European Fighters in Syria and Iraq: Assessments, Responses, and Issues for the United States
Author(s):
Flows of foreign fighters to the current conflicts in Syria and Iraq are recent examples of a
broader phenomenon that has seen tens of thousands of individuals travel to various conflict
zones in the Middle East, North Africa, and elsewhere over the last three decades.1
In February
2015, the U.S. intelligence community assessed that more than 20,000 foreign fighters—
including at least 3,400 Westerners—had traveled to the Syria-Iraq region since 2011.2
U.S.
National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) Director Nicholas Rasmussen has asserted that the
numbers of those seeking to fight in Syria or Iraq are “unprecedented,” that they “are going up,”
and that the majority of recent recruits are joining the Islamic State terrorist organization (also
known as ISIL or ISIS).3