TerrorismForeign jihadists in Syria encouraged to return home to engage in terrorism
Thousands of foreign fighters are traveling to Syria to fight the Syrian government in the country’s civil war. About 500 of those are from Britain, and many of these individuals are already known to British intelligence service, MI5. One British Muslim who had joined ISIS but then defected, says many of those Britons, along with other Europeans and Americans, are being trained as jihadists and then encouraged by their trainers to return home to launch terrorist attacks. Manuel Valls, France’s interior minister, said jihadists are the “biggest threat that the country faces in the coming years.”
Jihadis are returning to commit attacks after training // Source: thoicuoc.net
Thousands of foreign fighters are traveling to Syria to fight the Syrian government in the country’s civil war. About 500 of those are from Britain, and many of these individuals are already known to British intelligence service, MI5.
In an interview with a former fighter, the Telegraph has learned that many of those Britons, along with other Europeans and Americans, are being trained as jihadists and then encouraged by their trainers to return home to launch terrorist attacks. The defector, known as Murad, was a fighter with the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), the most extreme and consisting largely of foreign fighters. The information offered in Murad’s interview echoes the concerns of MI5, which says that the threat of terrorists trained in Syria and coming back to the United Kingdom is dominating a great deal of the agency’s workload.
Some fighters went to Syria with a genuine desire to join fellow Sunnis in fighting the Syrian Alawite regime, but many of them became indoctrinated by al-Qaeda. Murad tells of the foreign fighters he met in Syria: “They talked often about terrorist attacks. The foreigners were proud of 9/11 and the London bombings. The British, French and American mujahideen [holy warriors] in the room started talking about places that they wanted to bomb or explode themselves in Europe and the United States. Everyone named a target. The American said he dreamed of blowing up the White House.”
Murad discussed ISIS requiring the fighters who join its ranks to study the Quran, then perform two to three hours of military training. This included lessons on how to make and detonate car bombs and suicide vests. “We all know how to do this now,” he said. “It is one of the first things they teach us, the simple training… We had to wear them (suicide vests) to battles. The purpose for this is not to let ourselves be kidnapped or arrested. It is very easy. I even taught my two brothers how to make a vest” said Murad.
Last week two 21-year-old men from Birmingham were charged with traveling to Syria to commit acts of terrorism. Two 15-year-old boys from France were reported last week to have left the country to join the fighting in Syria. Manuel Valls, France’s interior minister, said jihadists are the “biggest threat that the country faces in the coming years.” Valls estimated that 700 French nationals have either travelled to Syria or returned to France, or are en route.
Shiraz Maher, a senior research fellow at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King’s College London, estimated that fifty British fighters have already returned home from Syria. British law enforcement has begun to take preventative measures in anticipation of terror attacks. Last October, Andrew Parker, the director general of MI5, said: “for the future, there is good reason to be concerned about Syria. A growing proportion of our casework now has some link to Syria, mostly concerning individuals from the U.K. who have travelled to fight there or who aspire to do so.”
