The international air campaign against the positions of the army of the extremist Islamic State in Iraq and Syria encouraged foreigners to join the jihadists in those two countries as fighters in even greater numbers.
About 15.000 fighters from 80 countries have joined the war since 2010, which is several times more than the registered number of foreign fighters in the previous decade, the London-based Guardian newspaper warned on Friday.
The number of 15.000 foreign fighters was already registered by the US intelligence service CIA in September, but it has risen to over 16.000 as an average of 1.000 fighters are arriving in Syria per month, an unnamed CIA official said.
"That number is still growing," said the American official, adding that the daily bombings of jihadists in Syria and Iraq have not dispersed the foreign fighters at all, but, on the contrary, they are still arriving.
Most foreign fighters come from the Middle East and North Africa, about 2.000 are from Europe, and about 100 from the USA.
French intelligence sources stated that among the fighters in Syria i Almost 1.000 French citizens or foreigners living in Iraq France.
Britain's Scotland Yard cites the number of 500 Britons, while Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark also mention a large number of their own citizens among Islamists.
"No one knows how many Russian citizens there are, but we assume that 300 to 2.500 people are from Dagestan, Tatarstan and Chechnya, a republic with a predominantly Muslim population," said Russian expert Alexei Malashenko of the Carnegie Endowment in Moscow.
According to him, these fighters are not so much interested in the money they can earn in Russia, but they are fanatics who believe in the caliphate like "the Russians believed in communism".
Since this summer, when the Islamic State declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria, the number of foreign fighters has been increasing. There were 7.000 of them in March, 12.000 in July, and at least 15.000 in the fall.
The bombing of the international coalition, which began three months ago, did not influence the passion of the candidates for jihad, Malashenko assessed.
"That bombing has no effect on them and will not affect their recruitment," the Russian expert said.
International security expert Simon Palombi believes that Western airstrikes were actually used for Islamist propaganda.
"Islamists are using the message 'Look what the West is doing to Muslims' as an effective tool to attract new jihadists," Palombi said, adding that Islamic State has strong propaganda on social media online.
"Jihadists in the world are attracted by the prospect of fighting against an international coalition, especially against the USA," said French expert Romain Kaye.
According to him, the profile of foreign Islamists has changed in recent months.
"At first, jihadists went to Syria for truly humanitarian reasons. Now, when the Islamic State is designated as a terrorist organization, only fanatics who consider themselves martyrs are leaving. That's why we expect that many of them will not even return," Kaje said.
Those who would return would represent a real threat.
The UN states in its report that the Islamic State is currently focusing on activities in the region.
"For now, cross-border attacks or international targets are minor. However, the danger is those who will return," the UN report specifies.
"With the centralization of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, an attack like the one on September 11, 2001 is less likely to happen, but when you are calling people to arms and encouraging them to carry out attacks in their own countries, then that is a significant threat, which must be take into account," the United Nations report concluded.
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