British authorities are increasingly alarmed at the potential threat from jihadists returning home from Syria.
The jihadist fighters return to the U.K. having learned terrorist techniques and picked up new combat experiences, he said.
According to The Independent newspaper, more than 100 British men are among thousands of foreigners who are believed to have travelled to Syria to fight alongside Al-Qaeda affiliates. There are mounting concerns by intelligence agencies that those foreigners would fall under the influence of the Al-Qaeda affiliated Nusra Front and other terrorist groups fighting Syrians.
“We now also have to think about Syria as one of the big ungoverned spaces of concern to counter-terrorism in the U.K.,” a source told the newspaper.
Commenting on the review of counter- terrorism legislation, David Anderson, said that “Jihadi conflicts have the potential to radicalize individuals in the U.K. and those who return from fighting abroad to pose a direct threat to the UK.”
The home terrorist threat was illustrated by the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in May in Woolwich, south-east London, the British Daily pointed out.This is but a small portion of the Syrian government's continued warnings about the terrorism spillover.
Unfortunately, the Europeans, with whom the Syrian government and people have more to share on combating terrorism, have ignored these warnings and resorted to reckless and uncalculated anti-Syria policies through supporting, trainings and arming Al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria.
Regardless of Cameron coming late to the belief that the U.K. should refrain from supplying the terrorists in Syria with arms, it is better than never. The need for an international coordinated effort to uproot and combat terrorism, not only in Syria but worldwide, is more acute than ever.
Cameron's step is welcome and should be taken seriously – if true – as a confidence-building measure on the way to Geneva 2. His position was expressed despite the hawkish statements and stances taken by his wife, Samantha, who occupies no official political position, outgoing Chief of the Defense Staff, General David Richards, and Defense Secretary Philip Hammond who said that no option was being taken off the table when it came to Syria.
The only practical and workable option is through secular, sane and wise politics.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
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