Number of foreign Daesh members has doubled since June 2014: Report
The number of foreign extremists fighting for the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group has doubled since last June, reaching at least 27,000, a report says.
The intelligence consultancy, Soufan Group, said in a report on Tuesday that between 27,000 and 31,000 foreigners from some 86 countries had joined Daesh in Iraq and Syria.
The New York-based group said the figure shows a drastic rise from the approximately 12,000 foreign militants it had recorded as being in Syria in June 2014, around the same time the insurgents entered Iraq.
“The foreign fighter phenomenon in Iraq and Syria is truly global,” the group warned in its report, according to which about 5,000 individuals have arrived from European countries and some 4,700 from former Soviet Union states to fight for Daesh. More than 16,000 others have come from other countries in the Middle East and Africa.
About 20 to 30 percent of those who fought in Syria and Iraq are currently returning to their home countries, posing a major security threat to those nations, the report added.
Daesh terrorists have repeatedly called on the group’s members to carry out attacks in their home countries, similar to those carried out in the French capital, Paris, on November 13, which left some 130 people dead.
The Takfiri militants fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have been carrying out acts of terrorism in Syria since 2011, where more than 250,000 people have lost their lives. The terror group began its militancy in Iraq about three years later, also killing many people there.
Jordan rage: Protesters blast Israel’s genocide in Gaza, carnage in Lebanon
Silent occupation: Israeli settlers flocking to Cyprus as wars on Gaza, Lebanon rage
Putin: BRICS, not the West, will drive global economic prosperity
Diplomat discourages recourse to pressure, intimidation, confrontation against Iran
UN: 2024 deadliest year for aid workers amid genocide in Gaza
Gaza health official warns of hospital shutdowns within 48 hours
Israel kills 5 more paramedics in southern Lebanon: Health ministry
Iran to launch ‘new, advanced’ centrifuges in response to IAEA resolution: AEOI
Yemen fires hypersonic missile at Israeli airbase
VIDEO | New Delhi chokes under toxic smog as air quality remains at hazardous levels
VIDEO | Press TV's news headlines
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
