UN report: An 'unprecedented' number of fighters headed to Iraq and Syria

UN report: An 'unprecedented' number of fighters headed to Iraq and Syria
(Image credit: Kutluhan Cucel/Getty Images)

A United Nations report says that foreign fighters are flocking to Iraq and Syria on "an unprecedented scale" from more than 80 countries.

The report, which was produced by the UN Security Council committee that keeps tabs on al Qaeda, contains basic information about the jihadists headed to the hotspots, The Guardian says. The committee reports that 15,000 people have already made their way to battle with ISIS and other extremist groups in Syria and Iraq. While the report does not list the 80 different countries the fighters are coming from, it did mention that several of the countries "have not previously faced challenges related to al Qaeda."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.