Despite the relative success of the Syrian regime in stopping the advance of the armed opposition (with help from the Russian expeditionary force and Iranian-backed Shia militias), the war-torn country still remains a magnet for foreign Islamic volunteers. Over 1,800 Dagestanis from the Russian Federation have joined anti-government groups in Syria, Dagestan’s Press and Information Minister Umarosman Gadzhiyev told a conference last Friday (May 28), dedicated to countering terrorism and attended mostly by state media representatives (Riadagestan, May 28). According to Gadzhiyev, around 1 percent of the Northeast Caucasus republic’s population sympathizes with their compatriots, who are fighting in the Middle East alongside various militant groups. In other words, an estimated 20,000 adult Dagestanis embrace the ideology of violent jihad on foreign soil (Riaderbent, May 29).
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