Using Family Counseling to Prevent and Intervene Against Foreign Fighters: Operational Perspectives, Methodology and Best Practices for Implementing Codes of Conduct

Western citizens traveling to fight in battlefields across the world are a serious concern for authorities and security agencies in almost every Western country. The so called "foreign fighters" who come from diverse national and demographic backgrounds are joining the fights in Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. The Syrian conflict has proven to be attractive to young, Western Muslims in a way that has been unparalleled in the last 20 years. The numbers of those who have traveled to fight in Syria may even surpass the numbers who traveled to fight in the Afghanistan War between 1979 and1989. Global jihadi networks skillfully use modern information technologies and social media to disseminate propaganda and real-time information about the "jihad" on the ground. Hundreds of groups and fractions strive for their various goals in a range of highly complex civil-war scenarios. A recent report released by the United Nations estimates that 25,000 fighters from more than 100 countries are involved in the conflict in Syria and Iraq. 1 German authorities estimate that, on a national level, at least 650 individuals have left Germany to travel to Syria and Iraq since the outbreak of the war in 2011. Of those, at least 200 have returned, 85 have been killed, and about 50 have gained active combat experience. 2