Richard Barrett Featured in Report by The Washington Institute for Near East Policy: Countering Foreign Fighter Flows

August 30, 2016

Countering Foreign Fighter Flows

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy: Counterterrorism Lecture Series Vol. 7
By: Richard Barrett

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Estimates of the number of foreign fighters engaged in the civil war in Syria and/or the insurgency in Iraq range between 10,000 and 18,000. Although the concern in Western countries that these foreign fighters may turn into domestic terrorists if and when they go home makes an assumption that is not yet proven—that those who decide to go away to fight the Syrian or Iraqi governments will be equally motivated later to fight their own—the risk is certainly there. This is particularly true for those who went off to fight after mid 2014, when the likelihood of their ending up with the Islamic State (ISIL) or Jabhat al Nusra (JaN) increased considerably, and was well known to them before they set off.

But there are a few things to remember: first most foreign fighters are from other Middle East and North African countries, and that is where the greatest risk of consequent terrorism lies; second, ISIL for one has been careless with its foreign fighter contingent, having thrown large numbers into Kobane to face almost certain death in a battle of no purpose, rather than use them against overseas targets; third there is no clear evidence of a directed plot in the West by either ISIL or JaN; fourth, ISIL and JaN are going to some lengths to recruit new forces from overseas, while giving those supporters who can’t come only the very vaguest of instructions to kill whoever they can however they can wherever they can; the networks they have set up are so far one-way routes…

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To read the full remarks please click on the link below:
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/the-rise-of-isil-counterterrorism-lectures-2015

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