Recruitment of foreign male and female fighters to Jihad: Morocco’s multifaceted counter-terror strategy

ABSTRACT

Field research on ‘young Moroccan Jihadists in Syria and Iraq from northern Morocco’ unexpectedly revealed the mundane factors behind their recruitment represented in the self-realization and the search for heroism, adventure and money, were the main reasons for the recruitment of young people in northern Morocco terrorist organizations, especially the Daesh. The religious factor is secondary. To combat terrorism and extremism which is spreading in the MENA region requires political will. Appropriate laws should be enacted as soon as possible and policies must be implemented to ensure border control, the closure of financing ports, propaganda platforms, anti-addiction, etc.

KEYWORDS:

• Terrorism
• fighters
• male
• female
• Morocco
• jihad
• counter-terror
• strategies
• recruitments
• social media
• violence
• youth
• unemployment
• education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Moha Ennaji is one of Morocco’s leading academics with research interests in gender issues, language and migration. He is the president of the Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Migration Studies. He is a founding president of the International Institute for Languages and Cultures at Fès, Morocco and a visiting professor at Rutgers University. His most recent publications are: Muslim Moroccan Migrants in Europe (Palgrave, 2014). Multiculturalism and Democracy in North Africa (Routledge, 2014), Language and Gender in the Mediterranean Region, IJSL Issue 190, Editor (The Hague, 2008), and Women in the Middle East (Routledge, 2010) and Gender and Violence in the Middle East (Routledge, 2011, both co-edited with F.Sadiqi).

Notes

1. See this link: http://www.alyaoum24.com/210617.html (accessed 21 December 2015).

2. For more information of the sources of IS funding, see this article: http://www.newsweek.com/2014/11/14/how-does-isis-fund-its-reign-terror-282607.html (accessed 25 January 2016).

3. For details: http://in.reuters.com/article/mideast-crisis-syria-fighters-idINKBN0TR1JY20151208

4. See more figures here: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32156541 (accessed 29 December 2015).

5. See note 3.

6. See note 3.

7. For more, see this link: http://www.jeuneafrique.com/38888/politique/le-maroc-face-la-daesh-connection/ (accessed on Dec. 21, 2015).

8. For more, see this URL: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/26/tourists-relive-horror-of-gunmans-attack-on-tunisian-hotel-killing-37 (accessed 29 December 2015).

9. See note 6.