No iPod, no jihad, say Western fighters

Disenchanted French jihadists fighting for the Islamic State terror group are finding it difficult to survive without their creature comforts, according to a series of letters published by Le Figaro newspaper Monday.

Some of the letters request advice on how to return home, others grumble of being assigned to menial tasks or of general boredom.

“I’m sick and tired. My iPod does not work here. I want to return!” reads one letter.

“I do nothing other than distribute clothing and food. I occasionally help clean some weapons and transport the bodies of fallen jihadists from the front,” complains another unhappy militant. “Winter is here. It’s getting very hard.”

His compatriot, though, kvetches of having the opposite problem.

“They want to send me to the front but I do not know how to fight,” reads his message.

An estimated 376 French citizens are currently fighting with terrorist groups in Syria. Of the approximately 100 jihadists who have returned to France, 76 are in prison, according to a report in The Telegraph.

Multiple countries are testing de-radicalization programs to deal with returning jihadis, but some experts remain skeptical about their prospects.

Many fighters have been prosecuted for fighting with a foreign force upon returning home, and a number of Western countries have introduced legislation to stiffen penalties against jihadists.

“If I go back to France, what will happen to me? Can I avoid jail? What should I do?” writes one fighter.

The sentiments expressed in the Le Figaro letters mirror that of Indian IS recruit Areeb Majeed, 23 who left for Iraq in May, but returned after he said the group underused him.

Majeed claimed that he was completely ignored, sent to clean toilets and arrange water for those fighting on the front lines, according to The Times of India.

The Islamic State has ruthlessly carved out large swaths of Syria and Iraq for its self-styled Islamic caliphate, drawing widespread condemnation for its brutal tactics, massacres of civilians and execution of captives, including some Western hostages.

Thus far, 200,000 people have died over the course of Syria’s three year civil war according to the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights.

Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service estimates that over 30 Israeli Arabs have joined IS, including an additional three in October.

An Israeli doctor, Othman Abdelkayan from the Bedouin town of Hura, was reportedly killed fighting with IS last month, following the death of another Israeli fighting in Syria, Ahmed Habashi, 24, from the village of Iksal near Nazareth, according to the Arabic weekly al-Arab.

The terror group recently began a recruitment push in an attempt to woo Arab Israeli doctors to its ranks, citing a lack of qualified medical professionals, according to an Israeli report.