PORTSMOUTH, England (AP) – Royal Navy sailors used to swagger out of this great seaport at the zenith of the British Empire, manning the warships and trading vessels that made this nation rich and powerful. Today a handful of young men are again leaving to go to war – but this time they have sworn allegiance to foreign terrorists.
It is a sign of the times that Portsmouth, with its tradition of naval glory, finds itself trying to persuade young British Muslims not to follow six locals who traveled to Syria to join forces with Islamic State extremists battling President Bashar Assad.
Numbers alone might be a deterrent: Four or the six are dead, one is in jail, and only one is still believed active on the battlefield. But police, political leaders and Islamic community activists believe those facts alone may not convince angry young men that joining the Islamic State group – which has declared Britain an enemy – will destroy their lives.
The front of the mosque most of the young men attended before departing for Syria is decorated with an elaborate mosaic that says: “Peace Is Better.” Syed Haque, chairman of the Jami Mosque’s advisory council, is mystified that some of the congregation has chosen war instead.
“All those boys went, they were university students, they were working,” he said. “There was nothing in their faces showing they were miserable or had problems at home or weren’t being looked after by their family.”