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Returning Jihadists Returning Jihadists, Egypt’S Latest Security Threat

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Returning Jihadists Returning Jihadists, Egypt’S Latest Security Threat 4 April 23, 2017 Spotlight Returning jihadists Returning jihadists, Egypt’s latest security threat Ahmed Megahid wish to start their own jihad in their home country. Developments in the past months support that line Cairo of thought. The attacker who set off a bomb in a church in the north- ighters returning from ern coastal city of Alexandria on Syria, Iraq and Libya fuel April 9 was reported to have fought Egypt’s wave of terrorist with ISIS in Syria before he returned attacks and are expected to Egypt. to be the country’s larg- Fest security threat, security experts Fighters returning said. from Syria, Iraq and “Those returning from the front Libya fuel Egypt’s lines in Syria, Iraq and Libya have wave of terrorist their fingerprints in the latest string of terrorist attacks in our country,” attacks. said Nabil Naeem, a former jihadist who is now considered an expert In February, security forces ar- on jihadist groups. “These peo- rested a man whose job was to li- ple are dangerous in that they are aise between militant groups affili- hardened by years of fighting in ated with the Muslim Brotherhood these volatile countries and are ca- and the ISIS branch in Sinai and be- pable of posing a tangible threat to tween those returning from Syria, Egypt’s security.” Iraq and Libya, on one hand, and The Interior Ministry said hun- ISIS Sinai, on the other. dreds of Egyptians were reported “Tracking down and preventing to have travelled to Syria, Libya and the entry or arresting those return- Iraq and joined various militant ing from these war zones is, in fact, groups, including the Islamic State the main task of security agencies (ISIS). There is no accurate estimate these days,” said retired police gen- of the number of Egyptians who eral Farouk Megrahi. “Apart from were recruited. their vast fighting experiences, these returnees have a strong abili- On the look-out. Egyptian policemen keep watch from a police vehicle at Cairo airport. (AFP) The problem is that ty to attract recruits to them, which most of those threatens to widen the scope of them before allowing them into the queraded as foreign tourists and those returning from countries like danger.” country. sneaked into Sinai to join the ISIS Libya, Iraq and Syria, and mak- returning from the The Interior Ministry refused to Egypt is not among the top coun- branch there and provide training ing them part of their plans inside front lines do not comment on the measures it is tak- tries where ISIS gets its foreign re- and expertise, newspaper reports Egypt. have criminal ing to track returning jihadists. cruits, according to a 2016 study by said. “The problem is that most of records in Media reports said the minis- the National Bureau for Economic When the Egyptian Army raided those returning from the front lines try recently formed a new sec- Research, a US non-profit private the Mount Halal region, an area in these countries do not have crim- Egypt. tion whose job is to determine the organisation. Most ISIS recruits are stretching from the north-eastern inal records in Egypt,” Naeem said. Nabil Naeem, a” former jihadist names of those who travelled to from Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Russia, to western Sinai and known as “This is why it will be difficult for Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, Leba- Turkey and Jordan, the study said. Egypt’s “Tora Bora” among securi- security agencies to recognise them The fighters are returning to non and Libya in the past six years. This, however, is the age of glo- ty experts, officers participating in once they come back, especially if Egypt as ISIS loses territory in Iraq The section is also to take measures balised jihad, security experts said, the raid found passports of foreign they enter Egypt secretly or when and Syria and is defeated in battle to prevent their return or arrest which is why the readiness of ISIS fighters. they come back from a country not in Libya. Some of them are report- them. recruits to fight in foreign lands is Naeem said some ISIS Sinai lead- having shared borders with any of ed to have entered Egypt in secret Special security points were also worrying. ers were his former comrades in these volatile states.” from Libya and Sudan or through set up at Egypt’s airports, seaports Some ISIS operatives from Raqqa, Afghanistan. He added that those other countries. and land border points to find re- the radical organisation’s self- leaders have unlimited abilities in Ahmed Megahid is an Egyptian Experts said those returning may turning jihadists and question proclaimed capital in Syria, mas- attracting new recruits, especially reporter based in Cairo. Tunisian best-seller at centre of debate on returning jihadists Lamine Ghanmi whole structure of and (expose) the cultural and religious models that generated terrorism.” Tunis While Yahmed begins the book by saying “the witness bears full edi Yahmed’s book “I responsibility for all of the choices, Was in Raqqa” is add- statements and actions he commit- ing to the debate on the ted,” some have expressed concern threat of the possible that the narrative romanticises the return of Tunisians who jihadist’s account. Hleft the country to fight for jihadist “Do not read this book. It is groups. steeped in hypocrisy from (begin- The book tells the story of Mo- ning) to end,” warned Tunisian hamed Fahem, a 27-year old Tuni- dentist Faten Terrab, who said that sian jihadist who joined the Islamic the “killer’s account” gives a white- State (ISIS) in November 2015. washed version of history. “This testimony is neither the ac- Samira Benjira, a Tunisian moth- count of a detainee or a coerced per- er, expressed concerns son,” Yahmed, that the book makes who inter- Fahem out to be a vic- viewed Fahem tim. in Turkey last “It is a danger for Testimony. Author Hedi Yahmed presents his book in Tunis, on March 23. (Reuters) year, wrote in teens to read,” Benjira the preface. said. “It is more harm- “This is an un- ful than pornography.” Fahem’s time “fighting and living in the ideology of radical Islam even he left the country. By his account, coerced testimo- There were demon- Raqqa” as well as his “upbringing, after experiencing first-hand the Fahem’s path to ISIS via Libya and ny. A testimony strations last year in childhood and adolescence,” lands caliphate’s brutality. Turkey was as smooth as a sultan’s from inside ISIS… Tunisia against the re- at the centre of the controversy. “It is certain that I find out carpet. conveyed freely, turn of jihadist fight- While it paints a compelling por- throughout my experience that the “I took part in razzias (raids),” without any form ers, arguing that the trait of a troubled ISIS jihadist, who model of the just and fair Islamic Fahem said. “I witnessed the thick- of pressure.” government should is unsure whether to blame his state is collapsing,” Fahem said. “It is ening blood of horror. I was stifled Yahmed, an go to any lengths to mother or the Tunisian government true that the dream I came from afar by the gunpowder. I walked into hu- award-winning prevent their return. for his descent, the writing is shal- to realise, leaving behind my loved man body parts strewn over battle- Tunisian journal- Despite a consti- low and disjointed, making the plot ones, is becoming stained. Several fields. I was jolted by explosions of ist, has conducted tutional provision difficult to follow. friends shared my concerns.” booby-trapped vehicles. extensive research that bars authorities The book reads like a weak imita- Despite these admissions, Fahem “This is the law of wars for which on Islamist groups from denying entry tion of Jean-Paul Sartre’s “Nausea,” shows no remorse for the victims of we flocked into in the thousands. If and is the author of to any Tunisian na- which tells the story of French writ- the wars he was part of nor does he we do not kill, we get killed. It is bet- the 2015 book “Un- tional, many argue er Antoine Roquentin, who is tor- express regret over the thousands of ter to forget about this now.” der the Banner of that jihadists can- mented by his own existence. lives that were ruined. Instead, he Yahmed said Fahem’s tale is not the Eagle.” Cover of Hedi Yahmed’s not be integrated Unlike Roquentin’s philosophi- repeatedly boasts about his role in unique. “Many share his view,” the Yahmed said “I Was book “I Was in Raqqa.” into society and cal quest that laid the groundwork Syria’s and Iraq’s killing fields. writer said. in Raqqa,” published pose a grave threat for Sartre’s existentialist frame- What Fahem said he does regret, in Tunisia by Editions Arabesques, to the country’s security. work, Fahem’s path ends in ex- however, is not killing members Lamine Ghanmi is an Arab Weekly was an attempt to dismantle “the Yahmed’s book, which details tremism as he resigns himself to of Tunisian security forces before correspondent in Tunis..
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