7th Muslim Brigade The 7th Muslim Brigade ( ) was a brigade in the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( ARBiH ) . It was often misinterpreted by Serb and Croat media , which confused it with the squad of Arab volunteers known as " El - Mudžahid " - foreign fighters from various Islamic countries that fought during the 1992 - 95 Bosnian War . The 7th brigade had over 1 , 000 local soldiers and was a part of the 3rd Corps of the Bosnian Army , while " El - Mudžahid " was an independent detachment . Background . The Seventh Muslim Mountain Brigade ( " 7 . muslimanska brdska brigada " ) was established on 18 December 1992 at the proposal by staff of the provisional Territorial Defence Force of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Zenica , the soldiers of which were located on the plateau of Vlasic . These men , all Bosniak Muslims , insisted that the unit be formally titled " Muslim " . The Brigade belonged to the 3rd Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina . At its creation Lieutenant Colonel Enver Hadžihasanović , as Commander of the 3rd Corps , decided to appoint the following men to command the unit : On 12 March 1993 General Sefer Halilović appointed Asim Koričić to command the unit , although Amir Kubura in fact becomes the de facto leader of military operations . Amir Kubura was formally appointed commander on 6 August 1993 . The Command and Brigade headquarters was located in Bilmišće , Zenica . The 1st Battalion was headquartered in Travnik . Each battalion had four companies and the total number of troops was about 1 , 500 . The 7th Muslim Mountain Brigade sported a distinctly Islamic army uniform badge featuring Arabic lettering which alarmed and confused outside observers . Bosnian Mujahideen confusion . During the Yugoslav wars , Bosnia - Herzegovina received humanitarian aid from Islamic countries as well as from the West , because of intensive and widespread killing , mass rapes , death camps , ethnic cleansing committed by Serb and , to a lesser extent , Croat forces . The main targets were Bosnian Muslim civilians . The International Court of Justice concluded that these crimes , committed during the 1992 - 95 war , were crimes against humanity and genocide ( " dolus specialis " ) regarding Srebrenica region according to the Genocide Convention . Following such massacres , Arab volunteers came across Croatia into Bosnia to help the Bosnian Army protect the Bosnian Muslim civilian population . The number of the " El - Mudžahid " volunteers is still disputed , from around 300 to 1 , 500 . These caused particular controversy : foreign fighters , styling themselves " mujahiddin " , turned up in Bosnia around 1993 with Croatian identity documents and passports . They quickly attracted heavy criticism , who considered their presence to be evidence of violent Islamic fundamentalism at the heart of Europe . However , the foreign volunteers became unpopular even with many of the Bosniak population , because the Army of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina had thousands of troops and had no need for more soldiers , but for arms . Many Bosnian Army officers and intellectuals were suspicious regarding foreign volunteers arrival in central part of the country , because they came from Split and Zagreb in Croatia , and were passed through the self - proclaimed Croatian Community of Herzeg - Bosnia without problems unlike Bosnian Army soldiers who were regularly arrested by Croat forces . According to general Stjepan Šiber , the highest - ranking ethnic Croat in Bosnian Army , the key role in foreign volunteers arrival was played by Franjo Tuđman and Croatian counter - intelligence underground with the aim to justify involvement of Croatia in Bosnian War and mass crimes committed by Croat forces . Although Izetbegović regarded them as symbolically valuable as a sign of the Muslim world ' s support for Bosnia , they appear to have made little military difference and became a major political liability . According to Predrag Matvejević , a notable Italian and Croatian modern prosaist who analysed the situation , the number of Arab volunteers who came to help the Bosnian Muslims , " was much smaller than the number presented by Serb and Croat propaganda " .