Forgotten Fighters in Their Own Words: Pan-Arab Volunteers in Syria-Iraq

Abstract

Between 2011 and 2015, more than 30,000 foreign fighters, most from the Arab world, traveled to Syria and Iraq to join radical jihadi groups. This article explores another group of combatants who have largely been ignored in the literature: pan-Arab foreign fighters. This element was mostly part of the Arab Nationalist Guard, a secular, highly ideological organization that constituted the largest group of anti-Islamic State fighters in Syria. It was also the third-largest transnational non-jihadist movement fighting on the side of Damascus. Based on extensive interviews with pan-Arab fighters and their leaders, the article examines what may be a last-gasp attempt to revive Arab nationalism. Indeed, the transnational Arab Nationalist Guard represents a final effort of such a movement before the fall of Damascus in December 2024. The interviews also provide the basis for analyzing the pan-Arabists’ complex relations with the Assad regime, as well as with Iran and Hezbollah.