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| Terrorism: report all suspicious activity to police |
Almost 30 percent of EU citizens who joined the fight in Syria have returned home, according to a new study.
The study, prepared by the Hague-based International Centre for
Counter-Terrorism, said that more than 4,000 Europeans had gone to fight
in Syria, of whom 14 percent were confirmed dead.
French, Germans and Britons make up the highest number of foreign
fighters from European countries in the ranks of armed groups in Syria,
the study reported, but Belgium is the largest contributor in proportion
to its population.
Europeans fighting alongside groups in Syria and Iraq have been high
on the agenda of European security concerns for several years.
Returned volunteers have been involved in attacks in Paris and
Brussels over the past 18 months, including last month's bomb blasts in
the Belgian capital.
The study, however, maintained that "not all FF (foreign fighters) are terrorists, and not all terrorists are FF.
"Thus, not all returnees systematically present a danger to the societies to which they return," it added.
The researchers said that it was hard to understand the motivations
of the returnees, but a previous study published by Dutch Security and
Intelligence Service in 2014 offered various reasons for returning.
These included: "being disillusioned, being traumatised, (feelings
of) betrayal, realisation of the atrocities, and regret, as well as
having plans to recruit others or commit attacks in their countries of
departure".
About 17 percent of them were female and 23 percent were converts to Islam, according to the latest study, published on Friday
.
Most came from urban areas or peripheral suburbs of the continent's cities.
Belgium - home to the attackers linked to last year's Paris shootings
as well as last month's Brussels bombings - sent 41 fighters per
million population.
Not only did Belgium contribute the most fighters compared to its
population, but only 18 percent of them had returned, compared with 50
percent of those who had left from Denmark, the researchers said.
Austria and Sweden followed in per capita terms.
In absolute terms, France was the largest source country for fighters
who had left to fight alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant. The study counted more than 900 of them.
Germany and Britain also contributed large numbers.
Note EU-Digest: the unanswered question which remains is "how have the Governments of EU member states dealt with identifying these returning terrorists?" It is imperative that at passport and immigration control sites immigration officers become far more serious, when screening single incoming young males and females from Middle Eastern decent, than they have been so far.
In the meantime report all suspicious activities in your neighborhood or apartment building immediately to the police, The life you save could be your own.
Read more: One-third of EU fighters in Syria returned home: Study - AJE News
