[LINK] "Sousse: Seaside home of 'jihadist' volunteers"

[rfmcdonald]

Al Jazeera's Mohammed al-Mukhtar Ahmed notes how in Tunisia, sole liberal survivor of the Arab Spring, the seaside resort community of Sousse has furnished many volunteers for ISIS.

Tunisia has, by some estimates, provided the largest number of foreign fighters in Syria. According to official numbers, up to April 2014, 3,000 Tunisians have joined the battlefield in Syria and Iraq. Other more recent estimates put the number at 2,500.

Some, like Omar, die there; others return. The vast majority, however, disappear.

The touristy charm of this Tunisian city hides another, more menacing reality: The town visited by a million tourists a year, is also a source of fighters going into Syria and Iraq.

A visitor to Sousse often hears stories about youths who joined the "jihad" in Iraq and, more commonly, Syria. There are a few who are stopped before being able to leave, and perhaps end up detained, but most leave.

Within Sousse, specific neighbourhoods like Al Qalaa Al Kubra ("The Grand Castle"), Al Riyadh, Al Shabab and Hamam Soussa serve as recruitment hotpots for the stream of potential fighters.