The Flow Of New Foreign Recruits Joining ISIS In Iraq And Syria Has Stopped

© AFP

Washington Post: Flow of foreign fighters plummets as Islamic State loses its edge

LONDON — The flow of foreign fighters to the ranks of the Islamic State — once a mighty current of thousands of radicalized men and women converging on Syrian and Iraqi battlefields from nations across the globe — has been cut to a trickle this year as the group’s territory has shrunk and its ambitions have withered.

The decline, officials and experts say, has been dramatic, prolonged and geographically widespread, with the number of Europeans, Americans, North Africans and others joining up to fight and die for the idea of a revived Islamic caliphate falling as precipitously as the terrorist group’s fortunes.

From a peak of 2,000 new foreign recruits crossing the Turkish-Syrian border each month, the Islamic State and other extremist groups operating in Syria are down to as low as 50, according to U.S. intelligence assessments.

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WNU Editor: This cut-off of new fighters is due to a multiple of reasons .... Turkey cracking down, stopping/disrupting social media recruitment, other nations stopping and arresting recruits before they leave the country, etc.. But probably the biggest reason are the losses that ISIS are now facing on multiple fronts. The perception is that they are losing .... and losers always have trouble to recruit new members and followers.