RadicalizationHundreds of U.K. teenagers still want to fight in ISIS ranks in Syria

Kadiza Sultana, a 17-year old Briton who traveled to Syria in February 2015 to join ISIS, was killed two weeks ago by a Russian airstrike on Raqqa, the informal capital of ISIS.

Still, experts say that hundreds of British teenage girls are keen on joining ISIS. This reality has raised questions about the effectiveness of the British government’s approach to counter-radicalism.

Fiyaz Mughal, director of Faith Matters, which works on counter-radicalization and community cohesion initiatives, told the Guardian that, from the organization’s interviews and first-hand experiences, a number of British teenage girls felt sufficiently disaffected with life in the United Kingdom that they preferred to live in the “caliphate.”

“We are looking at hundreds of young women who’d get up and go if they had the chance, as well as hundreds of men. What I am hearing and when I speak to people is that there is still a pool of young people who, if they had the means to go to Syria, would do so,” said Mughal. “But if you look at the 3 million Muslims in the United Kingdom, this is a tiny proportion.

“The only thing stopping them is the fear of getting caught; they’re frightened about how they can get there. They [the government] also know that there is a pool of individuals who want to go. Secondly, they are not only worried about young people going there but children born out there.”

The British security services say that about 850 Britons have travelled to Syria to fight in ISIS ranks. In the first half of 2016, about fifty Briton have made it to Syria.

The fact that so many British teenagers still want to go to Syria has led many to question the effectiveness of the U.K. government’s main counterterrorism strategy, Prevent. The program encourages parents, teachers, community leaders, and friends to tip the authorities about suspicious behavior.

A report by the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee had warned that Prevent was fueling distrust in Muslim communities.

“I find through our work that some of the biggest cheerleaders [for ISIS] are women and it’s women who are often feeling the most marginalized, saying ‘I don’t feel that my future’s in the U.K’. This message seeps into the minds of young people. Also, the Bethnal Green schoolgirls have inspired a lot of their peers,” added Mughal.

Kadiza Sultana lived in Bethnal Green.

A forthcoming government review, headed by Louise Casey, of ways to improve the integration of minority groups into British society is likely to address the question of how to neutralize the appeal of ISIS among British teenagers.

“The government needs to engage and speak to communities, get their integration strategy sorted out and how that links in with extremism. At the moment they have adopted a securitization approach that’s causing a lot of anger and resentment,” said Mughal.

Two friends of Kadiza remain in Raqqa, where conditions are deteriorating under relentless coalition and Russian airstrikes.

The Guardian notes that ISIS, aware of the propaganda value of the two Bethnal Green schoolgirls, will likely keep both under close surveillance to prevent their escape. Last November, 17-year old Austrian girl named Samra Kesinovic, was executed by the Islamist militants during a failed attempt to flee Raqqa.