The Foreign Fighters Phenomenon and Related Security Trends in the Middle East

It is in this volatile context that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) burst onto the scene in 2014, rapidly expanding the territory under its control and setting up many of the features of a state in the territory it holds, which now corresponds roughly to one third of Iraq and Syria. [...] It explored four broad themes: 1) the main drivers of instability in the Middle 5 The Foreign Fighters Phenomenon and Related Security Trends in the Middle East East; 2) how these drivers have contributed to the rise of ISIL and, more specifically, the emergence of the foreign fighters phenomenon; 3) the nature and level of the threat posed by foreign fighters; and 4) tools and programs to counter [...] To do so, it describes the unprecedented constellation of characteristics that define ISIL and thus potentially sheds light on the prospects of the current 16 The Foreign Fighters Phenomenon and Related Security Trends in the Middle East violence in the Levant and Iraq spreading further afield to Europe, North America and Australia. [...] In resurrecting the Caliphate, ISIL aims to redraw the map of the Middle East, erasing the artificial states and borders created by the Western powers following World War I and resurrecting the Islamic empire that once stretched from Spain across North Africa, through the Middle East and the Caucasus, into South and Southeast Asia. [...] These stages comprise: The Awakening Stage (2000–2003), which coincided with the 11 September 2001 attacks, and is described as “Reawakening the nation by dealing a powerful blow to the head of the snake in the US”; The Eye-Opening Stage (2003–2006), which unfolded after the US invasion of Iraq and was allegedly designed to perpetually engage and enervate the US and the West in a series of pro