Overblown Fears of Foreign Fighters
Since the start of the Syrian civil war, the phenomenon of foreign fighters has been watched warily by Western governments. This is no surprise: Syria is the No. 1 destination for jihadists. Over the last few months, the fear that foreign fighters will return to the West and carry out terrorist attacks has crescendoed.
Two events have fueled that fear. Mehdi Nemmouche, a French citizen who had fought with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, is accused of shooting four people in the Jewish Museum here on May 24. And ISIS, encouraged by its lightning military successes in northern and western Iraq, recently asserted its ambition to establish a global caliphate by changing its name to the Islamic State — a significant gesture likely to attract more Western jihadists to its ranks.… Seguir leyendo »