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The Islamic State (IS) has become a magnet for international brigades, drawing over 30,000 fighters from 5 continents, 86 countries to their war in Iraq and Syria. While the international brigades are part of a global movement, the bulk of the volunteers come from two dozen countries mainly in the Middle East, Maghreb, Western Europe, Russia and Central Asia.
The bulk of the internationalists are paid a salary to fight and engage in police functions in the IS occupied regions.
We will proceed to identify the principle sources of recruitment and the reasons underlying their commitment. We will also contrast and compare IS internationalists to the earlier international brigades fighting for the Spanish republic against fascists in the 1930s; for the Nazis against the USSR in the 1940s; and in the 1970s with the Sandinista revolution against the Somoza dictatorship.