbors, including Iraq and Lebanon.
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