Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 10/2014

Foreign Fighters in Syria

Richard Barrett

June 2014

The Soufan Group

Abstract

The Soufan Group has provided this paper against a background of increasing international concern about the flow of foreign fighters into Syria and their possible actions on return. Given the potential scale of the problem and the limited resources available to deal with it, The Soufan Group believes that policies must be based on as full an understanding of the phenomenon as possible. This paper is a contribution to that end. Richard Barrett, Senior Vice President of The Soufan Group, is the author of the paper, with additional input from Robert McFadden, Senior Vice President, and Patrick Skinner, Director of Special Projects.