Dr. Azinović: It is good that the "Damascus" operation is focused on organizers

Members of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) launched an operation this morning in the wider area of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which several people suspected of assisting in the departure of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina to foreign battlefields, as well as financing or otherwise assisting terrorist activities, have been arrested.

According to unofficial information, among those arrested are Bilal Bosnić, the self-proclaimed leader of the so-called Wahhabi community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hamdo Fojnica, known as the father of Emrah Fojnica who, along with Mevlid Jašarević, was accused of the terrorist attack on the American Embassy in Sarajevo, and Elvir Muratović.

These individuals are suspected of committing criminal offenses of financing terrorist activities, public incitement to terrorist activities, recruitment for terrorist activities, organizing a terrorist group...

Vlado Azinović, a professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo, told the BiH news agency Patria (NAP) that it is good that the operation, codenamed "Damascus", is focused on people who provide some kind of ideological inspiration, and even organize and finance such activities, especially the departure of BiH citizens to foreign battlefields. He says it is always easier to prevent a problem than to treat its consequences.

However, the problem, says Dr. Azinović, that BiH is currently facing, which relates to terrorist activities and the departure of BiH citizens to foreign battlefields, is much more complex than it seems, and all segments of society should participate in its resolution, not just some.

- If we offered these people other options, instead of their departure to Syria, which they probably cannot even locate on a map, into a conflict they do not understand, being a way to prove themselves, then leaving for foreign battlefields would certainly not be so attractive - warned Professor Azinović.

It is clear, explained this expert, that young people, of a very specific age group from 16 to 20 years old, who have a natural need for some kind of self-affirmation, belonging to a group, will seek a place for self-affirmation on foreign battlefields if their country offers them nothing where they could channel that energy for useful social purposes.

- Until a few years ago, guys of that age went to the French Foreign Legion because it was exciting for them, uniforms, weapons, taking pictures with weapons... My generation went through that when we went into the army, we fulfilled that male drive under controlled conditions, and directed it towards social good. I am not advocating for the return of military service, but we must offer young people other values that will turn a person into a healthy individual who can contribute to society - says Professor Azinović.

Currently, about 150 citizens of BiH are fighting on the battlefields in Iraq and Syria, according to intelligence services. A large number of them are also on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefields, writes NAP.