Remaining IS foreign fighters to stay, defend land: US official

Several foreign fighters battling for the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria will stay to defend the remaining land.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Several foreign fighters battling for the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria will stay to defend the remaining land, a top US counter-terrorism official said on Friday.

Nicholas Rasmussen, the director of the US National Counter Terrorism Centre, made the remarks at the annual Aspen Security Forum.

“Many if not most of the foreign fighters who made their way to the conflict zone will end up staying, fighting, and potentially dying in order to maintain the caliphate,” he said.

International police agency Interpol recently identified a list of 173 foreign IS fighters who they believe are planning attacks in Europe.

According to Interpol, the IS militants were assumed to have received training in the Middle East to participate in suicide attacks in Europe.

The police agency fears the militants who are “operating alone” in Europe are seeking revenge as IS collapses in the Middle East.

However, Rasmussen’s new assessment of foreign fighters suggests the militants don’t plan on returning to their homes just yet.

Iraqi security forces, backed by US-led coalition airstrikes, recaptured Mosul from the extremist group while a battle to liberate Raqqa in Syria by Kurdish-led forces is ongoing.

“At one point, we were worried about this massive outflow of foreign fighters once the battlefield situation changed in Iraq and Syria,” the counterterrorism official stated.

Rasmussen added European and Western countries were preparing to “be flooded with returnees,” but said it’s “less likely” now than initially predicted.

There are fewer than 15,000 IS militants defending the group’s territory in Iraq and Syria, according to an anonymous US intelligence official.

 

Editing by G.H. Renaud