The phenomena of foreign fighters in extremist organizations is not new. The roots of this phenomena stretch to the past century. Nonetheless, it is still mystifying that foreign fighters still exist in extremist organizations, for what drives a person to travel long distances to die in conflict zones, in the midst of war, amongst the killings and bullets, leaving behind his home, family and dreams.
Studies suggest that the motives behind fighters drifting towards joining extremist organizations vary and differ. Some of them drifted due to getting affected by the religious discourse, while the motive behind some drifting towards the embrace of these organizations was the social and economic marginalization.
However different their motives were, the path they will undertake is but one path. They pass through many stages before arriving to conflict zones, as they get vetted according their qualifications and abilities. After that, they are subjected to military training by the terrorist organization in order to determine who is capable of fighting and who is not; and who’s life or death depends on whether they succeed in recruiting more victims or not.
Opposite to the joining method, leaving extremist or terrorist organizations is an adventure that isn’t always likely to succeed; for these organizations do not allow leaving but in a number of cases, such as executing a terrorist operation abroad, or traveling to promote the organization and to recruit new fighters… escaping its hell is but heading towards another hell.
At the end, the harsh reality that is unknown to #foreign_fighters until it is too late is, getting inside the hell of terrorism is certainly not the same as to getting out of it.
