Programs to Counter Foreign Terrorist Fighters: Returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters

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With the appeal of fighting in Iraq or Syria diminished, thousands of FTFs returned home, and many in the international community are concerned these returning fighters will commit terrorist attacks at home. Since 2012, many of these returning fighters sought to reintegrate into society. A small number of these returning FTFs, however, relied on operational training, connections, and experience gained in Iraq or Syria to plot terrorist attacks or carry out an attack once returning home. In 2016 for example, returning FTFs were involved in a bombing in Istanbul, Turkey in January and the attacks in Brussels at the airport and a transit station in March.