Western Jihadis in Syria

People & Power meets young Muslims who have abandoned the West to fight in Syria.



It is almost four years since the Syrian uprising began amid the optimism of the Arab Spring. It has degenerated into a savage civil war that has killed over 200,000 people and shattered the lives of millions more.

It has also seen thousands of young Muslims from Europe, Australia and elsewhere travelling to Syria to fight - many joining competing groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda's Syrian arm, which, as well as seeking the overthrow of the Assad regime in Damascus, are locked in their own intense battle for the hearts and minds of the local population.