Group items tagged

The fighting in Syria and Iraq has expanded and gained more foreign fighters from many more countries around the world. 

According to a U.S. counterterrorism official, it is estimated that more than 20,000 foreign fighters flocked to Syria, and Iraq, in order to join the Islamic State or rival militant groups in Syria. These fighters have come from more than 90 countries from all over the world with an estimate of at least 3,400 of the foreign fighters coming from Western countries.

According to a U.S. counterterrorism official, it is estimated that more than 20,000 foreign fighters flocked to Syria, and Iraq, in order to join the Islamic State or rival militant groups in Syria. These fighters have come from more than 90 countries from all over the world with an estimate of at least 3,400 of the foreign fighters coming from Western countries.

This was an article (originally published by the Independent, however, I found it on their website via my first article from the BBC) by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence of London. The article suggests, allowing fighters to return home safely and enroll in a De-radicalization program would be more beneficial than current policies of severe punishment (prison, stripping of citizenship, etc.). The authors contend current repercussions for fighters returning to their home countries leave them trapped and isolated and prison sentences often lead to further radicalization. Overall this article really captured my attention in its non-conventional proposal for governments to handle these situations.

This article talks about how the number of IS fighters is actually more than what the CIA had anticipated. There are around 20,000 to 31,500, which is 10,000 less than what the CIA had stated. There are approximately 15,000 foreign fighters, so this is concerns to the Western countries in the fact that these foreign fighters can carry attacks in their home countries.

There are still numerous foreigners attempting to enter Syria in order to join the group ISIS. Many of these foreigners attempt to go through Turkey and while some Western countries criticize Turkey on the number of people still crossing, the Prime Minister believes he is doing as much as he can. 

Turkey's role in this war is interesting. Accused of loosening border restrictions to let foreign fighters enter Syria, Turkey is now accusing EU countries of doing the same. There is a huge number of foreign fighters in Syria and it is hard to believe that EU countries had no idea these people were leaving.

Two girls ages 15 and 17, who fled to Syria to join the ISIS movement are not wishing to return to their home countries. The problem, under Austria's laws they are forbidden to return for participating in a foreign war. An interesting aspect of the story is it said to have been ISIS members who were operating their social media accounts for propaganda purposes.

After fighting increased in Syria, Turkey decided to close dow two border crossings that lead to Syria as a precaution. Until this point, Turkey has kept its borders open to Syrian refugees and even so it still has been criticized for doing too little to stop foreign fighters from entering Syria. 

The article is about how many Austrian teens are running away to become ISIL fighters. A new way of Islamophobia is occurring in Austria.

Following an attack on a museum in Tunisia, they plan to open a consulate in Syria and plan to renew their ties with the Syrian government. They state that this is so that they can track Tunisian militant fighters who have joined ISIS and to prevent them form any future attacks. 

After mounting domestic and international political pressure, the Foreign Minister of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that Turkey will allow some Kurdish forces to cross the border into Syria to fight the Islamic State in the Syrian town of Kobane. Turkey will not allow all Kurdish forces to fight, and will only allow the Peshmerga, rather than the PKK, to cross the border. "Peshmerga" is a Kurdish word for armed fighters, but more specifically refers to nationalist soldiers for an independent Kurdish state.

This article provides a detailed outline of the battle against ISIS in Iraq and Syria through the use of maps, charts, and photographs to allow readers to visualize areas where fighting is taking place. Several maps provide locations of ISIS controlled territory, locations of airstrikes, and locations of ISIS controlled oil refineries. It was really helpful to see different maps outlining this information because I often hear about this conflict on the radio or television programs and it can be hard to understand the scope of the conflict without any visual aids. I really appreciated the effort to show in detail the specific locations.

This article outlined the fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq providing detailed maps, charts, and photos to present a more clear picture of where violence and air strikes are occurring.

The terror group has been locked in a battle with Kurdish forces in the northern Syrian border town of Kobani since mid-September. The United States and its allies are bombing ISIS positions there, but airstrikes have yet to pry Kobani from the group's hands. Kareem says he fought for a year all across ISIS-controlled territory. He says other fighters he was with were promised wives by ISIS. Most of the fighters were foreigners, he says, and he had difficulty communicating with them because they didn't speak the local Syrian dialect of Arabic. Kareem says he even met a fighter from China at one point.

With the rise of ISIS in 2013, rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra (deemed a terrorist group by the US) has been increasing in popularity. The foreign fighters in Nusra along with extreme members left to join ISIS. This has created a more moderate Nusra and Syrians are more willing to work with them.

The UN is concerned by the presence of ISIS in Afghanistan but says the militant group's power to "unite insurgents is more significant than its capabilities in the war-torn country."