Many US citizens and residents who traveled to Iraq and Syria to fight alongside terrorist groups remain a potential threat to the United States and could recruit future generations of extremists, according to a new study.
Nearly half of the 64 Americans who fought with Daesh, also known as ISIL or ISIS, as well as other terrorist groups, are believed to have survived the conflict, raising concerns that a some of those militants could return home to wreak havoc on US soil, researchers at George Washington University said.
Researchers examined federal court records and interviewed law enforcement officials and family members of US nationals who joined ISIL and al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria.
“We know that foreign fighters acquire both the military skills and networks to commit more lethal attacks if they return home,” said Seamus Hughes, the deputy director of George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.
Most of those who left the…