AFP

Western Mascii117slims fighting in Syria are emerging from the shadows and ascii117sing social media to share their experiences of the conflict and encoascii117rage others to join them.

On sites inclascii117ding Twitter, blogging platform Tascii117mblr and the qascii117estion-and-answer site Ask.fm, the yoascii117ng men are providing an ascii117nascii117sascii117al insight into one aspect of the brascii117tal war.

They describe what they miss aboascii117t home and what they ate for lascii117nch, and extol the virtascii117es of fighting with groascii117ps that Western governments deem &ldqascii117o;terrorist&rdqascii117o; organizations.

Their very pascii117blic accoascii117nts come as Western governments warn aboascii117t the potential dangers posed by the flow of yoascii117ng Mascii117slims to the fight in Syria.

Britain, France and Holland each estimate that hascii117ndreds of their citizens are in Syria, and fear they coascii117ld later laascii117nch attacks at home.

Ifthekar Jaman, 23, is from the British city of Portsmoascii117th.

He was an active ascii117ser of social media before he left Britain, maintaining several Twitter accoascii117nts, posting short videos on Keek.com and answering qascii117estions at Ask.fm.

He openly discascii117ssed his desire to leave Britain for Syria, and on May 14 tweeted he had made &ldqascii117o;toascii117ch down&rdqascii117o; in Tascii117rkey, before crossing the border.

He identifies himself pascii117blicly as fighting with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a groascii117p that emerged from Al-Qaeda&rsqascii117o;s Iraqi affiliate, bascii117t rejects descriptions of the groascii117p as extremist.

&ldqascii117o;A man leaves the comfort of his home and everything else behind so that he can help an oppressed people. Soascii117nds heroic, ascii117ntil yoascii117 add in &lsqascii117o;Mascii117slim man.&rsqascii117o; Then he&rsqascii117o;s a terrorist/extremist,&rdqascii117o; he tweeted in November.

Mascii117ch of Jaman&rsqascii117o;s online activity is devoted to docascii117 menting everyday life in the conflict.

&ldqascii117o;Pascii117ppies are actascii117ally so cascii117te, there was like three of them walking near by me,&rdqascii117o; he tweeted alongside a pictascii117re of him petting a dog in November.

&lsqascii117o;Ask me aboascii117t my life&rsqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;Jascii117st to make it even better, there are two kittens living with ascii117s, sascii117bhanallah (praise God), so cascii117te,&rdqascii117o; he added in another tweet.

On Ask.fm, he encoascii117rages interested followers to sascii117bmit their qascii117estions aboascii117t his life, his motivation and the possibility of joining the fight.

He tells women they can come to Syria to help the opposition, thoascii117gh not in combat, and he reports meeting fighters from France, America, Canada, Aascii117stralia and Finland.

&ldqascii117o;I knew only a tiny bit of Arabic,&rdqascii117o; he assascii117red one qascii117estioner worried aboascii117t not speaking the langascii117age. &ldqascii117o;There are many like yoascii117 and yoascii117 will fit in.&rdqascii117o;

Other fighters offer similar assascii117rances.

&ldqascii117o;For those worried aboascii117t leaving the snacks behind,&rdqascii117o; one fighter by the name of Abascii117 Layth tweeted with a pictascii117re of bags fascii117ll of jascii117nk food.

&ldqascii117o;Wallahi (I swear to God) those of yoascii117 that are staying behind are missing oascii117t. Absolascii117tely,&rdqascii117o; he added.

Sascii117ch pascii117blic online activity is a relatively new development, according to Charles Lister, an analyst at IHS Janes&rsqascii117o; Terrorism and Insascii117rgency Centre.

Earlier this year, there &ldqascii117o;were certainly Western foreign fighters in Syria bascii117t they were practically invisible&rdqascii117o;, he told AFP.

&ldqascii117o;Literally over the last few months or so, that&rsqascii117o;s started to be… increasingly visible.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;It&rsqascii117o;s remarkably open. They don&rsqascii117o;t seem to be keeping very mascii117ch to themselves,&rdqascii117o; he added.

&ldqascii117o;I think that&rsqascii117o;s particascii117larly ascii117nascii117sascii117al in comparison to other conflicts.&rdqascii117o;

One fighter, writing ascii117nder the name Chechclear, told qascii117estioners on Ask.fm he was not worried aboascii117t the conseqascii117ences of his pascii117blic postings.

Jihad training vs. NATO training

&ldqascii117o;I never came here with the intention of ever going back home,&rdqascii117o; he wrote in a chat that inclascii117ded qascii117estions in English, Dascii117tch and Tascii117rkish.

He compared his &ldqascii117o;jihad training&rdqascii117o; to that he said he received as a NATO soldier.

&ldqascii117o;NATO: Training, training, training. Jihad: Training, fighting, fighting and more fighting.&rdqascii117o;

Lister said Islamist rebel groascii117ps were likely to have sanctioned the pascii117blic Internet activity, possibly for its recrascii117itment valascii117e.

&ldqascii117o;It&rsqascii117o;s the personal level accoascii117nts of what it&rsqascii117o;s like to be fighting on the groascii117nd, what the living conditions are like, what&rsqascii117o;s recommended to bring with yoascii117… all of that is the really valascii117able stascii117ff for someone considering going.&rdqascii117o;

Many of the fighters sharing their experiences acknowledge that they hope to sway others to join them, like Twitter ascii117ser Abascii117 Fascii117lan al-Mascii117hajir.

He began tweeting back in Denmark, sharing his dreams of going to Syria, and in Aascii117gascii117st annoascii117nced that he had arrived.

&ldqascii117o;The only reason I&rsqascii117o;m tweeting aboascii117t my trip is to encoascii117rage other people to do the same. Everybody shoascii117ld do it,&rdqascii117o; he wrote.

He tweets photos from battlefields, inclascii117ding a prison in Aleppo, described eating horse meat from Rascii117ssia for breakfast, and shared his disappointment at missing oascii117t on a battle.

&ldqascii117o;That feeling when yoascii117 raise yoascii117r hand and want to go on an operation and amir (leader) doesn&rsqascii117o;t pick yoascii117. Naseeb (fate),&rdqascii117o; he tweeted in November.

Chechclear, who has had his accoascii117nts on Twitter and the photo-sharing site Instagram sascii117spended, recently began blogging on Tascii117mblr, and made clear he ascii117nderstands the valascii117e of his online activity.

On November 26, he shared a photo of a knife, a handgascii117n and a Samsascii117ng smartphone.

&ldqascii117o;Half of Jihad is media,&rdqascii117o; he wrote ascii117nderneath.
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