Scenes of bloody violence undertaken by foreign fighters who have joined terrorist organizations are recurring, especially among members of ISIS, which established a “Slaughter Battalion”, with one of its most famous members being the British Mohamed Emwazi known as the ‘ISIS slaughterer’ who has not hesitated to kill a number of foreigners, including journalists and aid workers from the UK and US. The battalion also includes the French Maxime Hauchard known as Abu Abdallah Al-Faransy whose face was fully revealed in November 2014 during an operation to kill 18 Syrian soldiers and American hostage Peter Kassig. The act provoked a strong reaction within European countries and the US which has persisted until now.
This prompted indications that terrorist organizations, and ISIS in particular, shed light on crimes committed by the foreign fighters that join them, and that the foreign fighters themselves are keen to demonstrate greater militancy within those organizations compared to both local fighters who the organizations recruit from the areas they control, or those who join the to participate in terror attacks.
Some reports have begun to discover that foreign fighters form one of the main reasons behind the upswing in violence within the areas controlled by terrorist organizations, thus prolonging the crisis. The trend is compatible with the interests and economic and security considerations of these organizations in particular.
Various Features:
Although the phenomenon of foreign fighters is not new (several reports trace this trend back over two centuries) more than 70 armed groups in various countries of the world have sought to recruit trans-border fighters in order to achieve the goals they were founded to fulfill. However, this is not to say that the phenomenon isn’t gaining new features, such as the rise of trans-border terror organizations like Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and Jubhat Al-Nusra(which changed its name to Jubhat Fath Al-Sham), Boko Haram, and others. Terrorist organizations now attract extremists from all over the world.
These fighters now practice important roles within these groups organizationally and militarily, and are very often used to head armed confrontations and implement terror attacks, especially against foreign hostages. The fighters, according to several reports, can also be described as strongly committed to the group and its beliefs, and are obedient within the organizations.
A December 2015 study conducted by the New York-based Soufan Group revealed that foreign fighters who joined terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq numbered between 27,00-31,000, including 5000 from Western Europe, 4700 from the former Soviet Union, 280 from North America, 875 from the Balkans, 8000 from North Africa, 8200 from the Middle East, and 900 from Asia.
Various Reasons:
The most important reasons why foreign fighters demonstrate greater militancy within terrorist organizations can be determined by analyzing the roles that they play, which are as follows:
1. Combat experience: Some foreign fighters have gained extensive combat experience as a result of involvement in previous armed confrontations such as the wars in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It appears that this experience pushes these fighters to vie for leadership positions within terrorist organizations by adopting more militant positions in comparison to local fighters who, in most cases, lack the combat experience gained by foreigners who have already engaged in warfare. At times this has led to armed confrontations between the two parties, the continuation of which will undoubtedly impact cohesion within terrorist organizations as well as their ability to stand up to the current pressures they face.
2. Ideological polarization: Perhaps it can be said that some terrorist organizations have succeeded in polarizing a significant number of the second and third generation of Muslim immigrants in Western countries, and particularly in Europe. The intellectual beliefs of many of these individuals have remained unchanged although tens of years have passed since they moved to these countries. These ideas passed down from the first generation to the second and third, who then attempted to translate the beliefs into concrete action by joining organizations who hope to achieve goals that are compatible to a certain extent.
Other perspectives point out that organizations such as ISIS looking to formulate the belief system of foreign fighters has helped strengthen the militancy which characterizes their beliefs. European countries in particular have paid special attention to this transition, especially following the Brussels attacks of March 2016: it was later revealed that the perpetrators did not have European roots, although they were born on the continent.
In this context, according to the UK’s The Independent newspaper, Europol sent out a warning on 30 July 2016 that ISIS was currently training child fighters in order to form a new generation of young terrorists that hold the group’s beliefs. These children would be prepared to implement these ideas, especially with regard to suicide operations. According to various estimates, there are more than 50 British children residing in areas under ISIS control in Syria and Iraq. They are considered ticking time bombs which not only pose serious threats to areas inhabited by foreign fighters, but also their countries of origin.
3. Ease of recruitment: It appears that terrorist organizations face fewer difficulties when recruiting foreign fighters and reformulating their beliefs in comparison to local fighters. This motivates them to fulfill certain more extreme demands made of them, such as carrying out suicide attacks.
4. Lack of identity: Some reports indicate that psychological factors are an important variable when analyzing foreign fighters who join terrorist organizations and their keenness to adopt more militant schools of thought within the organizations. Some feel isolated and discriminated against within the communities in which they live, which has helped them, to a certain extent, to reach such a state of extremism. These beliefs were expressed when the fighters participated in bombings and foreign hostage killings which certain organizations, and ISIS in particular, announced responsibility for.
Contradictory Implications:
Despite this, terrorist organizations deliberately including a significant number of foreign fighters among their ranks may have contradictory implications. It may help compensate for these organizations’ losses resulting from the military strikes they are experiencing in several areas. At the same time, however,foreign fighters may impact these organizations’ cohesion, especially since the fighters’ influence has spread within the organization, bearing the potential bring out ethnic distinctions and lead to significant splits in the near future
