Experts tracking terror networks say that recruits from at least 80 countries are among the estimated 13,000 foreign radicals fighting in Syria and Iraq. Several hundred girls and young women from outside the region are also believed to have travelled to be with the fighters, recruited on Facebook and enticed by propaganda videos on the Internet that show veiled women firing machine guns. Countries alarmed by the global threat posed by the group calling itself the Islamic State and similar radical forces are now focused on identifying the movements and identities of recruits and sympathizers. New laws and other measures are being put in place to stop suspected militants crossing borders, ban terror propaganda from IS and track fighters once they return home.
UNITED STATES
FBI Director James Comey has said that “in the area of a dozen or so” U.S. citizens are fighting in Syria. Last month, a 19-year-old Colorado woman pleaded guilty to charges of trying to join IS. In October, a 19-year-old suburban Chicago man was arrested on the same charges. Both were taken into custody at U.S. airports as they tried to board overseas flights, in connection with a broader federal effort to use terrorism and conspiracy laws that make it a crime to provide “material support” to terror groups.
CANADA
Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney signalled this weekend he’s about to reveal a new bill giving federal agents more power to share information and safeguard sources. His top officials told Parliament last week police are investigating 90 Canada-based individuals who have travelled or sought to travel to terrorist causes abroad, including to Syria and Iraq. Such suspects are part of an even larger group of at least 130 known travellers and 80 returnees. In June police issued an arrest warrant for a 25-year-old Vancouver man they accuse of travelling to Syria to commit murder on behalf of an unspecified radical Islamist group.
FRANCE
Authorities say 930 French citizens, or foreign nationals living in France, are involved in jihadi networks, including some 350 believed to be in Iraq and Syria. Dozens are young women and girls. Intelligence and police agencies are on high alert for returning fighters, after a Frenchman who fought with extremists in Syria returned to Europe and allegedly killed four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels. Under proposed anti-terror laws, courts would be empowered to seize a person’s passport and identity card if there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect he or she would travel abroad to join a militant organization or “a theatre of operations of terrorist groups.”
BRITAIN
Authorities have said at least 400 of its citizens and residents may have joined IS and related groups in Syria and Iraq. A masked man with a British accent has appeared in IS videos that showed the murder and beheading of Western journalists and aid workers. More than 250 people who travelled to fight with the groups are said to be back in Britain. Last week police arrested four men who they charged were in the early stages of plotting an attack in the United Kingdom. Prime Minister David Cameron has suggested he wants expanded powers to take the passports of people suspected of planning to join IS. The government is also considering strengthened laws to prosecute people promoting or glorifying terrorist acts.
AUSTRALIA
Several Australian militants have been featured in IS propaganda, including a 33-year-old man who allegedly tweeted a picture of his young son holding a decapitated head. In what was said to be the biggest anti-terror operation in the country’s history, police recently arrested 15 people allegedly linked to IS, including some accused of planning a random public beheading in Australia. The Parliament is considering legislation that would expand the powers of federal agents and give intelligence agents greater powers to conduct covert operations, monitor Internet communications and safeguard their sources and methods.
GERMANY
Intelligence agencies estimate about 400 German citizens have travelled to the region to join the militants of IS. Investigators have raided the homes of suspected extremists and at least three people have been charged with supporting the militants in Syria and Iraq by providing money and cameras for producing propaganda videos. More than 100 fighters have returned, and the Interior Minister warns they are frustrated, they have combat experience and “they have learned to hate and kill.” Germany banned all activities of the group, including displaying IS flags and symbols, last month. The law also permits seizure of IS financial assets.