1、A U G U S T 2 0 1 4 P O L I C Y B R I E FBringing the Fight Back HomeWestern Foreign Fighters in Iraq and SyriaBy Dafna Rand,Anthony VassaloIn September,President Obama will preside over a United Nations Security Council session focused on the surge of global foreign fighters who have been drawn to
2、Syria and Iraq.The foreign fighter threat has become more urgent over the past few months,as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria(ISIS)has established control over vast swaths of territory across two states.Over 12,000 foreign fighters from around the world are fighting with Sunni extremist groups in
3、 the now contiguous territories that span from Syria to Western and Northern Iraq.1 A smaller subset of this group,the approximately 3,000 Western foreign fighters,present a unique threat to the U.S.homeland:2 These foreign fighters with Western passports are gaining valuable battlefield experience
4、by fighting with opposition or extremist groups such as ISIS and the al Qaeda(AQ)-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra.These individuals,including over 100 American citizens,are being exposed to the melting pot of extremist ideologies and veteran fighters flow-ing into and out of Iraq and Syria.They now have
