foreign fighters

April 04, 2016

What Comes Next for Thwarted Foreign Fighters?

In early March, French officials successfully prevented two girls from leaving to join ISIS in Syria, and the country collectively breathed a sigh of relief. But what happens next? What happens to the kids who are saved from falling under the spell...

Giving Voice to American Jihadists

Freedom of speech and freedom of religion are key rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately, there are some in our country who have used the Constitution as an enabling device to further their advocacy of violent ideologies and...

Mothers Against Joining Jihad

The number of foreign fighters who have joined ISIS now exceeds 20,000, illustrating the effectiveness of the group's recruitment strategies. Governments and private groups like CEP are experimenting with a variety of initiatives designed to counter...

Complexities in Profiling Western Foreign Fighters

CEP has reviewed the details of dozens of cases involving Western foreign fighters and jihadist brides who in some way were radicalized and became involved in the conflict in Iraq and Syria. Given the similarity of the end result, you would suspect...

Girls in CrISIS

Glasgow girl, Aqsa Mahmoud, wrote on Tumblr from Syria: “The media at first used to [portray] the ones running away to join the Jihad [holy war] as being unsuccessful, [and say that they] didn’t have a future and [came] from broke down families etc...

Religious Extremism Across Faiths

More than 20,000 foreign fighters from 80 countries have joined the ranks of ISIS and other extremist groups in Iraq and Syria. Somewhat surprisingly, of that total, almost 4,000 fighters have come from Western Europe. Why would so many leave...

Daily Dose

Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.

Fact:

On October 7, 2023, Hamas invaded southern Israel where, in the space of eight hours, hundreds of armed terrorists perpetrated mass crimes of brutality, rape, and torture against men, women and children. In the biggest attack on Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, 1,200 were killed, and 251 were taken hostage into Gaza—where 101 remain. One year on, antisemitic incidents have increased by record numbers. 

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