Syria has become the theatre for international jihad

Analysis: the fate of Ali al-Manasfi provides vivid proof that Syria's revolt is drawing in volunteers from across the world.

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Syrian state television showed this passport and identified Ali al-Manasfi from London as having died while apparently fighting with the rebels 

By David Blair

1 June 2013

Manasfi's motives for joining the struggle against President Bashar al-Assad are unknown, but Syria has become the number one theatre for international "jihad".

During the 1980s, radical Muslims travelled to Afghanistan to fight the Soviet occupation; later their spotlight fell variously on Chechnya, Kashmir, Iraq and Afghanistan again.

Today, their prime goal is Mr Assad's downfall. As a secular dictator who leads a regime dominated by the Alawite sect – which radical Sunnis regard as heretical – he ranks high in the catalogue of infamy for any follower of al-Qaeda's ideology.

The fact that this places al-Qaeda on the same side as the West is uncomfortable but not unprecedented: the same was true in Afghanistan during the anti-Soviet struggle.

^{Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri (AFP)}