Foreign Fighters

Find five landmark reports, three large and unique datasets, countless Sentinel articles, and declassified al-Qa`ida in Iraq foreign fighter personnel records. Explore our primary sources and empirically-grounded research products on foreign fighters below.

August 31, 2020

Inside the Foreign Fighter Pipeline to Syria: A Case Study of a Portuguese Islamic State Network

Nuno Tiago Pinto

A View From the CT Foxhole: Gilles de Kerchove, European Union (EU) Counter-Terrorism Coordinator

Raffaello Pantucci

December 18, 2019

The 2016 Copenhagen ‘Matchstick’ Terror Plot and the Evolving Transnational Character of Terrorism in the West

Tore Hamming

October 10, 2019

Newly Released ISIS Files: Learning from the Islamic State’s Long-Version Personnel Form

Daniel Milton, Julia Lodoen, Ryan O’Farrell, Seth Loertscher

August 8, 2019

Returnee Foreign Fighters from Syria and Iraq: The Kosovan Experience

Kujtim Bytyqi, Sam Mullins

Western Balkans Foreign Fighters and Homegrown Jihadis: Trends and Implications

Adrian Shtuni

July 18, 2019

When Terrorists Stay Home: The Evolving Threat to Europe from Frustrated Travelers

Robin Simcox

A View from the CT Foxhole: Catherine De Bolle, Executive Director, Europol

Paul Cruickshank

May 29, 2019

Options for Dealing with Islamic State Foreign Fighters Currently Detained in Syria

Brian Michael Jenkins

April 26, 2019

A View from the CT Foxhole: Edmund Fitton-Brown, Coordinator, ISIL (Daesh)/Al-Qaida/Taliban Monitoring Team, United Nations