Participation of Allah's Warriors in the War in Former Yugoslavia (1992 - 1995)

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to show the participation of mercenaries in the war in former Yugoslavia who fought on the Muslim side. The author presents the thesis that they were recruited to participate in the defense of Muslim community, which they believed was threatened by Serbs. However, their goal soon became to conduct jihad. Muslim mercenaries, also known as warriors of Allah (warriors of God) or Garibi, often proved to be cruel and committed war crimes. Among them were veterans of the war in Afghanistan, the Mujahideen. After the end of hostilities, many of God’s warriors remained in the Balkans, and their settlement brought a lot of negative changes to the social and political life of the region. The Garibi contributed greatly to the strengthening of influence of Islamic states and institutions in the Balkans, as well as to the development of Wahhabi sects supporting terrorism.