A 40-year-old Frenchman has been killed in clashes with regime forces in Aleppo Province, Syria.
Omar Diabi, understood to be a high-ranking member of Islamic State (IS), joined the jihadist movement in 2013. He is the 104th man from France to be killed fighting Syrian and Iraqi forces.
Estimates of fighters from France vary between 1,100 and 1,700 and according to the French government about 120 men have returned to the country, where they face terrorism charges. 76 have been jailed.
France, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark have experienced the largest number of citizens leaving for Syria and Iraq. The imposition of travel restrictions has slowed, but not entirely halted, the flow of foreign jihadists into the conflict.
Although Diabi was considered a senior member of the group, the news comes at a time when the organisational structure of IS is revealed to be staffed at the top levels by former members of Saddam Hussein’s intelligence and security services.
AP reports that many of those that make up the leadership of IS were held in the notorious US-run Bucca prison camp, where Abu Bake al-Baghdadi was held.
http://www.basnews.com/en/news/2015/08/10/over-1000-french-jihadists-fighting-with-islamic-state/
