A Comparative Analysis of Australian and Canadian Foreign Fighters Traveling to Syria and Iraq

Abstract

This article provides a comparative analysis of Jihadist foreign fighters who traveled from Australia and Canada to engage in the conflict in Syria and Iraq. Data are provided on the demographics of those who traveled, group affiliations, when and how they traveled, and their social connections. Despite the strong similarities between these societies, significant differences are detected across levels of educational attainment, immediate familial status, and the degree of connection to existing Jihadist networks. The Australian and Canadian foreign fighters also differ, in key respects, from their European counterparts, and even those from the United States. Consideration is given to the possible significance of these differences, as well as the possible return of those currently detained in the region.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the generous support of this research with a grant from The Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security, and Society (TSAS; www.tsas.ca). The authors also wish to explicitly acknowledge the excellent contributions of Lucy Nisbet and Callum Jones to this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Lorne L. Dawson, “A Comparative Analysis of the Data on Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: Who Went and Why? International Centre for Counter-Terrorism,” Research Paper, February 2021, 4.

2 Ibid., 7.

3 Ibid., 2.

4 Ibid., 2.

5 Cerwyn Moore and Paul Tumelty, “Foreign Fighters and the Case of Chechnya: A Critical Assessment,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 31, no. 5 (2008): 412 and 433.

6 Randy Borum and Robert Fein, “The Psychology of Foreign Fighters,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 40 (2017): 249.

7 Cerwyn Moore and Paul Tumelty, “Foreign Fighters and the Case of Chechnya: A Critical Assessment,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 31, no. 5 (2008): 455.

8 Chelsea Daymon, Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn and David Malet, “Career Foreign Fighters: Expertise Transmission Across Insurgencies,” Resolve Network Research Report, April 2020, 4.

9 Randy Borum and Robert Fein, “The Psychology of Foreign Fighters,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 40 (2017): 250.

10 Thomas Hegghammer, “Syria’s Foreign Fighters,” Foreign Policy, 9 December 2013; Isabelle Duyvesteyn and Bram Peeters. “Fickle Foreign Fighters? Cross-Case Analysis of Seven Muslim Foreign Fighter Mobilisations (1980–2015),” The Hague: The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, https://icct.nl/publication/fickle-foreign-fighters-a-cross-case-analysis-of-seven-muslim-foreign-fighter-mobilisations-1980-2015/ (accessed October, 2015).

11 Elena Pokalova, “Driving Factors behind Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 42 (2019): 799.

12 Amarnath Amarasingam and Lorne L. Dawson. “I Left to be Closer to Allah”: Learning about Foreign Fighters from Family and Friends, Institute for Strategic Dialogue Report, 2018, 7, https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Families_Report.pdf; Richard Barrett, “Beyond the Caliphate: Foreign Fighters and the Threat of Returnees,” The Soufan Center, https://thesoufancenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Beyond-the-Caliphate-Foreign-Fighters-and-the-Threat-of-Returnees-TSC-Report-October-2017-v3.pdf (accessed October, 2017).

13 Amarnath Amarasingam, Gayathri Naganathan, and Jennifer Hyndman, “Canadian Multiculturalism as Banal Nationalism,” Canadian Ethnic Studies 48, no. 2 (2016).

14 Shandon Harris-Hogan, Lorne L. Dawson and Amarnath Amarasingam, “A Comparative Analysis of the Nature and Evolution of the Domestic Jihadist Threat to Australia and Canada (2000–2020),” Perspectives on Terrorism 14 (2020): 79.

15 This includes Chantal Azzam, “Australian Foreign Fighters: The Long Reach of the Syrian Conflict,” Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses 9 (2014): 9–13; Andrew Zammit, “New Developments in Australian Foreign Fighter Activity,” CTC Sentinel, September 2014; Andrew Zammit, “Australian Foreign Fighters: Risks and Responses,” Lowy Institute Report, April 2015; Anthony Bergin, Michael Clifford, David Connery, Tobias Feakin, Ken Gleiman, Stephanie Huang, Grace Hutchison, Peter Jennings, David Lang, Amelia Long, Clare Murphy, Simone Roworth, Rosalyn Turner and Samina Yasmeen, “Gen Y jihadists: Preventing Radicalisation in Australia,” Australian Security Policy Institute, June 2015; and Rodger Shanahan, “Typology of Terror – The Backgrounds of Australian Jihadis,” Lowy Institute Report, November 2019.

16 Rodger Shanahan, “Typology of Terror – The Backgrounds of Australian Jihadis,” Lowy Institute Report, November 2019, 2.

17 Ibid., 9.

18 Ibid., 2.

19 Ibid., 2.

20 Ibid., 11.

21 Dara Conduit, David Malet and Levi West, “Canada, Australia and New Zealand and the Islamic State,” in The New Islamic State: Ideology, Religion and Violent Extremism in the 21st Century, ed. Jack Covarrubias and Lansford Tom. (Taylor & Francis Group, 2016).

22 Michael Noonan and Phyl Khalil, “North American Foreign Fighters,” Journal of Deradicalization (Winter 2014/15) Nr. 1: 66–96; Amarnath Amarasingam, “Canadian Foreign Fighters in Syria: An Overview,” Jihadology, https://jihadology.net/2015/03/04/the-clear-banner-canadian-foreign-fighters-in-syria-an-overview/ (accessed 4 March, 2015); Christopher Anzalone, “Canadian Foreign Fighters in Iraq and Syria,” CTC Sentinel 8, no. 4 (April 2015): 14–19.

23 Lorne Dawson and Amarnath Amarasingam, “Canadian Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq. 2012–16,” in Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Canada, ed. Jez Littlewood, Lorne Dawson and Sara Thompson (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020), 49–76.

24 Sam Mullins, “The Canadian Contribution to Global Jihad: 2012–2017,” in Exporting Global Jihad Volume Two: Critical Perspectives from Asia and North America, ed. Tom Smith and Hussein Solomon (London: Bloomsbury, 2020), 157–177.

25 Sam Mullins, “Global Jihad: The Canadian Experience,” Terrorism and Political Violence 25, no. 5 (2013): 734–76.

26 Sam Mullins, “The Canadian Contribution to Global Jihad: 2012–2017,” in Exporting Global Jihad Volume Two: Critical Perspectives from Asia and North America, ed. Tom Smith and Hussein Solomon (London: Bloomsbury, 2020), 159.

27 Alex Wilner, “Canadian Terrorists by the Numbers: An Assessment of Canadians Joining and Supporting Terrorist Groups,” McDonald-Laurier Institute, April 2019, 21.

28 Ibid., 23.

29 Individuals that had travelled through Canada or Australia for a period of time (including tourists, students or those on a work permit), and were subsequently involved in the conflict, were not included.

30 Petter Nesser, “Chronology of Jihadism in Western Europe 1994–2007: Planned, Prepared, and Executed Terrorist Attacks,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 31, no. 10 (2008): 924.

31 Thomas Hegghammer, “Should I Stay or Should I Go? Explaining Variation in Western Jihadists’ Choice between Domestic and Foreign Fighting,” American Political Science Review 107 (2013): 1–15.

32 Bart Schuurman, “Research on Terrorism, 2007–2016: A Review of Data, Methods, and Authorship,” Terrorism and Political Violence 32, no. 5 (2020): 1011–1026.

33 Shandon Harris-Hogan, Lorne L. Dawson and Amarnath Amarasingam, “A Comparative Analysis of the Nature and Evolution of the Domestic Jihadist Threat to Australia and Canada (2000–2020),” Perspectives on Terrorism 14 (2020): 77–102.

34 Bret Walker, “Independent National Security Legislation Monitor Annual Report,” Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 28 March 2014, 44.

35 For an outline of this plot, see Shandon Harris Hogan and Andrew Zammit, “Mantiqi IV: A Case Study of al Qaeda’s Threat to the West through Co-opting Jihadist Organisation,” Democracy and Security 10 (2014), 315–334.

36 See Shandon Harris Hogan and Andrew Zammit, “The Unseen Terrorist Connection: Exploring Jihadist links between Lebanon and Australia,” Terrorism and Political Violence 26 (2014): 449–469.

37 Andrew Zammit, “Australian Foreign Fighters: Risks and Responses,” Lowy Institute Report, April 2015.

38 Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Review of the Australian Citizenship Act renunciation by conduct and cessation provisions. ASIO submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security 13 September 2019.

39 Ibid.

40 Mike Burgess, Statement by the Director of ASIO to Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Budget Estimates., https://www.asio.gov.au/publications/speeches-and-statements/senate-legal-and-constitutional-affairs-budget-estimates.html(accessed 20 October, 2020).

41 Public Safety Canada. Public Report on the Terrorist Threat to Canada (Ottawa: Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2013), 17.

42 Public Safety Canada. Public Report on the Terrorist Threat to Canada (Ottawa: Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2014), 11–12.

43 Public Safety Canada. Public Report on the Terrorist Threat to Canada (Ottawa: Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2016), 3 and 7.

44 Public Safety Canada. Public Report on the Terrorist Threat to Canada (Ottawa: Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2017), 3 and 6.

45 Public Safety Canada. Public Report on the Terrorist Threat to Canada (Ottawa: Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2018), 11 and 24.

46 Canadian Security Intelligence Service. CSIS Public Report (Ottawa: Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2019), 4.

47 Lorne L. Dawson. A Comparative Analysis of the Data on Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: Who Went and Why? International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, Research Paper, February 2021, 11.

48 Alex Wilner, “Canadian Terrorists by the Numbers: An Assessment of Canadians Joining and Supporting Terrorist Groups,” McDonald-Laurier Institute. April 2019, 22.

49 Shandon Harris-Hogan, Lorne L. Dawson and Amarnath Amarasingam, “A Comparative Analysis of the Nature and Evolution of the Domestic Jihadist Threat to Australia and Canada (2000–2020),” Perspectives on Terrorism 14 (2020): 88.

50 Lorne L. Dawson. A Comparative Analysis of the Data on Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: Who Went and Why? International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, Research Paper, February 2021, 10.

51 See Shandon Harris Hogan and Kate Barrelle, “Young Blood: Understanding the emergence of the new cohort of Australian Jihadists,” Terrorism and Political Violence 32 (2020): 1391–1412.

52 For discussion of how this varies across different regions this see: Joana Cook and Gina Vale, From Daesh to ‘Diaspora’: Tracing the Women and Minors of Islamic State (London: ICSR, 2018).

53 As previously noted, all individuals who were not yet teenagers at the time they travelled were excluded from the sample.

54 See Joana Cook and Gina Vale, “From Daesh to ‘Diaspora’ II: The Challenges Posed by Women and Minors After the Fall of the Caliphate. CTC Sentinel 12 July, 2019, 30–46.

55 Joana Cook and Gina Vale, From Daesh to ‘Diaspora’: Tracing the Women and Minors of Islamic State (London: ICSR, 2018), 8.

56 Sam Mullins, “The Canadian Contribution to Global Jihad: 2012–2017,” in Exporting Global Jihad Volume Two: Critical Perspectives from Asia and North America, ed. Tom Smith and Hussein Solomon (London: Bloomsbury, 2020), 162.

57 Alex Wilner, “Canadian Terrorists by the Numbers: An Assessment of Canadians Joining and Supporting Terrorist Groups,” McDonald-Laurier Institute, April 2019, 22.

58 For example, see Edwin Bakker, “Characteristics of Jihadi Terrorists in Europe (2001–2009),” in Jihadi Terrorism and the Radicalisation Challenge, ed. Rik Coolsaet, 2nd ed. (Farnham, Surry: Ashgate, 2011), 140.

59 Perhaps, for example, through access to school records; but this approach would require circumventing strong privacy protections. Direct contact with friends and relatives of travelers, however, would likely improve the results as well.

60 Sam Mullins, “The Canadian Contribution to Global Jihad: 2012–2017,” in Exporting Global Jihad Volume Two: Critical Perspectives from Asia and North America, ed. Tom Smith and Hussein Solomon. London: Bloomsbury, 2020), 162.

61 Shandon Harris-Hogan, Lorne L. Dawson and Amarnath Amarasingam, “A Comparative Analysis of the Nature and Evolution of the Domestic Jihadist Threat to Australia and Canada (2000–2020),” Perspectives on Terrorism 14 (2020), 88.

62 Lorne L. Dawson, “A Comparative Analysis of the Data on Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: Who Went and Why?” International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, Research Paper, February 2021, 40.

63 Michelle Shephard. “Why it’s wrong to underestimate the Islamic State’s female recruits,” Toronto Star, https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/03/28/why-its-wrong-to-underestimate-the-islamic-states-female-recruits.html (accessed 28 Mar, 2015).

64 Shandon Harris-Hogan, Lorne L. Dawson and Amarnath Amarasingam, “A Comparative Analysis of the Nature and Evolution of the Domestic Jihadist Threat to Australia and Canada (2000–2020),” Perspectives on Terrorism 14 (2020): 89.

65 Shandon Harris Hogan and Kate Barrelle, “Young Blood: Understanding the emergence of the new cohort of Australian Jihadists,” Terrorism and Political Violence 32 (2020): 1391–1412.

66 Shandon Harris-Hogan, Lorne L. Dawson and Amarnath Amarasingam, “A Comparative Analysis of the Nature and Evolution of the Domestic Jihadist Threat to Australia and Canada (2000–2020),” Perspectives on Terrorism 14 (2020).

67 Alex Wilner, “Canadian Terrorists by the Numbers: An Assessment of Canadians Joining and Supporting Terrorist Groups,” McDonald-Laurier Institute, April 2019, 23.

68 Sam Mullins, “The Canadian Contribution to Global Jihad: 2012–2017,” in Tom Smith and Hussein Solomon, eds., Exporting Global Jihad Volume Two: Critical Perspectives from Asia and North America (London: Bloomsbury, 2020), 162.

69 For example, Angel Rabasa and Cheryl Benard, Eurojihad: Patterns of Islamist Radicalization and Terrorism in Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), Chapter 5 – Radicalization Patterns.

70 Lorne L. Dawson, “A Comparative Analysis of the Data on Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: Who Went and Why?” International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, Research Paper, February 2021, 23.

71 See David P. Farrington, “Age and Crime,” in Crime and Justice: An Annual Review of Research, ed. M. Tonry and N. Morris, vol. 7 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), 189–250.

72 Rajan Basra and Peter R. Neumann, “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: European jihadists and the New Crime-Terror Nexus,” Perspectives on Terrorism 10, no. 6 (2016): 25–40; Raphael D. Marcus, “ISIS and the Crime-Terror Nexus in America: A Counterpoint to Europe,” Center on National Security (New York: Fordham University Law, 2020); David Weisburd, Ernesto U. Savona, Badi Hasis, and Franceso Calderoni, ed., Understanding Recruitment to Organized Crime and Terrorism (Springer, 2020).

73 For example, Linus Gustafsson and Magnus Ranstorp, “Swedish Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: An Analysis of Open-Source Intelligence and Statistical Data,” Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies, Swedish Defence University, 2017, http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record/jsf?pid=diva2%3A1110355&dswid=-450; Rik Coolsaet, “Facing the Fourth Foreign Fighter Wave: What Drives Europeans to Syria, and to Islamic State? Insights from the Belgian Case,” Egmont – The Royal Institute for International Relations (March, 2016). Available at: http://www.egmontinstitute.be/facing-the-fourth-foreign-fighters-wave/.

74 Lorenzo Vidino and Seamus Hughes, “ISIS in America: From Retweets to Raqqa,” Program on Extremism, George Washington University, 2015, https://extremism.gwu.edu/isis-america

75 Lorne L. Dawson, “A Comparative Analysis of the Data on Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: Who Went and Why?” International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, Research Paper, February 2021, 8.

76 Anthony Bergin, Michael Clifford, David Connery, Tobias Feakin, Ken Gleiman, Stephanie Huang, Grace Hutchison, Peter Jennings, David Lang, Amelia Long, Clare Murphy, Simone Roworth, Rosalyn Turner and Samina Yasmeen, “Gen Y jihadists: Preventing radicalisation in Australia,” Australian Security Policy Institute (June 2015), 20.

77 Andrew Zammit, “New Developments in Australian Foreign Fighter Activity,” CTC Sentinel (September 2014), 6.

78 Elena Pokalova, “Driving Factors behind Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 42 (2019): 799.

79 Sabbagh had previously been accused of involvement in Fatah al-Islam’s 2007 uprising in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in Lebanon. For further details see Andrew Zammit, “New Developments in Australian Foreign Fighter Activity,” CTC Sentinel (September 2014), 7 or Shandon Harris Hogan and Andrew Zammit, “The Unseen Terrorist Connection: Exploring Jihadist links between Lebanon and Australia,” Terrorism and Political Violence 26 (2014): 449–469.

80 Shandon Harris Hogan and Andrew Zammit, “The Unseen Terrorist Connection: Exploring Jihadist links between Lebanon and Australia,” Terrorism and Political Violence 26 (2014): 449–469.

81 See Shandon Harris-Hogan, Lorne L. Dawson, and Amarnath Amarasingam, “A Comparative Analysis of the Nature and Evolution of the Domestic Jihadist Threat to Australia and Canada (2000–2020),” Perspectives on Terrorism 14 (2020): 77–102.

82 Lorne Dawson and Amarnath Amarasingam, “Canadian Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq, 2012–16,” in Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Canada, ed. Jez Littlewood, Lorne Dawson and Sara Thompson (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020), 49–76.

83 Randy Borum and Robert Fein, “The Psychology of Foreign Fighters,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 40 (2017): 255.

84 Clinton Watts, “Foreign Fighters: How are they Being Recruited? Two Imperfect Recruitment Models, Small Wars Journal, 2008, smallwarsjournal.com/blog/journal/docs-temp/69-watts.pdf; Timothy Holman, “‘Gonna Get Myself Connected’: The Role of Facilitation in Foreign Fighter Mobilizations,” Perspectives on Terrorism 10, no. 2 (2016): 2–23; Johannes Saal, The Dark Social Capital of Religious Radicals: Jihadi Networks and Mobilization in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, 1998–2018 (Wiesbaden: Springer, 2020).

85 Shandon Harris Hogan, “Anatomy of a Terrorist Cell: A Study of the Network Uncovered in Sydney in 2005,” Behavioural Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression 5 (2012): 137–154.

86 Mullins states: “Although the internet, and social media in particular, are undoubtedly playing an important role in the spread of [radical] views, the central mechanism – at least in Canada – appears to be localized hubs of radicalization: small groups of friends who besides being avid consumers of online jihadi propaganda, interact with each other in the real world on a daily basis and are active agents in their own, and each other’s extremist transformation.” Sam, Mullins, “The Canadian Contribution to Global Jihad: 2012–2017,” in Exporting Global Jihad Volume Two: Critical Perspectives from Asia and North America, ed. Tom Smith and Hussein Solomon (London: Bloomsbury, 2020), 170.

87 Mark Schliebs,”More citizenships stripped as ISIS prisoners await fate,” The Australian, 10 October 2019.

88 Ben Doherty, “Three-year-old Australian girl in Syria’s al-Hawl camp may lose fingers to frostbite,” The Guardian, 17 February 2020.

89 Erik Tlozek, “Australian families at al-Hawl camp moved by Kurdish authorities,” ABC News, 17 September 2020.

90 Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Review of the Australian Citizenship Act renunciation by conduct and cessation provisions. ASIO submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, 13 September 2019.

91 Helen Davidson, “Children of Isis terrorist Khaled Sharrouf removed from Syria, set to return to Australia,” The Guardian 24 June 2019; Mark Schliebs, “Orphans of Bosnian-born ISIS fighter Yasin Rizvic ready to return,” The Australian, 29 June 2019.

92 Peace bonds are essentially restraining orders, and commonly used in many ways. In terrorism cases, this usually means that law enforcement “fears on reasonable grounds” that an individual may commit a terrorism offense and, with the permission of the court, an individual is ordered into recognizance “to keep the peace and be of good behavior.” Several restrictions have typically been placed on the suspects who sign peace bonds, such as not having social media accounts, refraining from interacting with certain individuals, checking in with police periodically, and possibly wearing an electronic ankle bracelet. Peace bonds usually stay in effect for 12 months, at which point law enforcement is required to ask for an extension (see, e.g., Craig Forcese, https://www.craigforcese.com/blog/2016/4/1/antiterror-peace-bonds-in-a-nutshell.html).

93 Human Rights Watch, ‘Bring Me Back to Canada’: Plight of Canadians Held in Northeast Syria for Alleged ISIS Links, 29 June 2020, https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/06/29/bring-me-back-canada/plight-canadians-held-northeast-syria-alleged-isis-links

94 Paul Workman and Alexandra Mae Jones, “Amira, orphaned girl held in Syrian camp, is now in Canada and reunited with her uncle,” CTV News, 7 October 2020, https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/amira-orphaned-girl-held-in-syrian-camp-is-now-in-canada-and-reunited-with-her-uncle-1.5137158

95 Paul Workman and Alexandra Mae Jones, “Four-year-old Canadian girl rescued from Syrian detention camp, mother left behind,” CTV News, 14 March 2021, https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/four-year-old-canadian-girl-rescued-from-syrian-detention-camp-mother-left-behind-1.5347155

96 Stewart Bell, Canadian woman released from camp for ISIS detainees in Syria arrested at airport,” Global News, 23 November 2021. https://globalnews.ca/news/8393542/police-seeking-terrorism-peace-bond-isis/

97 Stewart Bell, “Charges approved against Canadian ISIS fighter detained in Syria, documents reveal,” Global News, 26 July 2021, https://globalnews.ca/news/8055534/charges-approved-canadian-isis-syria/

98 Amarnath Amarasingam and Leah West, “The Five Myths of the ISIS Repatriation Debate,” Intrepid Blog, 18 October 2019, https://www.intrepidpodcast.com/blog/2019/10/18/the-five-myths-of-the-isis-repatriation-debate

99 Department of Justice, “Leading ISIS Media Figure and Foreign Fighter Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Provide Material Support to a Terrorist Organization, Resulting in Death,” The US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia, 10 December 2021. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/leading-isis-media-figure-and-foreign-fighter-pleads-guilty-conspiring-provide-material

100 For more on peace bonds, see: Craig Forcese, “Antiterror Peace Bonds in a Nutshell,” Craig Forcese, 1 April 2019. https://www.craigforcese.com/blog/2016/4/1/antiterror-peace-bonds-in-a-nutshell.html

101 David Malet, “ISIS Foreign Fighters: Keep Your Enemies Closer,” Australian Outlook, 25 December 2019.

102 https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-has-repatriated-27-americans-syria-and-iraq-including-ten-charged-terrorism

103 Ben Doherty, “Arrest warrants issued for Australians in Syria, including women with children in al-Hawl camp,” The Guardian, 21 February 2020.

104 Mark Schliebs, “More citizenships stripped as ISIS prisoners await fate,” The Australian, 10 October 2019.

105 Ibid.

106 Thomas Hegghammer, “Should I Stay or Should I Go? Explaining Variation in Western Jihadists’ Choice between Domestic and Foreign Fighting,” American Political Science Review 107, no. 1 (2013): 1–15.

107 David Malet and Rachel Hayes, “Foreign Fighter Returnees: An Indefinite Threat?” Terrorism and Political Violence 32 (2020): 1631–1632.

108 Amarnath Amarasingam and Lorne L. Dawson, “‘I Left to be Closer to Allah’: Learning about Foreign Fighters from Family and Friends,” Institute for Strategic Dialogue Report, 2018, 7.

109 Jessica Davis, Women in Modern Terrorism: From Liberation Wars to Global Jihad and the Islamic State (Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 2017).

110 Lorne L. Dawson, “A Comparative Analysis of the Data on Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: Who Went and Why?” International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, Research Paper, February 2021, 11.

111 Efraim Benmelech and Esteban F. Klor. “What Explains the Flow of Foreign Fighters to ISIS?” Terrorism and Political Violence 32, no. 7 (2020): 1458–1481.

112 Lorne L. Dawson, “A Comparative Analysis of the Data on Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: Who Went and Why?” International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, Research Paper, February 2021, 11.

113 “Women and Violent Radicalization.” Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence (Montreal, Oct. 2016), https://www.csf.gouv.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/radicalisation_recherche_anglais.pdf; Meredith Loken and Anna Zelenz, “Explaining Extremism: Western Women in Daesh,” European Journal of International Security 3, 2017: 45–68.

114 See, e.g., Daan Weggemans, Edwin Bakker and Peter Grol, “Who Are They and Why Do They Go? The Radicalisation and Preparatory Processes of Dutch Jihadist Foreign Fighters,” Perspectives on Terrorism 8, no. 4 (2014): 100–110; Anton W. Weenink, “Behavioral Problems and Disorders among Radicals in Police Files,” Perspectives on Terrorism 9, no. 2 (2015): 17–33; Linus Gustafsson and Magnus Ranstorp, “Swedish Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: An Analysis of Open-Source Intelligence and Statistical Data,” Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies, Swedish Defence University, (2017), http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record/jsf?pid=diva2%3A1110355&dswid=-450; Reiner Bergema and Marion van San, “Waves of the Black Banner: An Exploratory Study on the Dutch Jihadist Foreign Fighter Continent in Syria and Ira,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 42, no. 7 (2019): 636–661.

115 Lorne L. Dawson, “A Comparative Analysis of the Data on Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: Who Went and Why?” International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, Research Paper, February 2021, 19, see the analysis on pp. 13–22.

116 Shandon Harris-Hogan, Lorne L. Dawson, and Amarnath Amarasingam, “A Comparative Analysis of the Nature and Evolution of the Domestic Jihadist Threat to Australia and Canada (2000–2020),” Perspectives on Terrorism 14 (2020): 88 and 92.

117 Robin Simcox and Emily Dyer, Al-Qaeda in the United States: A Complete Analysis of Terrorism Offences (London: Henry Jackson Society), 2013, https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Al-Qaeda-in-the-USAbriged-version-LOWRES-final.pdf; Michael Jensen, Gary LaFree and Patrick A. James, “Final Report: Empirical Assessment of Domestic Radicalization (EADR),” National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice (December, 2016), https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/250481.pdf.

118 Marc Sageman, “The Atlantic Divide,” Chapter Five in Leaderless Jihad (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008), 89–108.

119 Sarah Lyons-Padilla, Michele J. Gelfand, Hedieh Mirahmadi, Mehreen Farooq, and Marieke van Egmond, “Belonging Nowhere: Marginalization and Radicalization Risk among Muslim Immigrants,” Behavioral Science and Policy 1, no. 2 (2015): 1–12; Sadeq Rahimi and Raissa Graumans, “Reconsidering the Relationship Between Integration and Radicalization,” Journal of Deradicalization 15/16, no. 5 (Winter, 2016): 28–62; John McCoy, Anna Kirova, and W. Andy Knight, “Gauging Social Integration among Canadian Muslims: A Sense of Belonging in an Age of Anxiety,” Canadian Ethnic Studies 48, no. 2 (2016): 21–52; Thomas Hegghammer, “Revisiting the Poverty-Terrorism Link in European Jihadism,” Paper presented to the Society for Terrorism Research, Leiden, 8 November 2016, https://hegghammer.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/hegghammer-poverty.pdf.

120 Gilles Kepel, Terror in France: The Rise of Jihad in the West (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015); Riaz Hassan, “Socio-Economic Marginalization of Muslims in Contemporary Australia: Implications for Social Inclusion, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 30, no. 4 (2010): 575–584; Philip Verwimp, Philip, “Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq and the Socio-Economic Environment They Faced at Home: A Comparison of European Countries,” Perspectives on Terrorism 10, no. 6 (2016): 68–81.

121 Lorne L. Dawson, “A Comparative Analysis of the Data on Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: Who Went and Why?” International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, Research Paper, February 2021, 19.

122 Daniel Pisoiu,”Subcultural Theory Applied to Jihadi and Right-Wing Radicalization in Germany. Terrorism and Political Violence 27, no. 1 (2015), 9–28; Lorne L. Dawson and Amarnath Amarasingam, “Talking to Foreign Fighters: Insights into the Motivations for Hijrah to Syria and Iraq,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 40, no. 3 (2017): 191–210; Arie Kruglanski, Katarzyna Jasko, David Webber, Marina Chernikova and Erica Molinario, “The Making of Violent Extremists,” Review of General Psychology 22, no. 1 (2018): 107–20; Jeppe Fuglsang Larsen, “The Role of Religion in Islamist Radicalisation Processes,” Critical Studies on Terrorism, 13, no. 3 (2020): 396–417; Simon Cottee, “The Western Jihadi Subculture and Subterranean Values,” The British Journal of Criminology, 60, no. 3 (2020): 762–781.

123 Marc Sageman, “Social Networks and the Jihad,” Chapter Five in Understanding Terror Networks (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004), 137–173; Petter Nesser, Islamist Terrorism in Europe. Revised and updated edition. (London: Hurst, 2018); Johannes Saal, The Dark Social Capital of Religious Radicals: Jihadi Networks and Mobilization in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, 1998–2018 (Wiesbaden: Springer, 2020).

124 Mario Diani, “Networks and Recruitment,” in The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, ed. David Snow, Sarah A. Soule and Hanspeter Kriesi (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004), 339–359.

125 For example, Schmid, Alex and Judith Tinnes, “Foreign (Terrorist) Fighters with IS: A European Perspective,” The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague (ICCT), Research Paper (December, 2015), https://icct.nl/publication/foreign-terrorist-fighters-with-is-a-european-perspective/; Rajan Basra and Peter R. Neumann, “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: European jihadists and the New Crime-Terror Nexus,” Perspectives on Terrorism 10, no. 6 (2016): 25–40; Rik Coolsaet, “Facing the Fourth Foreign Fighter Wave: What Drives Europeans to Syria, and to Islamic State? Insights from the Belgian Case,” Egmont – The Royal Institute for International Relations (March, 2016), http://www.egmontinstitute.be/facing-the-fourth-foreign-fighters-wave/; Amir Rostami, Joakim Sturup, Hernan Mondani, Pia Thevselius, Jerzy Sarnecki, and Chistofer Edling, “The Swedish Mujahideen: An Exploratory Study of 41 Swedish Foreign Fighters Deceased in Iraq and Syria,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 43, no. 5 (2020): 382–395.

126 Norwegian Police Security Service, “What background do individuals who frequent extreme Islamist

environments in Norway have prior to their radicalisations?” Norwegian Police Security Service (12 September 2016).

127 Pierre Colomina, Olivier de France, and Damien Saverot, From Criminals to Terrorists and Back? Quarterly Report: France, vol. 2 (Globsec Defense and Security Program, 2019), 6–7, cited in Raphael D. Marcus, “ISIS and the Crime-Terror Nexus in America,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, first online version (04 May 2021), 2.

128 Lorne L. Dawson, “A Comparative Analysis of the Data on Western Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: Who Went and Why?” International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, Research Paper, February 2021, 23–27.

129 Raphael D. Marcus, “ISIS and the Crime-Terror Nexus in America,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, first online version (4 May 2021), 4–7.