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Report: In 18 months, number of foreign fighters in Syria, Iraq doubled
The Week ^ | 12/08/2015 | Catherine Garcia

Posted on 12/08/2015 1:04:05 PM PST by SeekAndFind

A new report says that the number of foreign fighters traveling to Syria and Iraq to fight for the Islamic State and other militant groups has more than doubled over the last 18 months.

The Soufan Group, an international consultancy firm based in New York, used UN data, figures from official government estimates, and academic resources to come up with their findings. In June 2014, 12,000 foreign fighters in the region were identified, and now, there are 27,000 to 31,000 from 86 different countries.

Tunisia has the largest number of recruits, about 6,000, followed by Saudi Arabia with 2,500; Russia with 2,400; Turkey with 2,100; and Jordan with 2,000, Newsweek reports. About 120 fighters left the U.S. to fight in Syria and Iraq, the report says, and 40 have returned.

The number of recruits from Russia and Central Asia are up nearly 300 percent, and the number of fighters from Western Europe has more than doubled. The fear is that more and more will return to their home countries, the report says, with 20 to 30 percent of those Western Europe recruits already back. Recruits are on "a search for belonging, purpose, adventure, and friendship," the report says, and those "appear to remain the main reasons for people to join the Islamic State, just as they remain the least addressed issues in the international fight against terrorism."


TOPICS: Egypt; Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events; Russia; Syria; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: egypt; elections; eritrea; immigration; iraq; isis; israel; jordan; kurdistan; receptayyiperdogan; russia; sinai; syria; trump; trumpwasright; turkey; yemen

1 posted on 12/08/2015 1:04:05 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Our friends the Saudis, Russians, Turks and Jordan.


2 posted on 12/08/2015 1:11:23 PM PST by free_life (If you ask Jesus to forgive you and to save you, He will.)
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To: SeekAndFind

That’s wonderful!

Get them all in one place and turn the desert into a glass parking lot.


3 posted on 12/08/2015 1:15:46 PM PST by Gamecock (Preach the gospel daily, use words if necessary is like saying Feed the hungry use food if necessary)
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To: SeekAndFind

If we didn’t have a wussy running the country we could bomb them out of the picture.


4 posted on 12/08/2015 1:23:37 PM PST by soycd
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To: SeekAndFind

I suspect that they aren’t making up for the loss of native Syrians and Iraqis, which were probably most of the more dangerous warriors. The battlefield results lately seem to indicate Daesh is low on manpower.


5 posted on 12/08/2015 1:40:05 PM PST by buwaya
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To: SeekAndFind

hey
replenish the muslim stock in the countries sending the jihadis...
YOU KNOW ....”THE PEACEFUL MIGRANTS” OBAMA WANTS TO BRING HERE
since they are not jihadis, they would surely be welcomed in the muslim lands supplying ISIS....as suitable replacements...
makes sense right?
Trump is correct ..... shut the door until we get stuff figured out........ in aboiut 100 years ..... til then stay home....and go home...


6 posted on 12/08/2015 1:44:28 PM PST by zzwhale
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To: zzwhale

zzwhale said: “. . . shut the door until we get stuff figured out.”

Is it OK if we make that a 1-way door that opens to let “radicalized muslims” leave the U.S. to return to the battlefields but not return here? Then maybe they can become targets.

Oldplayer


7 posted on 12/08/2015 2:03:03 PM PST by oldplayer
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

8 posted on 12/08/2015 2:06:46 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
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To: oldplayer
...Is it OK if we make that a 1-way door that opens to let “radicalized muslims” leave the U.S. to return to the battlefields but not return here? Then maybe they can become targets...

from the article:

The fear is that more and more will return to their home countries

Let them go, encourage them to go, pay for their one way ticket, never let them return and hope they wipe each other out with our help.

9 posted on 12/08/2015 5:06:09 PM PST by Fred Nerks (FAIR DINKUM!)
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