Foreign Fighters in Syria a Potential Security Problem in Other Countries

July 30,2013

The Assad government in Syria is facing tough opposition from rebels who have been joined by militants from other countries. These foreign fighters provide firepower to the rebels but experts say they may fight in other countries after the civil war in Syria is over.

Crossing borders to fight alongside local militants is not new. The Soviet Union faced foreign fighters in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and more recently, the U.S. faced them in Iraq.

Former CIA official Paul Pillar says the foreign fighters in Syria may eventually cause instability in other parts of the region and the world.

"You look at the war in Afghanistan against the Soviets, which went on about a decade. That spawned militants and militant groups that went on to be active in many different places around the world. So there’s no reason to expect that Syria is going to be anything different. We have people, militants who acquire skills, acquire inspiration, acquire some organization, and that’s not going to go away once the dust settles in Syria," said Pillar.

Pillar says in many instances, people joining conflicts like the one in Syria may not have been militant before, but once they become battle-hardened, they can cause instability in their own countries.

"This is something that, for example, Saudi officials have worried about for a long time, as well as the other Gulf Arab countries, where they have had their own nationals go to fight in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and now some of them in Syria," he said.