Foreign fighters in the Bosnian War

The Bosnian War attracted large numbers of foreign fighters^[1] and mercenaries from various countries.^[2] Volunteers came to fight for a variety of reasons including religious or ethnic loyalties, but mostly for money. Generally, Bosniaks received support from Muslim countries, Serbs from Eastern Orthodox countries, and Croats from Catholic countries. The numbers, activities and significance of the foreign fighters were often misrepresented.^[3] However, none of these groups constituted more than five percent of any of the respective armies' total manpower strength.

^ Cerwyn Moore & Paul Tumelty (2008) Foreign Fighters and the Case of Chechnya: A Critical Assessment, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 31:5, 412-433, DOI: 10.1080/10576100801993347
^ "Bosnian Muslim Ex-Commander Jailed 10 Years Over War Crimes by Islamist Fighters". usnews. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
^ Marko Attila Hoare (2 June 2008). "Christopher Deliso, John R. Schindler and Shaul Shay on al-Qaeda in Bosnia". Greater Surbiton. Retrieved 4 February 2019. Schindler's subject matter is narrower than Deliso's, being confined essentially to Bosnia. It is less a study of the role of al-Qa'ida and the mujahedin in Bosnia and more a diatribe against the Bosnian Muslims and the Bosnian cause. Despite the author's claim to having had a youthful flirtation with Islam, he is clearly hostile to the religion and views the Bosnian war on this basis."; "Deliso's animosity in particular is directed against the Albanians, and he faithfully upholds anti-Albanian stereotypes popular among the Balkan Christian peoples."; "Shay's run-of-the-mill-first-year-undergraduate-quality potted history of the Balkans repeats some of the historical and other factual errors made by Deliso and Schindler, in particular at the expense of the Bosnian Muslims (...) If one simply ignores everything Shay's book has to say about Balkan politics, then one can glean a few nuggets of information from it concerning the politics of radical Islam globally and of the Muslim states of the Middle East. But this is not enough to recommend this book (...)

[1] Cerwyn Moore & Paul Tumelty (2008) Foreign Fighters and the Case of Chechnya: A Critical Assessment, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 31:5, 412-433, DOI: 10.1080/10576100801993347

[bos-2] "Bosnian Muslim Ex-Commander Jailed 10 Years Over War Crimes by Islamist Fighters". usnews. Retrieved 16 November 2021.

[greatersurbiton-al-qaida-in-bosnia-3] Marko Attila Hoare (2 June 2008). "Christopher Deliso, John R. Schindler and Shaul Shay on al-Qaeda in Bosnia". Greater Surbiton. Retrieved 4 February 2019. Schindler's subject matter is narrower than Deliso's, being confined essentially to Bosnia. It is less a study of the role of al-Qa'ida and the mujahedin in Bosnia and more a diatribe against the Bosnian Muslims and the Bosnian cause. Despite the author's claim to having had a youthful flirtation with Islam, he is clearly hostile to the religion and views the Bosnian war on this basis."; "Deliso's animosity in particular is directed against the Albanians, and he faithfully upholds anti-Albanian stereotypes popular among the Balkan Christian peoples."; "Shay's run-of-the-mill-first-year-undergraduate-quality potted history of the Balkans repeats some of the historical and other factual errors made by Deliso and Schindler, in particular at the expense of the Bosnian Muslims (...) If one simply ignores everything Shay's book has to say about Balkan politics, then one can glean a few nuggets of information from it concerning the politics of radical Islam globally and of the Muslim states of the Middle East. But this is not enough to recommend this book (...)

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