European Jihadists: The

Continuation of a Historical Trend

Analysis
August 19, 2013 | 0531 Print Text Size

Greek police in Athens attempt to disperse Muslim protesters in September 2012. (LOUISA
GOULIAMAKI/AFP/GettyImages)

Summary
The threat of experienced militants returning to Europe from combat in North Africa and the
Middle East is fueling debate about immigration and integration in Europe and strengthening
xenophobic and nationalist sentiments. It is not a new phenomenon for Europeans to travel
abroad to fight. Reports have circulated for months about the growing number of foreigners
fighting alongside Islamists in places such as Libya and Syria. Most recently, Spanish
newspaper El Mundo reported Aug. 5 that leaks by unspecified European intelligence services
warned that terrorist organizations in Syria could be preparing international attacks,
particularly in Europe.

As new intelligence emerges whether the threats are legitimate or not European
authorities will intensify counterterrorism efforts and immigration controls in an effort to
thwart possible attacks. But given the large and growing Muslim population in Europe and the
ease of travel throughout the Continent, preventing all attacks will not be easy.

Analysis
The El Mundo article identified the Syrian rebel group Jaish al-Muhajireen wal Ansar (Army of
Emigrants and Helpers), formerly known as the Muhajireen Brigade, as a group that many
foreigners join. Created in summer 2012 by foreign fighters and led by Chechens, the group has
recruited foreign participants from all over the world and merged with two other Syrian rebel
factions, the Khattab Brigade and the Army Muhammad, in February. According to the Chechen
news agency Kavkaz Center, the group consists of roughly 1,000 fighters and has led assaults
in the Syrian provinces of Aleppo, Latakia and Idlib, among others.

National Origins

In April of this year, EU Counterterrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove estimated that some
500 European citizens were fighting in Syria, most of them from the United Kingdom, France
and Ireland. A survey by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King's
College London found that up to 600 Europeans from 14 countries, including Austria, Spain,
Sweden, the United Kingdom and Germany, have participated in the Syrian conflict since it
began in early 2011, representing roughly 7 to 11 percent of the total number of foreign
fighters in Syria. The study showed that the largest contingent of foreign militants
somewhere between 28 and 134 came from the United Kingdom. (The number of foreign
fighters could be higher considering that many likely cycled through the fighting arena and
returned home in a very short time.)

Though no one knows the exact number of foreigners fighting in jihadist militant groups,
reports occasionally surface about foreigners killed in action in Syria, Somalia, Libya and
Yemen, among other countries. In March, for example, a Swedish man known by the nom de
guerre Abu Kamal As Swedee and a Danish man known as Abdul Malik al-Dinmarki, both
members of the Jaish al-Muhajireen wal Ansar, were reportedly killed in suicide bombings in
Syria.

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Flashpoint Global Partners conducted a joint
study this year that monitored extremist Internet sites and analyzed the national origins of
280 foreign fighters reported to have died fighting alongside rebels in Syria between July 2012
and May 2013. The study found that 60 of those killed came from Libya, 47 came from Tunisia
and 44 came from Saudi Arabia. The death toll also included single fighters from countries
such as Denmark, France, Uzbekistan, Ireland, Morocco, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the
United States.

Jihadists Back Home

Muslim communities have existed in Europe for centuries, but guest-worker agreements and
relaxed immigration policies in the 1960s brought waves of Muslim immigrants from Turkey
into Germany, from Algeria into France and from Pakistan into the United Kingdom. EU cross-
border travel restrictions are minimal, and some European authorities try hard not to disturb
Muslim communities in hopes that inaction will safeguard Europe against attacks by
radicalized Islamists. Compounding the problem is that returning jihadist fighters are more
often than not European citizens and are usually not caught by standard immigration controls.

Hence, it has not been difficult for European Islamists to receive support from people and
groups in the Middle East and North Africa largely undetected. Those connections can then be
used to attempt to carry out terrorist attacks inside Europe. Below are some of the most
recent attempted and successful attacks involving European jihadists:

March 2013: A Belgian federal police counterterrorism force conducted a felony car
stop that led to a shootout and the death of Hakim Benladghem, a French citizen of
Algerian descent. Benladghem was known to have received training as a paratrooper
with the French Foreign Legion. Police discovered a cache of weapons and explosives
in his apartment and believed Benladghem intended to carry out an armed assault in
Europe.
August 2012: Spanish and French police foiled an al Qaeda plot by two Chechen men,
Eldar Magomedov and Mohamed Ankari Adamov, and a Turk named Cengiz Yalcin. Their
alleged plan was to drop improvised explosive devices from paragliders onto British
and U.S. targets in Spain, France and elsewhere in Europe during the London Olympics.
 All three suspects were said to be al Qaeda operatives who had received training in
Pakistan.

July 2012: A Swedish national of Lebanese descent, Abu Abdurraham, plotted to blow
up a U.S. passenger jet during the London Olympics. Abdurraham was believed to have
converted to Islam in 2008 and was recruited for the operation in a terrorist training
camp in Yemen.

March 2012: A French-Algerian man named Mohammed Merah shot and killed a rabbi
and three children outside a Jewish school in Toulouse, France. A week before the
attack, Merah targeted a group of French paratroopers, killing four. He reportedly
targeted army personnel because of his involvement with unknown militant groups in
the war in Afghanistan.

German Police Raid Extremists for Intelligence (Dispatch)

In France and the United Kingdom, the threat posed by radical Islamists has become an
important public issue, making both countries hesitant to supply weapons to Syrian rebels in
spite of their earlier moves to end an embargo on such support. Both countries are also well
aware that the large Muslim enclaves spreading throughout the Continent provide attractive
havens for European jihadists who have received training in places such as Pakistan, Syria,
Afghanistan, Yemen and North Africa. These communes provide effective environments for
radicalization because of their relative isolation and the cultural and religious bonds they
provide to largely disenfranchised immigrant populations.

Since the outbreak of instability in North Africa and extended fighting in Syria, the fear of
attacks by nationals returning to Europe after fighting abroad has become widespread. It is a
concern not only for France and the United Kingdom, both of which have sizable Muslim
populations and have already seen terrorist attacks, but also for countries such as Denmark
and Sweden, the latter of which is often portrayed as a positive example regarding the
acceptance of immigrants.

Another Look at Immigration Policies

With border controls inside the European Union largely abolished, radicalized Islamists can
easily threaten multiple countries, making collaboration among EU members more important.
At the beginning of August, nine EU countries, including France, Belgium, Netherlands,
Luxembourg, Germany, Poland, Italy, the United Kingdom and Sweden, called on the EU
Parliament to support the establishment of a European database of airline passengers who
enter and leave the European Union. While most EU countries already collect such data, it is
not shared because the European Parliament is concerned about infringing upon privacy
rights.

Rising Anti-Immigration Sentiment in the EU

In order for EU members to better address the threat of jihadist attacks at home, security
along the bloc's borders will likely be tightened. This will affect not only potential terrorists
but also other Muslim and European travelers. This could add pressure on countries such as
the Balkan states many of which are not part of the European Union, though they border EU
territory and reportedly have seen extensive outflows of fighters to Syria to increase their
overall security efforts. Western European countries will probably provide aid in the form of
money, personnel and hardware to those that need it.

In many European countries, immigrant populations are already under the spotlight because of
rising unemployment. Right-wing parties, such as the National Front in France and the
Freedom Party in the Netherlands, which are already gaining popularity in light of the
European economic crisis, will fuel the fear that European jihadists will return from the
battlefield to perpetrate attacks in Europe. This could lead to more criticism of European
Muslim communities for their lack of integration. Rising unemployment, combined with the
threat of returning jihadists, only increases the pressure on European governments to tighten
immigration policy.

Europe's Jihadist Outlook

Despite the large number of European Muslims who have received training overseas and
fought in places such as Somalia, Libya and Syria, few have actually conducted attacks after
returning to Europe. Still, in an era when jihadist ideologues are urging individual jihad in the
West, these trained individuals do pose a very real threat.

One problem is that the manner in which fighters are recruited from Europe or elsewhere is
inconsistent from one place to another and difficult to track. As a result, it is hard to
determine who might carry out a terrorist attack, what type of attack it could be and where it
might occur. This problem is compounded by many others, including the grassroots strategy
propagated by al Qaeda and the difficulties of disrupting terrorist training that occurs abroad.
Problems specific to Europe include the historical Muslim presence in the Continent and the
relative ease of cross-border European travel. Authorities will continually be challenged in
their efforts to thwart terrorist attacks, not only in Europe but anywhere there are vulnerable
targets as well.

Read more: European Jihadists: The Continuation of a Historical Trend | Stratfor

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