Analyst: 40,000 Tunisians Cooperating with ISIL
A prominent Tunisian analyst described cooperation and support of 40,000 people from his country for the ISIL terrorist group through social media as shocking, and said they have grown tendencies for the terrorist group under the influence of Wahhabi thoughts.
“Cooperation of 40,000 Tunisians with the ISIL means that most of them are terrorists or suicide bombers and this number is horrifying for a society like Tunisia,” Riyadh al-Seidawi told FNA on Monday.
He said that such a number is a natural thing for Saudi Arabia whose common culture is based on Wahhabism as Saudi Arabia is a proper place for the growth of the ISIL, adding that increased cooperation with the terrorist group in Tunisia is the result of the spread of Wahhabi thoughts in the country through satellite channels and the media.
Seidawi also said that the Tunisian army has recently arrested 10 ISIL terrorists in Ben Gardane and using their confessions, it could foil several terrorist plots and discover a number of arms caches in the region.
The cradle of the Arab Spring, Tunisia remains the freest Arab democracy. It has one of the region’s most developed economies and highest literacy rates. And it is also by far the largest source of foreign fighters heading to join the ISIL in Syria and Iraq.
Between 6,000 and 7,000 Tunisians have left the small North African country to fight for the self-proclaimed caliphate—several times more than from much-more populous Algeria or Egypt. As many as 15,000 others have been barred from international travel because Tunisia’s government suspects them of planning to follow suit.
