Europe Lives in Fear of ‘Returning Extremists’

Police secure the area near a car ramming incident that took place in Paris in June 2017. (Reuters)
Police secure the area near a car ramming incident that took place in Paris in June 2017. (Reuters)
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Europe Lives in Fear of ‘Returning Extremists’

Police secure the area near a car ramming incident that took place in Paris in June 2017. (Reuters)
Police secure the area near a car ramming incident that took place in Paris in June 2017. (Reuters)

It is impossible to overlook the fierce fighters left behind by extremist organizations. These fighters now seek to return to to their homelands, while still retaining their need to eliminate the other. This predicament forces us to address how to tackle the returning fighters and whether they can be rehabilitated.

Each case is different from the other and depends on the psychological condition of the fighter and the extent to which he has been corrupted by extremist thought and how far he made it up the organization’s ranks. For example, it is rare for a leading member of a group to yield to international law and he would rather die for his cause.

Foreign fighters are a thorny issue for several security and terror experts. They would rather see these fighters eliminated, along with their ideology, than have to tolerate them at home should they choose to return. This stance was declared by US Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS Brett McGurk, who said that the alliance was keen on getting rid of the remaining terrorists in Syria and killing them there.

Ever since Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced that Iraq was liberated from ISIS, there has been rising international concern over the great number of foreign fighters, who fled the region towards the desert, bringing with them their extremist thought and determination to spread destruction to other areas.

The concern over the foreign fighters’ return to their homeland is whether they want to reintegrate into society or if they will act as sleeper cells that are ready to attack should they be ordered to do so.

The absence of an ISIS stronghold made it inevitable that it move its battlefield from politically turbulent areas to safer parts of the world. It also forced it to shift its means of control from imposing territorial control over Iraq and Syria to imposing control over its followers and sympathizers through electronic means. The organization can change the electronic portals whenever authorities impose restrictions on them. So even though the restrictions have been set by international powers, the statements issued by extremists over the media have not dwindled.

Europe in particular has been growing increasingly concerned over the infiltration of fighters into its soil. This has burdened security agencies there, especially given that the waves of refugees and minorities in those countries include people who feel marginalized and discriminated against by others. This leaves them susceptible to extremists, who can lure them into their terror organizations. This is especially the case with former ISIS members, who dreamed of establishing the “caliphate.” They are drawn to hate speech, the idea of joining combat training camps and killing innocent people.

Away from speculation, the facts on the ground reveal ISIS’ relentless efforts to restore its former glory. It has intensified its plans and relayed its disruptive orders to Europe. According to the Conflict Armament Research center, a third of ISIS’ weapons arsenal of rifles and rocket-propelled grenades were manufactured in the European Union, in countries such as Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria. Terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman echoed these concerns, adding that thousands of foreign fighters have fled conflict zones and many of them are now residing in the Balkan states in wait for the right opportunity to infiltrate into the rest of Europe.

ISIS has its sights set on Europe after it lost its strongholds and after the international coalition left it homeless in conflict zones and left scores of its members dead. It also however seeks to exploit Europe’s demographics that are rich in minorities that can be manipulated or persuaded into joining its terrorist ranks.

Moreover, dormant cells in society are difficult to detect, especially since several returning fighters are disappointed in ISIS for being too extreme in its violence or not living up to its national and religious slogans in its campaign to liberate Iraq or Syria.

This disappointment grows even bigger when the members realize the reality of the organization and its delving into extreme violence and overlooking the slogans that had attracted followers in the first place.

These members make up the segment that wants to reintegrate into society and they can be rehabilitated even though it is difficult to determine the exact number of these “repentant” extremists. Some security experts prefer to solve the problem by getting rid of foreign fighters all together.

Terrorism expert David Otto said “jihadists” do not necessarily leave “jihad” behind because their “caliphate” has collapsed. These fighters cannot disappear because they have a need to find a substitute environment for themselves. This is demonstrated in how Britons head to Turkey and Africans head to Libya. This includes fighters who have a psychological tendency to murder. They have taken advantage of terrorist groups to receive training and logistic support in order to commit terror attacks.

Sleeper cells have been exploited in Europe in order to spark terror there. Attacks have varied from lone wolf stabbing attacks or car rammings. Such operations, which have taken place in Nice, Barcelona, Berlin, Hamburg, Dusseldorf and other cities, do not need extensive planning. The perpetrators all had direct or indirect connections to ISIS.

These attacks also however reflect ISIS’ weakness in carrying out a major well-planned attack given that Europe has upped its security measures in anticipation of such potential threats. This is countered however with the ease in which lone wolf attacks can be sprung and the relative ease in which perpetrators can be incited to commit them. The attackers are usually psychologically unstable, who use social and religious excuses to carry out their crimes even if they cost them their life.

ISIS has realized the value of these attacks and it has dedicated intense campaigns to incite lone wolves to target Europeans, especially around the holidays. This has not however deterred it from searching for the right opportunity to carry out major terror crimes that need more than just lone wolves. The possibility of this happening is bolstered by the some 1,200 European fighters returning home.

This has prompted European security authorities to find the best way to detect extremists on their soil. German security recently adopted a new system to assess extremists. The “radar” includes terror and crime experts, as well as sociologists and psychologists, who are tasked with uncovering terrorists.

Even though these precautions will improve security in Europe, they may lead to racial and religious profiling, which would fuel Islamophobia and consequently treat each Arab or Muslim as a potential terrorist. This plays into the hands of terrorists who seek through their attacks to widen the gap between cultures and weaken the opportunity for extremists to reintegrate into society.



Mistrust and Fear: The Complex Story behind Strained Syria-Lebanon Relations

People carry Syrian flags of the opposition as they celebrate the ouster of the Assad regime in Damascus, in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, 08 December 2024. (EPA)
People carry Syrian flags of the opposition as they celebrate the ouster of the Assad regime in Damascus, in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, 08 December 2024. (EPA)
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Mistrust and Fear: The Complex Story behind Strained Syria-Lebanon Relations

People carry Syrian flags of the opposition as they celebrate the ouster of the Assad regime in Damascus, in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, 08 December 2024. (EPA)
People carry Syrian flags of the opposition as they celebrate the ouster of the Assad regime in Damascus, in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, 08 December 2024. (EPA)

A lot has happened in just a year on both sides of the Lebanon-Syria border. A lightning offensive by opposition factions in Syria toppled longtime autocrat Bashar Assad and brought a new government in place in Damascus.

In Lebanon, a bruising war with Israel dealt a serious blow to Hezbollah — the Iran-backed and Assad-allied Shiite Lebanese militant group that had until recently been a powerful force in the Middle East — and a US-negotiated deal has brought a fragile ceasefire.

Still, even after the fall of the 54-year Assad family rule, relations between Beirut and Damascus remain tense — as they have been for decades past, with Syria long failing to treat its smaller neighbor as a sovereign nation.

Recent skirmishes along the border have killed and wounded several people, both fighters and civilians, including a four-year-old Lebanese girl, The Associated Press said.

Beirut and Damascus have somewhat coordinated on border security, but attempts to reset political relations have been slow. Despite visits to Syria by two heads of Lebanon's government, no Syrian official has visited Lebanon.

Here is what's behind the complicated relations.

A coldness that goes way back

Many Syrians have resented Hezbollah for wading into Syria's civil war in defense of Assad's government. Assad's fall sent them home, but many Lebanese now fear cross-border attacks by Syria's militants.

There are new restrictions on Lebanese entering Syria, and Lebanon has maintained tough restrictions on Syrians entering Lebanon.

The Lebanese also fear that Damascus could try to bring Lebanon under a new Syrian tutelage.

Syrians have long seen Lebanon as a staging ground for anti-Syria activities, including hosting opposition figures before Hafez Assad — Bashar Assad's father — ascended to power in a bloodless 1970 coup.

In 1976, Assad senior sent his troops to Lebanon, allegedly to bring peace as Lebanon was hurtling into a civil war that lasted until 1990. Once that ended, Syrian forces remained in Lebanon for another 15 years.

A signature of the Assad family rule, Syria's dreaded security agents disappeared and tortured dissidents to keep the country under their control. They did the same in Lebanon.

“Syrians feel that Lebanon is the main gateway for conspiracies against them,” says Lebanese political analyst Ali Hamadeh.

Turbulent times

It took until 2008 for the two countries to agree to open diplomatic missions, marking Syria's first official recognition of Lebanon as an independent state since it gained independence from France in 1943.

The move came after the 2005 truck-bombing assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri that many blamed on Damascus. Two months later, Syria pulled its troops out of Lebanon under international pressure, ending 29 years of near-complete domination of its neighbor.

When Syria’s own civil war erupted in 2011, hundreds of thousands of Syrians fled across the border, making crisis-hit Lebanon the host of the highest per capita population of refugees in the world. Once in Lebanon, the refugees complained about discrimination, including curfews for Syrian citizens in some areas.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, rushed thousands of its fighters into Syria in 2013 to shore up Assad, worried that its supply lines from Iran could dry up.

And as much as the Lebanese are divided over their country’s internal politics, Syria's war divided them further into those supporting Assad's government and those opposing it.

Distrust and deadlock

A key obstacle to warming relations has been the fate of about 2,000 Syrians in Lebanese prisons, including some 800 held over attacks and shootings, many without trial. Damascus is asking Beirut to hand them over to continue their prison terms in Syria, but Lebanese judicial officials say Beirut won't release any attackers and that each must be studied and resolved separately.

In July, family members of the detainees rallied along a border crossing, demanding their relatives be freed. The protest came amid reports that Syrian troops could deploy foreign fighters in Lebanon, which Damascus officials denied.

Another obstacle is Lebanon’s demand that Syrian refugees go back home now that Assad is gone. About 716,000 Syrian refugees are registered with the UN refugee agency, while hundreds of thousands more are unregistered in Lebanon, which has a population of about 5 million.

Syria is also demanding the return of billions of dollars worth of deposits of Syrians trapped in Lebanese banks since Lebanon's historic financial meltdown in 2019.

The worst post-Assad border skirmishes came in mid-March, when Syrian authorities said Hezbollah members crossed the border and kidnapped and killed three Syrian soldiers. The Lebanese government and army said the clash was between smugglers and that Hezbollah wasn't involved.

Days later, Lebanese and Syrian defense ministers flew to Saudi Arabia and signed an agreement on border demarcation and boosting their coordination.

In July, rumors spread in Lebanon, claiming the northern city of Tripoli would be given to Syria in return for Syria giving up the Golan Heights to Israel. And though officials dismissed the rumors, they illustrate the level of distrust between the neighbors.

Beirut was also angered by Syria's appointment this year of a Lebanese army officer — Abdullah Shehadeh, who defected in 2014 from Lebanon to join Syrian insurgents — as the head of security in Syria’s central province of Homs that borders northeastern Lebanon.

In Syria, few were aware of Shehadeh’s real name — he was simply known by his nom de guerre, Abu Youssef the Lebanese. Syrian security officials confirmed the appointment.

What's ahead

Analysts say an important step would be for the two neighbors to work jointly to boost security against cross-border smuggling. A US-backed plan that was recently adopted by the Lebanese government calls for moving toward full demarcation of the border.

Radwan Ziadeh, a senior fellow at the Arab Center in Washington, says the best way forward would be for Syria and Lebanon to address each problem between them individually — not as a package deal.

That way, tensions would be reduced gradually, he said and downplayed recent comments by prominent Syrian anti-Assad figures who claimed Lebanon is part of Syria and should return to it.

“These are individual voices that do not represent the Syrian state,” Zaideh said.