Albania and Kosovo: A 'New Front' for Jihadists

[TomSea]

Albania and Kosovo: A 'New Front' for Jihadists

Three years ago, Albert and Yassin left their homes in Kosovo and Albania to wage jihad in Syria. Now they're back, swelling the ranks of jihadists in a region the Islamic State has called a "new front" in Europe.

Yassin, 30, who now works as a halal butcher in a downtrodden suburb of Albania's capital Tirana, refused to give his real name out of fear of repercussions.

Wounded in Syria's battered northern city of Aleppo in 2014, the father-of-three told AFP he left "to help the Syrian people" and hopes Allah will recognize his sacrifice, even if he did not die a martyr.

Albert Berisha, a 29-year-old political science graduate, says he took an "emotional decision" to leave for the Middle East "after seeing on TV and social media what was happening in Syria."

Berisha has not escaped the attention of the authorities however: Last month, he was sentenced to three and a half years behind bars.

Authorities say around 300 Kosovans and up to 120 Albanians have left to wage jihad in Syria -- placing them among the most affected per capita by the jihadist phenomenon.

Around 30 combatants have returned to Albania and 120 to Kosovo, according to government estimates.

Albanian religious affairs analyst Ermir Gjinishi warned that "if we do not integrate them back into society, if we marginalize them, former combatants returning to the country could ... be provoked into extreme actions."

An Islamic State propaganda video last year entitled "Honor is in Jihad: a message to the people of the Balkans" described the region as a "new front" for jihad in Europe.

"Black days are coming to you," a Kosovan fighter warns the governments of Kosovo, Albania, and Macedonia.

"You will be terrorized."

Read More At: http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/208514-albania-and-kosovo-a-new-front-for-jihadists

Source: AFP via Naharnet (Lebanon)

[The_Reader_David]

New?

My tagline is a remark Slobodan Milosevic made when the kangaroo court in the Hague refused to allow him to show photos of jihadis exulting over piles of decapitated Serbs' heads.  Clinton gave the jihadis in the Balkans the use of the US Air Force, and we got 9/11 as thanks.

[don-o]

Thank you for posting this. My hopefully future daughter in law is a native of Tirana. He father died in the war, though I am  not clear on the details.

[Fishrrman]

We should have been supporting the Serbs, driving the muslims from their territory...