Daesh returnees pose major security risks, says report

This file frame grab from video released Sunday, Oct. 15, 2017 and provided by Furat FM, a Syrian Kurdish activist-run media group, shows Syrian Islamic State group fighters who have surrendered, at a base of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Raqqa, Syria. (AP)

ANKARA: The latest report by the Soufan Center, a US-based think tank, about Daesh militants returning to their home countries underlines the security challenges that might be faced in the years to come.
At least 5,600 fighters from 33 states have returned home from Syria and Iraq. Most of them have either disappeared or been imprisoned. Of the 1,500 Turkish fighters who joined Daesh, about 900 have returned home.
This represents a serious threat to domestic and regional security, as returnees are likely to remain in contact with the recruitment network and their ex-comrades.
Their reintegration and de-radicalization will require effective mechanisms of psychological and social support.
Sertac Canalp Korkmaz, a researcher in security studies at ORSAM, a think tank in Ankara, said there are many possibilities for the fate of returning fighters.
“They might either step aside, become a sleeper cell, recruit and train new militants, or transit Turkey to reach another conflict zone,” Korkmaz told Arab News.
“But considering Daesh’s magazine publications in Turkish and its terror attacks in the country, we could say Daesh considers all the values, people and institutions of Turkey a threat.”
Korkmaz said there is also a threat posed by the return of recruits who joined the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the Kurdish militia in Syria.
“The sharing of intelligence between members of the international community about the identities of foreign fighters may contribute to managing the process better,” he added.
Turkey has set up risk-analysis centers at airports and bus stations to catch foreign fighters, who are deported to their country of origin.
Turkey is also closely monitoring tens of thousands of unregistered apartments rented out for short terms. Real estate agents are now required to provide police with the names of tenants.
“Proactive operations throughout the country should be increased,” Korkmaz said, adding that to reintegrate returned fighters, each country should design its own program in light of its own political and social culture, economic capacity and legal framework.
“Those who’ve been rehabilitated should be monitored closely in their neighborhood and through electronic means,” he said.