Battlefields of Syria/Tumblr “Half of Jihad is media.†A Dutch jihadist’s Tumblr photograph of the weapons he uses in Syria: His knife, his gun and his Instagram account. Last summer, a Dutch public television producer scanning the Internet for information on foreign fighters in Syria stumbled on something he had never seen before: Instagram photos of a man wearing the uniform of the Royal Netherlands Army who appeared to be fighting alongside Islamist rebels against government forces.
Although Instagram disabled the account soon after it began to attract attention, the producer, Roozbeh Kaboly, remained in contact with its owner, a former soldier who was so appalled by the West’s failure to halt the killing in Syria that he had quit the Dutch army to join the jihad against President Bashar al-Assad. After eight months of coaxing, the ex-soldier â€" a Dutch citizen of Turkish descent named Yilmaz who now posts his dispatches from the Syrian battlefield on Tumblr, and responds to questions from fans and critics on Ask.fm â€" finally agreed to answer Mr. Kaboly’s questions.
An English-language interview with a former soldier from the Royal Netherlands Army who is now training jihadist fighters in Syria broadcast this week by NOS, Dutch state television.
In an English-language interview broadcast Sunday on Mr. Kaboly’s program, “Nieuwsuur,†the Dutch jihadist said that he was fighting for an Islamic state and to liberate “the oppressed Syrian people,†but firmly rejected the idea that he or the other foreign fighters he has been training in marksmanship have any interest in returning to their home countries to carry out terrorist attacks.
“No, no,†he said, “I came to Syria for Syria only. I didn’t come to Syria to learn how to make bombs, or this or that and to go back. That’s not the mentality many of these fighters here have. We came here â€" basically, and I know it sounds harsh, but many of the brothers here, including myself, we came here to die…. So, us going back is not part of our perspective here. I mean it’s a big sacrifice and there’s a lot of work to do, so why should I even think about Holland or Europe? It’s a closed chapter for me.â€
Even so, the ex-soldier stays in touch with his family back home in the Netherlands via Skype, and seeks to use social networks to engage with followers in the West and document his experience in the battle for Syria. Many of his recent updates on Tumblr include images of children displaced or orphaned by the fighting â€" mixed in with brief video clips of battles, scenes of daily life in ruined cities, and loving portraits of Islamist militants and the “cats of the mujaideen†â€" to reinforce his message that Islamist rebels are engaged in a defensive war, protecting civilians the West has abandoned.
Battlefields of Syria/Tumblr A screenshot from the Tumblr blog of a former soldier from the Netherlands now fighting in Syria. Footage of children in a refugee camp in the northern Syrian province of Idlib, uploaded to Tumblr last month by a Dutch jihadist, via Embeddlr.com.
Battlefields of Syria/Tumblr A photograph of a militant from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria posted on a Dutch jihadist’s Tumblr in November. Video of the Syrian city of Aleppo posted on Tumblr in December by a former soldier of the Royal Netherlands Army fighting with Islamist rebels in Syria, via Embeddlr.com.
Battlefields of Syria/Tumblr A screenshot from the Tumblr blog of a former soldier from the Netherlands now fighting in Syria. Although the former soldier denied that he was a terrorist in his interview with Dutch television, his blog posts include words of praise for rebels fighting for the Qaeda-linked militant group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, considered dangerous extremists by other Syrian rebels. Yilmaz also includes sharp, sectarian denunciations of followers of the Sufi and Shiite strains of Islam.
Mr. Kaboly, the television producer who previously obtained rare footage of Iranian military advisers in Syria, said that his impression was that the soft-spoken jihadist had agreed to speak to the Netherlands state broadcaster because “he wants to correct our image of Dutch fighters in Syria and explain they are not all dangerous lunatics allied to Al Qaeda.â€
Indeed, at one point in the interview â€" which was conducted by an intermediary in Syria, because of the dangers to Western journalists reporting from rebel-held areas â€" Yilmaz insisted that Western journalists were wrong to assume that “whoever comes to Syria, as a foreigner, is by definition Al Qaeda. In my case, there is no such thing. The brothers of Al Qaeda, they’re here, they’re fighting, it’s known, everybody knows this â€" but me being here in Syria does not mean per definition that I’m part of Al Qaeda.â€
“I think the main goal of many, many people here,†he said in reference to the foreign fighters he has trained and fought alongside, “is protecting and defending the innocent people of Syria. I mean, it’s been almost three years now, enough is enough. When is it going to end?â€
Battlefields of Syria/Tumblr A photograph posted on Tumblr last month by a Dutch citizen of Turkish descent who left the Royal Netherlands Army to fight with jihadists in Syria. That Western countries have failed to intervene to stop the bloodshed in Syria, he added, was a prime reason that he and other Islamists wanted to establish an Islamic state in Syria. “We ourselves came from the West, we understand the systems of the West, we’ve seen with our own eyes what the West is doing in crisis situations like this, we don’t want this anymore.â€
The former soldier also said that Dutch television viewers should understand that they would have no reason to fear him should he ever return home.
Knowing Holland, they should be worried about other things, with criminals and pedophiles roaming the streets, but I understand their fear, you know, it’s not that I have a wall and I don’t understand why these people are afraid. Don’t worry about me. I’ve chosen this path for myself, and even if I would come back I would just eat… maybe some sushi, have some Dr. Pepper and give my mother a big, warm hug, sit with the family. I’ve never been a violent person towards people who are not violent towards me.
Robert Mackey also remixes the news on Twitter @robertmackey.
