Former Foreign Militant Says Syria Is Now A Battle For War Booty And Territory

"In the beginning, when I went [to Syria], everybody was greeting us. But later, they were looking at us differently. They were scared of us," Arben tells RFE/RL correspondent Luljeta Krasniqi Veseli

Radio Free Europe: Disillusioned Volunteer Says Syria A Battle For War Booty, Territory

Ideals give way to disillusionment easily in Syria, where foreign militants who go with ideals of helping the Syrian population often find themselves embroiled in battles between rival groups for plunder and territory instead.

Arben has seen that firsthand.

The 27-year-old Kosovar Albanian, who spent 10 months in Syria before returning home, also says he saw goodwill turn to hostility among civilians caught up in the conflict zone as abuses mounted and noncombatants increasingly feared the ranks of foreign-born militants like him.

Speaking recently to RFE/RL's Balkan Service, the grandson of a Kosovar imam says videos from the conflict persuaded him to go to Syria in May 2013.

But he says that he soon found his idealism about combating the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad collapsing amid turf wars between powerful rival commanders.

"Each of them wanted to have his own territory," he says. "Children and women were not spared. No one was safe."

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WNU Editor: This militant is lucky he got out. Unfortunately .... he may have regrets but there are still many who want to go there, who are there, and who are involved in the fight with no intention of returning back to the West unless it is to do harm.