GUEST POST: Belgium’s Syria Fighters ~ An Overview of 2012 and 2013 (II)

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Belgium’s Syria Fighters ~ An Overview of 2012 and 2013 (II)

By Pieter Van Ostaeyen
Part II : Belgian Foreign Fighters ~ Some Stories
In this second part I will focus on some of the most remarkable stories of the Belgian fighters in Syria. Again all this information is publicly available on a variety of Facebook-accounts used by the Belgians to spread their message. A lot of this information was gathered by Belgian journalist Guy Van Vlierden for a piece in Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws on January 14. Another very interesting piece was published in Le Vif on January 24. We will go in depth on the stories of ten of the Belgians. (Other, older, stories of Belgian fighters in Syria can be found here)
1.       Te Ou[1]
This 19 year old boy from Vilvoorde currently resides in Aleppo. He went to school in KTA Pro Technica in Halle (nearby Brussels) before he left for Syria where he currently fights for ISIS. He must be one of the most “classy” Muhajirun as can be seen on the following pics from his Facebook-account.

 2.     Abu Houdaifa Ahmed
His family originates from Oujda in Morocco. It can be presumed that his family is thus from Berber (Tamazigh) origin. He is 21 and went to school in Virgo Fidelis in Vilvoorde and Campus Wemmel. One of his brothers, known as Younes Abu Moujahid, declares he is currently in Afghanistan. Abu Houdaifa presumably is in Aleppo-province with the majority of the other Belgian fighters.

3.     Abu Sulayman al-Muhajir
Lives with his wife in Aleppo-province since August 2013. He is from Algerian origin. One of his brothers, Abu Muhammad or Abu Muhajir also fights in Syria.

4.     Younes (Michaël) Delefortrie
This Belgian convert from Merksem, Antwerp, is also known as Abu Usama al- Muhajir. He was a well known member of Sharia4Belgium. In 2011 he was arrested for possession of a Kalashnikov assault weapon. He was also part of the bunch in Aleppo, but when the Sahwa (the infighting between rebel groups) started, he left ISIS and fled home. He is currently under custody after he reported himself to the Federal Police. He claims he didn’t fight in Syria.

5.     Abdel Monaïm
This 32 year old from Moroccon origin, also known as Abu Sara, was killed early in January 2014. He most likely was a victim of Syria’s Sahwa. According to the information available he was the father of at least five children. The mothers are two females from Brussels, one originated from the Congo; the other autochthonous. He was described as an adventurer rather than a hard-boiled Mujahid.

 6.      Abu Sulayman al-Baljiki
Being 36 he would be the oldest known Belgian member of ISIS. He as well lived in Brussels before leaving for Syria. He is active within a group of Franco-Belge fighters, who resided in Homs and currently in Aleppo-province. (On the far right in this pic)

7.     Abu al-Maqdad Muhajir
Also resides in a luxurious villa in Aleppo-province with some other Belgians. He originates from a Berber family in Morocco. He supposedly speaks Arabic, Dutch, and French; making him one of the polyglots among the Belgians in Syria.

8.     Abu Jihad al-Baljiki
A Sharia4Belgium member that choose for affiliation with Jabhat an-Nusra near Aleppo, unlike most of the others. His Facebook-account is gone; this might mean he is either killed and someone cleaned up the account, or he might be back in Belgium.

9.         Ismail Mujahid
Ismail is most likely one of the youngest Belgian fighters in Syria being 17. He left for Syria on April 4^th 2013 with his friend Bilal. His brother Zakaria (23) was already present at the time. His parents are divorced, the father lives in Brussels, mother in Vilvoorde. Bilal returned to Belgium after a few months, but Ismail remained in the ISIS villa in Aleppo.

10.  Hisham Chaib
Hisham is 30, originates from Antwerp. His Facebook-account says he is one of the Muhajirin as-Sham (an immigrant fighter in Syria). He was one of the bodyguards of Sharia4Belgium leader Fuad Belkacem (aka Abu Imran). Back then he was known as Abu Hanifa; he spent two months in prison because of his role in riots in Borgerhout, Antwerp earlier last year.

The Villa in Aleppo governorate where most of the Belgians reside:

One last pic – The Royal Palace in Brussels:

It starts making sense why Belgian officials and security forces in Belgium are getting edgy. Since we have elections coming ; this topic will play a role. More information about Belgian fighters is likely to get known in the next few months.