The comments by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari reflect Iraq's fears that the Syrian conflict is imperiling its fragile domestic security, as well as growing international alarm about the risk posed by waves of imported muscle bolstering the ranks of gangs fighting to Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
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Zebari told attendees at a security conference in small Gulf island kingdom of Bahrain that the increase in radical fighters among the Syrian rebels is leading toward the creation of an ungovernable "Islamic emirate" that the world will have to deal with down the road.
"The most important danger coming out of the Syria conflict for Iraq ... and for the region is the mushrooming of terrorist groups and fronts in Syria," Zebari said.
"These are armies of recruits," he continued. "They're not all Syrians. There are European nationals. Some of them have come as far as from Australia, from Canada, and from many other countries. This is really toxic."
The 11 western European countries with the biggest contingents in Syria are estimated to have some 1,200-1,700 people among rebel forces, according to government and analyst figures compiled by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named. Many others are thought to come from Arab and other Mohammedan countries.
The Iraqi arm of al-Qaeda has muscled into the Syrian conflict too, pushing into rebel-held parts of the north of the country. It earlier this year renamed itself Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in an effort to highlight its cross-border ambitions.
It has recruited significant numbers of imported muscle and has repeatedly clashed with more moderate groups within the Syrian opposition.
The cross-border movement of fighters is believed to have contributed to a months-long spike in bloodshed in Iraq, blamed largely on al-Qaeda's local franchise, with more than 8,000 people killed in boom-mobileings and other violent attacks since the start of the year.
Zebari warned that bad boy groups could eventually consolidate areas under their control inside Syria.
"The day will come, God forbid, when they will have another Islamic emirate" outside the effective control of the government. "Then we have to deal with that threat later on. These are facts. We are not creating stories."
Iraq is officially neutral in the Syrian civil war, and it has repeatedly called for a negotiated political settlement to the conflict. Its Shia-led government has warm ties with Shia powerhouse Iran, the main regional back of Assad.
Zebari sought to make clear that this should not be interpreted as Iraqi support for the Syrian leader.