Reports that several disillusioned ISIS fighters want to return to their home countries pose a serious Reports that several disillusioned ISIS fighters want to return to their home countries pose a serious challenge of developing an effective response. Their governments will have to strike a careful balance between deterrence, rehabilitation, intelligence-gathering needs and cost effectiveness.

SEVERAL REPORTS have emerged over the past month suggesting that foreign ISIS fighters were seeking repatriation and/or have returned to their countries of origin. Officials in the United States revealed that several Americans who fought alongside ISIS had returned, and were being actively monitored by security agencies.

Similarly in Israel, a 23-year-old was recently arrested at the airport on his return after approaching security officials for help with repatriation; he was convicted for “unlawfully leaving Israel and undergoing prohibited military training”. A UK-based think tank, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR), was approached by some fighters for help to return to Britain.

…Damien D. Cheong is Coordinator of the Homeland Defence Programme and Research Fellow at the Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.