- Local Name: Filière Jihadiste de Strasbourg-Meinau
- Transliteration: N/a
- Alternatives: N/a
- Status: 2013 – Dormant
- Conflicts: Islamist Militancy in France, Syrian Civil War
The Strasbourg-Meinau Jihadi Network [FJSM; Filière Jihadiste de Strasbourg-Meinau] was a small group of Islamist militants from the Alsatian capital city’s Meinau suburb and the town of Wissembourg. It was made up of jihadis of North African and Turkish descent who were either unknown or little known to police prior to their involvement in militancy.1 By 2013, FJSM core members had become infatuated with jihadis fighting in Syria.2 They got into contact with Mourad Farès with whom they met three times.3 The first meeting took place in early January 2013.4 Farès went on to serve as their mentor and spiritual guide. He also helped them organize their journey to Syria.5
In mid-December 2013, ten FJSM members traveled to Syria via Turkey.6 They failed to link up with Farès and instead joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham].7 Despite pleas by Farès and influential jihadi recruiter Omar Diaby to leave the DaIISh and come to the Support Front for the People of the Levant [JaNS; Jabhat al-Nusra li-Ahl al-Sham], the recruits remained steadfast in their allegiance to the organization.8 They were given military training, before becoming part of a unit that patrolled areas under the control of the DaIISh.9 Two FJSM members were later killed when they chanced upon hostile fighters.10 Most of the other recruits returned to France in the spring of 2014 where they were apprehended by police in a series of sweeps on May 13.11 Others had already been arrested in Turkey while visiting acquaintances and relatives.12 They were later extradited to France. The one remaining FJSM associate in Syria eventually became part of the suicide team that stormed the Bataclan concert hall and killed dozens of people in November 2015.13
Increased scrutiny by the authorities and the bad experience of their comrades did not stop other FJSM members from trying to join the DaIISh. In May 2016, three of them were turned back by Slovenian border guards while driving to Turkey from where they had planned to reach Syria.14
On May 30, 2016, court proceedings against seven FJSM members who had joined the DaIISh began in Paris.15 The trail received considerable attention due to the connection of the group to the November 2015 attacks. The defendants were sentenced to between six and nine years in prison on Jul. 06, 2016.16 The convictions were upheld by an appeals court on May 09, 2017.17 The judge even increased the sentences of three of the militants. In the meanwhile, police had arrested the three militants who had returned from Slovenia on Jan. 17, 2017.18 They were put on trial and sentenced to prison in June 2018.19
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